121-130

121: The Apparition Of The Big Shots

As Sebastian, Lucien, Golfak, and Meera appeared in the center of the village where Alex and the others were, they were astonished by what they saw, there were dead bodies littered everywhere.

''These guys are monsters.''

''Indeed.''

Sebastian muttered as Lucien nodded his head, the other two also shared the same thought.

''Where are the leader and his subordinates? Did they run away? Normally after the amount of commotion and destruction, we caused they should have appeared. However, I haven't seen any of them.'' Meera said as Alex approached them.

At the same time as Meera finished talking, Alex who was approaching them abruptly stopped, he spun around and struck out sharply with Reaper.

With a kin~ sound, an arrow was cut in two and fell to the ground.

''Tsu!? Enemy attack, be ready!''

The moment they saw it, Sebastian gave a sharp shout, and Golfak, Lucien, and Meera immediately prepared for combat. Sebastian went forward as the vanguard with his sword.

The ranger, also spirit mage and mage, Meera and Lucien stood behind Sebastian while Golfak was in the rear looking for any enemy lurking in the shadow. They smoothly fixed up their battle formation at once with Sebastian's words.

While looking at them with admiration in their mind, Alex who had been joined by Gracier and Eleonora prepared for battle as usual.

Alex readied Reaper and Silveria, while Gracier readied her golden bow, as for Eleonora she readied her daggers.

''They finally came.''

At almost the same time Alex and the others entered combat readiness, the Orcs showed up out of the darkness.

There were 5 ordinary Orcs, an Orc Archer with a bow, and an Orc Mage with a cane. Slightly larger than the other Orcs were three Orcs General wearing armor.

''The big shots are here,'' Sebastian muttered as cold sweat covered his forehead, he was not the only one, Lucien and Golfak were also sweating, only Meera, Eleonora, Gracier, and Alex seemed unfazed by the arrival of this group.

However, the reason Alex was unfazed was because he knew the real boss hadn't made an appearance, hence he kept looking further into the dark from where the 10 Orcs came from. When Sebastian, Golfak, Lucien followed Alex's glance in doubt, one more shadow appeared from the darkness.

The figure was even larger than the Orc Generals, who were larger than other Orcs, exceeding 3m in size. In addition, it was wearing extravagant armor and held what seemed to be a magic greatsword. And above all was its dignity, power, and spirit. Such things were different from the other Orcs.

Sebastian, Lucien, Gracier, Golfak, and Meera felt intimidated, as for Eleonora nobody knows what was going through her mind as she had a pensive look on her face.

Alex on the other hand, felt his blood boils in anticipation, he also feel the pressure coming from the monster, however, he was not afraid even when he knew without checking that this orc was stronger than the Wind Alpha wolf he faced back then.

''An Orc King, huh?!. Interesting.''

To Eleonora's, the others gulped in fear, they indeed knew that there was an Orc King present in the village but now that they faced it, they couldn't help but gulp in trepidation.

One should that, Orc King is the one who leads orcs and is considered a B Rank monster, even if it's the one of the weakest.

''There is no need to be afraid, look at the Orc King, he is not interested in any of you, he is more interested in me.'' Alex noticed the fear on the other faces.

At Alex's words, the others observed the Orc King, and indeed as Alex said, his eyes were locked on him, he seemed to be ignoring the other's presence as if they were not present.

Suddenly, something astonishing happened, the Orc King pointed his finger at Alex and spoke.

''You... come... with. me.''

Even if his words sound a bit broken it was still understandable, Alex and others' eyes widened. After talking, the Orc King started walking toward another location.

Chuckling Alex decided to follow after him.

''Are you serious?" Lucien asked, others looked at Alex questioningly, they were wondering if he got some problem or what. If not how could he think about following the Orc King after the latter asked him to come?

Smiling Alex said, ''Don't worry there is no trap ahead, as you noticed this Orc King is a bit special, I think he saw himself as some kind of warrior, as a king who is asking one vs one against the one he considered to be king of the opposite party. I'm confident in myself even if he is stronger than me. I'll let you take care of this group, once you finish you can start searching for any runaways monsters before coming to join me.''

Leaving these words behind, he left not without sending his sister a reassuring look and looked in a certain direction, the person hiding there knew what Alex's look mean.

''Seriously, leader is sure daring,'' Lucien said as he readied his staff.

''Indeed, must quickly finish here and go assist him,'' Meera added.

''Guess you are right,'' Sebastian said while

Gracier and Eleonora nodded their heads before Eleonora launched a dagger at one of the Orc generals, the Orc general parried it before kicking the ground and come attacking the latter.

As if it was a signal, the other Orcs attacked Gracier and others, Gracier chooses one of the Orc generals and started battling him, while the remaining Orc General led the ordinary Orcs. To cover them at any time, the Orc Archer and Orc Mage readied their bow and cane.

Meera let out a chuckle as she chanted,

〚Spirit of Earth break mine enemies steps〛

As her chant ended, the ground sunk by several centimeters making the orcs falter, some even fell onto the ground, the Orc general jumped back.

''Hah?!"

Sebastian and Golfak kicked the ground and sprinted toward the Orc general, Lucien followed slightly behind to support the two.

Meanwhile, Meera quickly fired a round of wind arrows and eliminated the ordinary orcs who were still on the ground, the orc archer rolled on the ground avoiding the wind arrows.

Before he could fire his arrow, he heard Meera's chanting.

〚Spirit of Earth become the Lance that pierce my enemy: Earth Lance〛

A two-meter-tall earth lance appeared from the ground and impaled the Orc archer.

''Gugiah?!''

He gave a pitiful cry before slumping onto the ground breathing his last breath.

The Orc Mage trembled, still he quickly chanted and send Wind arrows in Meera's direction,

〚Wind spirits, shield me.〛

A wind shield appeared in front of her blocking the Wind arrows, the Orc Mage was astonished, he quickly started chanting another chant.

Meera used her bow to fire wind arrows while at the same time invoking the Spirits of earth to help her, the Orc Mage didn't last long before being killed.

After finishing, Meera went to join Sebastian and the others.

In another location, Eleonora was dodging an Orc general slash by slightly tilting her body in the opposite direction, she then launched another dagger at the Orc who quickly used the hand of his bastard sword to parry the dagger.

Eleonora's figure blurred and she appeared behind the Orc general, slashing toward his back, however halfway through the motion, she stopped and jumped back as the orc general spun around and swung down his bastard sword.

Bang!

A shockwave was created as the blade struck the ground and before the Orc could lift his sword, Eleonora moved and appeared in front of the orc, the latter thought she was going to attack him, however instead of directly attacking him, Eleonora used the sword who was still stuck on the ground to jump high into the air, the orc general quickly looked up to see Eleonora appearing just behind his head, she spins in the air with her black daggers before elegantly landing on the ground on the other side.

Just as she landed, the Orc general's head left its body and landed on the ground with a thud sound, followed by the headless body, the severed head eyes were open wide as he was astonished by how he had died. No blood comes out from the severed neck, it turned black as if it was charred.

Sighing, Eleonora looked in Gracier's direction for a moment and smiled before moving towards Sebastian's group.

On the other side, Gracier fight was going on, she using her bow to keep the Orc general at bay, no matter what many times the orc general tried to approach her, he ended failing because Gracier keeps attacking him with fire arrows making it impossible for him to get closer.

The Orc general was frustrated, he was glaring at Gracier who seemed not very here as she kept looking into a certain direction, it was the same direction taken by Alex and the Orc general.

Sighing, Gracier mumbled, ''Time to end this boring fight.''

The Orc general became vigilant all of sudden because even though he did not understand what her words mean, he was sure that she was planning something big because of the dangerous air she started emitting just after saying those words.

Indeed, Gracier next words confirmed his fear.

〚Hear my command and rise, I command thee to blossom: Dance of the Fire Lotus〛

Immediately, numerous fire lotus blossoms from the ground, from the previous location where the fire arrows landing, in a matter of seconds they transformed into a Big Fire Lotus whose leaving started dancing.

The Orc general was caught off guard, the progress of the fire lotuses was faster, he didn't have the time to left before being circled by the fire lotuses who transformed into a big fire lotus, he was roasted alive.

''Bugiahhh?!"

His anguish cries resonated for a moment before completely stopping, he had been burned and transformed into ash, only his magic stone was left behind, Gracier's mind too preoccupied with Alex's wellbeing to remember keeping the body intact.

Sighing after noticing her blunder, Gracier joined Eleonora and others, just as she arrived she the Orc general body falling onto the ground with numerous injuries on its body, Sebastian, Lucien and Golfak was panting after the tough fight, Meera also seems exhausted.

Eleonora didn't participate because, the others refused her help saying they could take care of it, indeed they did.

''Oh? It seems you finally choose to end your fight. Not too tired I hope?"

To Eleonora's question, Gracier smiled saying she was fine, she then turned to face Sebastian and the others.

''Are you guys feeling?"

''Little tired but we will continue searching for the runaways monsters after catching our breathe. No need to wait for us you can join your Big brother. We will follow after you.''

Sebastian announced as he noticed the worry in Gracier's eyes. The others nodded their heads as to tell her to go.

''Thank you,'' Gracier said before leaving, she started running in the direction of Alex and the Orc King.

Meanwhile, those who stayed behind couldn't help but smile as they saw Gracier running toward Alex's location.

''What a worrywart little sister, our leader is lucky to have a sister such as her,'' Eleonora said, the others smiled before continuing to recuperate.

122: Vs The Orc King

As the battle raged on the other side, Alex and the Orc King moved to another location.

They faced each other as silence hung in the air, nobody made a move as the two continued to stare at each other.

Alex appraised the Orc King, he was surprised by what he had seen.

[Orc King Krelos

Male

Race: Mutated Orc

「 Rank 5」

Level 50

Magic Power: 1400

Magic: Fire Magic

Attack: 900

Defense: 750

Agility: 780

Intelligence: 350

Luck: 300

Skills: [King Roar Level 4] [Fireball Level 2] [Sword mastery Level 4] [Fire Breath Level 4] [Berserker Level 5]

Titles: [The One who leads] [Ruthless King]

Alex sucked a mouthful of air, the Orc King possess ridiculous skills, especially the last one, even if he didn't possess such a skill, he had a lot of novels and know what this skill meant, if he let the Orc King activate this skill, his stats will double for few seconds, as for him he would die because of the overwhelming difference in their stats. To think that it was a mutated orc species, no wonder he was so strong and possess unusual skills.

Quickly checking his status, Alex saw that he had leveled up thrice even with the number of monsters he alone killed, more than twenty orcs (High species Orc included). He quickly distributed the 60 BP he gained from leveling up three times.

『[Alexander Kael Touch]

Class: Magic Gunman

Age: 17

Male

Race: High Human

「 Rank 5」

Level 43

Experience Value (XP): 560/8000

Magic Power: 2400 (+ 30) ✒ 2430

Magic: None

Attack: 700 (+ 30 ( +40 BP) ✒ 770

Defense: 650 (+ 30) ✒ 680

Agility: 725 (+ 30 (+20 BP) ✒ 775

Intelligence: 650 (+30) ✒ 680

Luck: 450 (+30) ✒ 480

BP: 0

SP: 0

Gift: Two Guns * Semi-sealed*

Skills: [Advanced Appraisal Level 1] [Item box Level 2] [Swift Fingers Max] [Divine Sense Level 4] [Throwing knife Level 5] [Dark Vision Level 2] [Dual Wielding Level 2] [Accel Level 1] [Knife Art Level 4] [Link Level 3] [Intimidation Level 5] [Gun Art Level 5] (A/N: Previously omitted, a reader asked me why not put a skill for a gun like Sword mastery, so I come up with this skill)

Special Abilities: [Language Comprehension][Danger Sense] [Overdrive]

Titles: [Otherworlder] [The one who can't use Magic] [The one whose fingers are faster than Flash] [Goblin Slayer] [The Reborn]』

Even though both of them were Rank 5, there was still a huge difference between the two, as the Orc King surpassed Alex and was ahead by seven levels.

〖Better avoid getting hit or else you'll end up with broken bones.〗Silveria advised.

'I know, this going to be a tough fight, however, instead of feeling scared I feel excited. How unusual.' Alex muttered in his mind.

〖There is nothing unusual about it, you are what people call battle junkie. You didn't notice it earlier, tell why do you only think about leveling all of the time? You may say it is to get strong but that not true because you're searching for a certain thrill, killing monsters procure you this feeling. Unknown to you, sometimes when you're fighting you have a crazy smile on your face as if you are enjoying it.〗

Alex was surprised when he heard Silveria's words, chuckling he decided to focus on his immediate problem.

Suddenly, Krelos, the Orc King looked at Alex and grinned.

''Rooarr-"

As if waiting for Krelos to activate his King Roar, Alex immediately activated his skill Intimidation.

Both skills canceled each other, Alex didn't waste his time as he consecutively launched all of his Silver Bettie's (the throwing knives Leena gifted him)

Clangs Clangs Clangs !!!

Astonishingly, Krelos managed to dodge or parry all the knives thrown.

Grinning Alex summoned Silveria and fired ten bullets in quick succession.

Bang! Bang! Bang!!!!!!

Krelos on the other side also wore a grin as he suddenly started spinning his great at an extremely fast speed, the spinning sword acted like a shield that stopped all the bullets.

Alex was left speechless at the scene unfolding in front of him, never he would have thought that a monster would use his sword like a shield to block his bullets in this way.

〖Indeed, it's an intelligent monster.〗Silveria commented.

Krelos who finished defending against Silveria's bullets kicked the ground and sprinted toward Alex, the latter hastily pointed his gun in the direction of the incoming Krelos and keep firing.

Bang! Bang!!!!!

Krelos started zigzagging making it hard for Alex to shoot him, sometimes he uses his greatsword to block the bullet.

Finally, he managed to come near Alex and he swung down his greatsword.

Bang!

Alex shifted his body in the opposite direction dodging the dreadful slash and before he could attack, he felt a sudden chill, he quickly bent backward and rolled on the ground, he thus managed to avoid Krelos horizontal slash, after missing Alex, he reverses gripped the sword and did a horizontal slash.

Using his two hands, Alex spun on the ground before launching himself into the air using his two arms. Once in the air, Alex summoned Silveria and fired two normal,

Bang! Bang!

Krelos quickly brought his greatsword in front of him to defend.

[Phantom Bullet]

Alex mumbled as he fired one of Silveria's special bullets.

Krelos feel all the air behind his back rising, he brought the great sword in front of his face as the invisible bullet clashed against the magic great sword.

Baanng!

Krelos was sent crashing against a nearby wall and before colliding against the wall, he opened his mouth and shoot a big fireball at Alex who was about to lend on the ground.

''Shit''

Not expecting Krelos to have the time to attack him even after receiving phantom bullet, Alex cursed as he was caught off guard, bracing himself, the fireball stuck him.

Boom!

''Gah!"

Grunted in pain he was sent spiraling into the air before crashing against a wall, another excruciating pain assaulted him, his mouth tasted iron, he almost puked blood, as for his hands they were hot as if someone had put them into boiled water, few strands of his air got burned, he had the feeling that he had broken few of his ribs, fortunately, he wore the gear Leena gave him or else he would be more injured.

The Orc King, Krelos did not fare well either, his magic great sword broke in two, one of the broken party pierced through his right leg, standing up albeit with a difficulty, Krelos looks at his wretched armor before chuckling, what a dreadful attack he thought, if not for his high-quality armor and his excellent magic great sword he used as a shield he would have died.

Looking at the human responsible for his current state, Krelos grinned, and with a bloodied teeth he mumbled.

''You...human... good.''

Alex's eyes widened, grinning in turn, he also said, ''You too.''

''Big brother.''

It was at that moment Gracier came running and shouted when she saw Alex's sorry state.

''Do not intervene, this is between him and me. Nobody is allowed to step in.''

Alex warned as he saw his sister planning to join the battle.

Gracier stopped advancing and bite her lower lip, even though she was frustrated being told not to help, she still chooses to follow her brother's words, he did not seem like someone losing the fight, the two were both injured but the Orc King injuries were a lot worse than Alex's injuries.

Krelos nodded his head in appreciation as he saw Alex stopped the red-haired girl with heterochromia eyes from stepping in.

Suddenly, Alex noticed Krelos' eyes starting to glow in eerie red light.

''No good,'' Alex said as he quickly launched Razor he just summoned from his Item box.

Krelos grinned when he saw the incoming knife, he was unfazed, this knife will not do anything to him as he will activate his skill Berserker before it came, however, his grin turned into horror as he saw the incoming knife vanished all of sudden.

''Bumoh?!!!"

Kin!!

Krelos gave a startled cry before he hastily bringing his broken magic great sword behind his back and narrowly avoiding the fate of behind impaled in the head.

Suddenly, Krelos feel a sudden gust of wind caressing his face and the next moment, half of his head disappeared, Krelos last thought was, 'It's unfair, such dreadful ability must be used once, if it wasn't because of it, I wouldn't have died.'

Unfortunately for him, life is always unfair.

Alex's move was simple yet complicated, he firstly used [Accel] on the knife he threw, he knew Krelos would surely block his sneak attack, however by doing so he will be temporarily occupied, using this chance he would fire another Phantom Bullet toward him, this time it will be aimed at his head. He speculated that Krelos would not expect another Phantom Bullet because it was an ability that requires a lot of MP to use.

Thankfully everything worked perfectly if not, he didn't know the fight would have ended, he was almost low on MP and there's no way Krelos would've let him peacefully drink Mana potion.

''Fuh!!"

Sighing heavily, Alex fell to the ground completely exhausted physically and mentally, he thinks he broke a few of his ribs in that collision.

''Big brother, here is it.''

Gracier quickly approached Alex and gave him a healing potion, taking it, Alex opened it,

Gulp! and with a single sip, he down the contents.

''Still bitter as always,'' Alex muttered before caressing Gracier's red hair.

''Thank you, Alexandra. Where are the others?"

To Alex's words, Gracier smiled before answering.

''They are taking care of the runaways monsters as you ordered.''

''I see, they let you go ahead.''

Gracier nodded her head, smiling Alex said.

''Let's wait for them then.''

123: After The Battle

A fierce fight. The fight against the Orc King could be called as such.

After the battle, Alex now recuperating with his sister Gracier decided to wait for others to come, in the meantime, Alex decided to check his sister's status, he was greatly surprised when he saw how much she had leveled up.

『[Gracier Alexandra Touch]

「 Rank 4」

Class: Fire Empress

Age: 14

Female

Race: High Half-Elf

Level 33

Experience Value: 50/6600

Magic Power: 1305 (+25) ✒ 1330

Magic: Fire Magic

Attack: 320 (+25) ✒ 345

Defense: 235 (+25) ✒ 260

Agility: 235 (+25) ✒ 260

Intelligence: 225 (+25) ✒ 250

Luck: 235 (+25) ✒ 260

BP: 50

SP: 10

Gift: Ignia's Bracelet

Skills: [Cooking Level 4] [Sewing Level 3] [Fireball Level 5] [Fire Arrows Level 4] [Meteor (???)] [Fire Snake Level 4] [Fire Shield Level 4] [Presence Detection Level 5] [Chantless Magic Level 5] [Fire Lotus Level 5]

Special Ability: [Dragon Eye Level 3]

Titles: [Avenger] [Child of Fire] [The Awakened] [The Diligent]』

'Not bad, leveling up five times, she's now Rank 4, however starting from Rank 4, the amount of XP needed to level up to the next level double, Normally it should have been 3300 XP but it doubled. I wonder why?' Alex wondered.

〖It's simply because otherwise, it will be easy to level up and soar to the top.〗Silveria explained.

'I see, it does make sense.' Alex said.

''Big brother, what's up?" Gracier asked after she saw her brother seemed lost in thought.

''Oh? Nothing, I was lost in thought. Congrats, you are now Rank 4. Too bad, Big brother is a step ahead, now I'm Rank 5, you need to work harder to catch up.'' Alex said teasing his sister.

Pouting Gracier proclaimed, ''Don't worry I'll catch up to you soon.''

''Let's wait and see,'' Alex said with the corner of his mouth curved into a smile.

''No, it's already ended. How unfortunate.''

A voice abruptly interrupted Alex and Gracier's conversation. When Alex turned his gaze to the voice, he saw Eleonora accompanied by Sebastian, Lucien, Golfak, and Meera, she was pouting as she had missed a great show, the others could only helplessly shake their heads, instead of congratulating Alex for ending the fight so quickly, she was complaining as she didn't witness the battle.

Truth be told they were also a little bit disappointed to have only come when the fight ended, they would have liked to watch their leader fight against the powerful Orc King and participate.

Talking about the Orc King, even when dead he continues to show the dignity befitting a king as he refused to fall into the ground, even with half of his face missing, he was half-kneeling onto the ground, his body exuded a king's aura even when dead, Golfak was feeling a little bit intimidated by the tall figure half-kneeling.

''Good work leader how are you feeling?"

Sebastian was the first to raise a question as they approached Alex and Gracier who was leaning against a half-destroyed house.

''Welcome back all of you. I'm fine. How are you guys? Did you manage to finish all the runaways monsters?"

To Alex's question, Eleonora smiled proudly,

''Who do you take us for? It was a piece of cake with this Big sister leading them. We quickly eliminated every one of the fleeing monsters and run back here asap in hope of assisting you. Who would have thought you'd finish the fight without waiting for us, it's not fair, we should have fought this interest-, I mean tough fight together.'' She said complaining.

'You were planning to say interesting instead of a tough fight isn't it?' thought most of them.

Rubbing his forehead as he was feeling a headache coming due to Eleonora's behavior, Alex decided to switch the subject, not focusing on Eleonora who seemed like someone who had suffered injustice, which injustice? Alex didn't even want to know.

''Let quickly clean the battlefield and leave this place, I'm exhausted mentally.''

The others except Eleonora nodded their heads, as for Eleonora she pouted when she saw Alex not playing her game. She was disappointed not to have participated in what she judged to have been an exciting fight, she would have liked to partake in that exciting fight filled with thrill, something she sought, she was like Alex, a battle junkie with the difference that she knew what she is, while Alex did not know this side of him.

Alex with the help of his sister stood up and went in front of Krelos' corpse and stored it inside his Item box.

After finishing Alex and Gracier went to help others collect monster materials, Gracier would store high species' corpses into space ring while Alex would store magic stones inside his Item box.

One hour later, they finished collecting all monster materials and High species' corpses.

Alex saw his sister, Gracier staring blankly into space, sighing he motioned to others to follow after him as they leave Gracier alone in the center of the almost destroyed village.

After leaving the central area, Lucien couldn't contain his current anymore, hence he raised a question, a question which was in everyone's minds.

''Leader, why Gracier seemed affected by this village's fate? I have noticed her unusual behavior back then as we were nearing this village and now the pained looks on her face, indicate that they must be a story behind her behavior. So, what is her relationship with the Gato's village?"

Sighing as though, he was expecting this question the moment he ordered them to let Gracier alone. They are not blind to not see Gracier's behavior. Alex decided to feed them an explanation, an altered true.

''You know, Gracier and I didn't come here together. Truth be told I left home hastily not informing anyone and when she learned that I've left, she hastily followed me, but due to lack of food and drinks something she has forgotten when she left home, Gracier falls unconscious due to hunger and because she just finished fighting against a beast, she was also injured. Coincidentally, she happened to fall not too far from Gato's village, one of the maidens in the village rescued her and feed her, treat her injuries, they quickly became friends as Gracier stayed in the village for more than a week. After completely recovering, Gracier left promising to come to visit once she found her Big brother.''

Taking a mouthful of breath, Alex continued,

''However, as she left the village, at the same night, tragedy befalls the village, everybody was killed, she later learns what happened. She blamed herself and now that she avenged the villagers, she needs few minutes to say goodbye to the still wandering souls of the villagers, I know you understand what she's doing.''

Sebastian and the others except for Eleonora understood Gracier's behavior. As for Eleonora she was staring intensely at Alex as if to tell 'I don't buy all your crap, tell me the true story', the latter chuckled not paying Eleonora any heed, whether she believes in him or not doesn't matter.

''Let's wait here for her to show up,'' Alex announced as he sat near a normal house not destroyed.

Other's followed shortly after Alex sat down.

.....

Back to Gracier's location.

She was blankly staring into space as she was recalling some wonderful memories, memories of her life in this village. There were some sad memories but there were also lots of happy memories, even when they were poor, she still likes that simple lifestyle.

However, now everything disappeared.

Finally unable to hold it any longer, she started crying, after crying for few minutes her eyes become resolute. Observing the now wrecked village she declared,

''I Gracier now Gracier Alexandra Touch is grateful for the sacrifice you all made that day, it's because of this sacrifice that I'm still alive, it's because of this sacrifice I encountered the man who is now my brother, I'm a member of his family, I, now have a family who cherishes me. Thank you all, may your souls rest in peace after seeing this little tribute I paid in your honor, do not worry I'll become stronger enough to protect does dears to me, never again I would let those dears to me die as I flew. I promise to live my life well, a life you'll be proud of as you will be hearing my name. Take care.''

She bowed and then smiled as she felt a burden being lifted off her shoulder, she felt lighter, she felt something changing inside her, hastily calling her status window out, she was surprised to see her MP increasing by 100 additional points. She was happy with this increase, letting out a chuckle she stared into no particular direction as she mumbled,

''Thank you.''

And for a moment she even had the impression that the dead villagers were smiling at her as they finally left this world for the other world, the world of the deads.

Shaking her head at how absurd her thinking is, Gracier joined the others as they finally left the village and went back to their former camping zone.

It was already past 3 AM when they went back, they were all exhausted, therefore they didn't waste their time as they entered their tent to sleep, surprisingly Conrad offered to be on the lookout until the next morning, Alex and the others gratefully accepted.

That night, Gracier slept well, not experiencing anymore nightmares.

124: On The Other Side Of The Zilya's Mountain 1

Rewinding time a little, just after Alex and Gracier left for Gato's village with other participants of the rank-up test, Leena also left the guild in the evening.

She took a leave of absence of five days, only Chris, the guild master of this branch of the Adventurer Guild knew the true motive behind this leave of absence, it was to simply tail Alex and Gracier in the shadow, she was a little bit concerned and more importantly too curious about Alex's Gift, she hoped to be able to see his Gift during this expedition.

Unfortunately, during these three days she had never once seen Alex using his Gift, he mainly fights using his knives and throwing knives. As for Alex's leadership, she gave a passing grade.

Unknown to Alex, every time Conrad slip away, it was to talk with her.

Leena was hoping to finally see some real action where Alex would use his Gift when she saw them nearing the Gato's village. She was eager to watch the siblings.

Unfortunately, fate had another project in store for her, just slightly before evening she received a call from the group who went ahead in the Zilya's Mountain.

''What is it?" She asked not hiding her annoyance because to receive this call at this moment mean nothing good for her, someone was about to disrupt her entertainment- Ops! She meant surveillance duty.

The other person on the side of the call was surprised by Leena not hiding her annoyance, for a moment what he was planning to say couldn't leave his mouth, still considering the urgency of the situation, he braced himself and spoke.

''Greetings Lady Leena. We happened to find the culprit of the monster outbreak. It was as you said, we are battling against it as we speak and it went without saying that we are overwhelmed. If it wasn't because of the special communication device you gave us, it would have been impossible to contact you as all communications have been blocked, only your device is still working. Please Lady Leena we required your immediate assistance if not"

''Damn it. Who wants to die that badly?"

He didn't manage to finish his words before being cut off as Leena cussed not hiding her anger.

The person on the other side could swear to have felt Leena's killing intent even from where he was, he couldn't help but shiver.

Calming down her raging emotions Leena sighed and said before cutting off the communication.

''I understand, try to hold on I'll be there as fast I can.''

One must know that the main group was currently on the other side of Zilya's Mountain, it is extremely far from her current location. If she doesn't intervene, there was a risk that every one of the Adventurers sent will be wiped out, and as a guild staff member, she can't allow it, Adventurers are essential for a guild to function, without Adventurers there will be no guild.

Sighing softly Leena observed Alex's carriage as it advanced, she could hear Eleonora questioning Alex, the latter did not seem pleased with her question, shaking her head as she was feeling amused watching the two, she mumbled,

'Sorry, boy. I will know what kind of Gift you possess later, For now, I've something to take care of. Have a good fight.' Leena had an apologetic look on her face because of the change in her plans, she wouldn't be able to look after them.

She disappeared after taking one last glance at Alex. Just as she left, Alex who was talking with Eleonora looked in her direction as if he felt something, but he quickly shook his head and focused his attention back on the highway.

Only, Conrad seemed to have noticed Leena's departure, of course, Leena left him a message ordering him to take care of Alex and others in her stead.

••••••

On the other side of Zilya's Mountain currently, a huge battle was going on, you could hear the sound of metals clashing mixed with monsters' groans and humans cries.

Naturally, it was the main group responsible for cleaning the monsters rampaging in the region.

The ground was littered with corpses, monsters corpses, and also human corpses, still, monsters and humans seemed unbothered by the number of corpses littering the ground as they continued clashing against each other.

Further ahead, a spectacular fight was taking place.

A group of Adventurers was fighting against a lone figure, this lone figure was extremely tall, at least two meters (6.6 ft) tall, this figure was shrouded entirely in black with a black mask covering its face, from the hollow laugh and mocking voice it was not hard to guess that it was a man.

''You humans are so interesting. Always trying to act mighty when you are weaker than us.'' said the black-clothed man as he kept dodging the adventurer's attacks with the minimum of maneuver.

''Shut up you demon.'' One of the adventurers attacking the black-clothed man said as he continued attacking.

''Hehehe! Come make me stop talking then.'' the man in black said, taunting the adventurer who talked, the latter complexion turned grim as he gripped his magic sword more tightly, pouring his Magic Power into it, he shouted.

"Fiery Slash.''

Instead of slash, a fire beam was shot from the tip of the sword toward the black-clothed man, smiling behind his mask he nonchalantly dodged.

''You humans are the most treacherous of all the races yet you like to portray yourself as a saint. Just look at yourself, your mouth pronounce a certain technique but your action showed another.''

''Shut up, I don't need you lecturing me.'' that adventurer shouted back.

Chuckling behind his mask, the black-clothed man's expression turned vicious he vanished and reappeared behind the adventurer who attacked him earlier, swinging his arm coated in a dark matter like a sword, he decapitated the latter.

Spurt!!

Blood spurted from the headless body, the adventurer who has his head removed died eyes filled with unwillingness.

The other adventurers attacking the black-clothed man stopped eyes filled with horror as they witnessed their comrade being killed as though he was a chicken, one must know that the adventurer who just died was Rank 7, he was almost approaching the next rank, it's to say Rank 8. So imagine their terror as they witnessed him being killed so easily. This shows how strong this demon is.

Unbothered by the weakling attitudes, the black-clothed man looked in a certain direction, a man was fighting against three ogres of 6 (19.69 ft) meters tall, one must know that ogres are considered B-Rank monsters, one of the strongest B-Rank monsters, for someone to face three at the same, it shows how strong the person facing the three ogres is.

''I say, Gale aren't you looking down on me by letting those weakling fight against me? How many do I need to kill before you face me?"

The black-clothed man said as he was getting impatient fighting against the weaklings as he called them, he hoped to fight against the strongest here, naturally, Gale fit that criteria.

Gale, the former B rank adventurer nicknamed 'Gale Blade' now A (got promoted recently) face twitched, cursing under his breath he decided to finish this fight or else that demon would slaughter every one of the adventurers fighting him, obviously they are not his match, he knew this but he couldn't do otherwise because only him can take care of the three ogres as the others keep the demon busy.

Lowering his center of gravity, Gale observed the three monsters before activating his skill as he performed a kick draw:

[Bisect]

A huge horizontal wind blade passed through the three ogres, cutting two of them in two from the waist, while the third ogre lost an arm, he had sensed a danger hence tried to dodge alas he still lost an arm in the process as he wasn't too fast dodging, Gale' slash was so fast that it was almost impossible to follow, only the black-clothed man was able to follow, even himself had trouble following it.

Quickly downing a high-grade Mana potion, Gale wasted no time as he followed with another attack, deeply injuring the now one-armed ogre, he would have liked to continue and finish the monster but alas, the black-clothed man had just killed another adventurer, Gale was forced to intervene blocking the man next attack.

Kin!!

Sound was heard as Gale's sword clashed against the black-clothed man sword, a black sword.

After he appeared and stopped the black-clothed man next attack, Gale with his eyes motioned the adventurers who keeping the black-clothed man at bay to go take care of the injured ogre, he was sure that with the current ogre's injury, it will not be too hard for the five of them to take care of it.

After making sure that the five safely left and are taking care of the ogre, Gale and the black-clothed man identified as a demon looked at each other before the two moved at fast speed exchanging blows for a moment before taking their distance,

"You are not bad but you'll need more than that to be able to injure me, even more, if you wish to kill me."

To the man's words, Gale gave no reply as he stared intensively at the man, finally, since the start of their exchange Gale opened his mouth to raise a question.

"What's your goal?"

125: On The Other Side Of The Zilya's Mountain 2

Gale observed the black-clothed man in front of him after their exchanges, it should be called probing instead. finally, since the start of their exchanges, Gale opened his mouth to ask a question.

"Tell me what is your goal? What are trying to achieve?"

"I can't help but get curious because even if we have once been enemy in the past, in the recent years both races didn't start a feud with each other, even if we are not friendly with each other, none of us tried to find trouble with the other. So, I want to know what is your motive for killing humans, destroying several villages when they did nothing to incur your wrath. Tell me what is your goal? Is it to start another war?"

There was a temporary silence before the disguised demon started laughing,

"Hahaha"

"Hahahaha, my bad, you're too funny hence I couldn't help myself. I thought you were the cold type who doesn't usually speak, guess I was wrong. To answer your question, I'm not planning to start another war, and even it was the case I'll gladly welcome a war. Well, now it's not the time for that."

The black-clothed man (demon) said but the last part was muttered almost inaudibly. Looking at Gale he continued.

"You humans won't start a war just because few villages are destroyed and who going to know it was a demon doing? You can't communicate because we blocked all communication. As for you all who are here, hehehe! only one fate awaits you: Death. After all dead men tell no tale.''

At the end of his words, the demon disappeared to reappears in front of Gale slashing down at him, Gale parried it, while their swords were still locked against each other, Gale pointed his finger at the demon and said,

''Wind bullet.''

An invisible Wind bullet was fired at the demon, chuckling as he was expecting this, the demon slightly tilting his right shoulder back he dodged the Wind bullet.

Suddenly, Gale distanced himself from the demon as he felt a dreadful sensation, just as he jumped back, the place he was previously standing at sunk by several centimeters, no it was transformed into a small swamp, it was dark magic, it's an element mostly used by the Demon.

''Your instinct is sure sharp but what are you gonna do about this?''

Immediately at the end of his words, the Demon chanted,

{Come forth and rain down on my foe: Dark Bullets}

More than a hundred dark bullets appeared and flew at Gale.

''Fuh!"

Taking a deep breath Gale switched stance, from one-handed to two-handed, his left leg positioned ahead of his right leg, his green eyes turned sharp, then something astonishing happened.

The Dark Bullets that were shot at him were being cut down one by one at an extremely fast speed. The way he moves his sword was too fast to follow, in a matter of seconds almost all the dark bullets had been cut down. Gale could have chosen to avoid the dark bullets but behind him was the group of adventurers fighting against the one-armed injured ogre.

On the other side, the demon was not surprised by Gale's choice, his figure blurred as he appeared behind Gale with his black sword in thrust stance.

''I knew if it's you, you could pull it out.'' The demon.

''And I knew you would also appear behind me while I'm busy dealing with your attack.''

The face behind the black mask abruptly changed and the demon cursed his carelessness, he had been too hasty.

''Shit.''

Suddenly, before the black sword could pierce Gale from behind, his figure shot to the sky as if something had launched him from the ground into the air. He used the wind element on the sole of his foot to launch himself into the air like a rocket.

Once in the air, Gale said, "Detonate Wind Bomb''

Kaboom!!

A huge explosion occurred with the demon being caught in the blast, he was sent flying back by the impact of the wind bomb.

However, instead of falling onto the ground, the demon quickly stabilized himself.

Not a second after stabilizing himself, the demon spun around bringing his black sword to defend against Gale's next attack.

Gakin!!!

The two swords clashed, creating a shriek that sent sparks flying into the air.

''You are not bad.'' the demon commented as the two continued to casually exchanges blows.

''You are not using your real power,'' Gale said as he sidestepped to the right just enough and the demon blade passed a hairs breath from his face.

''Neither do you.''

The two keep exchanging moves not going all out because they seemed to be waiting for something, for Gale it was Leena while for the demon, he was waiting for his men who are on the other side doing something else to come, and with them he could wipe out all the adventurers and go make sure that what they come to accomplish by starting all of this was completed. If it wasn't finished, he'd do it himself.

Unknowingly both Gale and the demon dragged the fight until late in the night, they switched location several times, the adventurers fighting against the one-armed ogre finally managed to kill the ogre, however, they still lost one of their men when the one-armed went crazy on his last moment. Too exhausted and injured they couldn't help their leader, if they were to go in their current state they will only become a hindrance. Knowing this fact, they choose not to, they could only watch helplessly, those two are at another level, they were moving at fast speed exchanging blows for a moment yet they didn't even sweat.

'We must become stronger,' thought the men as they watched Gale and the demon fight, shaking their heads they turned their attention elsewhere.

Looking over the battlefield, they saw dead bodies littered the ground everywhere, monsters corpses mixed with human corpses, one must know that the expedition this time was huge, there were a hundred adventurers, however, currently only 40 or so adventurers remain, which would mean they have lost more than half of the Adventurers who came.

It's a huge loss but considering the number of monsters they faced and the ambushes by the demons, it was understandable. They faced an army of thousands of monsters, there were different types of monsters, goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, Wind Wolves, Snow wolves, swamp lizards, ogres, Water Bears, and even a few griffons, not to mention the rare species, those are harder to deal with than the normal monsters.

Shaking their heads, the survivors' drunk recovery potions, sprinkled healing potion on their injured before going back to help their comrades fight the remaining monsters.

~Back to Gale and the demon's location.

The two continued to fight destroying several rocks and trees on the process, they fought until the next morning, for strong people such as them, it was not hard, even though they seemed to be casually fighting their minds were elsewhere, Gale was wondering why Leena hadn't shown herself since she must have received their request for help, even if she was far away when she received it, she should have arrived by now unless...

No. He didn't dare to think about it, Leena was said to be strong as Chris the guild master, Chris himself said so, one must know that Chris is Rank 10, so it's to say Leena is also Rank 10, if the Adventurers courting Leena were to learn this fact they would have pissed in their pants, even Gale only learned this secret recently, if it wasn't because he became Rank A and more importantly because of the current ongoing mission, he wouldn't have learned Leena's secret. So, there must be a reason for such a strong person not showing up since her summon.

While Gale was wondering why Leena hadn't come, the demon was also wondering why his men weren't showing, he was having a bad feeling, and this bad feeling keeps growing by minute as if he was going to die as if all their plans were going to be destroyed. Also, Gale seemed to calm now he thought about it, so calm it was becoming disturbing, he gave the feeling of someone waiting for help, normally communication has been blocked hence no help should arrive at the moment. Or they found a way to bypass the barrier set in place? If it's true then it explained a lot of things and at the same time, it was a piece of bad news for him.

'Shit.'

Cursing under his breath he decided to quickly finish this fight and-

Suddenly, his thoughts paused at that moment because he felt suffocating pressure locking him in a place.

Gale smiled as he felt a load has been lifted from his shoulders.

To the frozen demon's horror, a beautiful woman descended from the sky as if she was a celestial, however, the demon knew she was not a celestial, only someone at that level, only someone who stepped in Rank 10 could fly even though it's for a short period.

With the appearance of this beautiful lady, the demon knew that something must have gotten wrong, maybe all their plans will be destroyed?

In any case, this does not bode well for him.

126: Their True Goal

The beautiful green-haired elve woman descended in the middle of the two and flicked her fingers, suddenly the demon was blasted back, hastily stabilizing himself in the air, the demon finally noticed that he had coughed blood because of that casual attack, he didn't even see the woman attacking, he started doubting if her Rank wasn't higher than what he had speculated, he is Rank 9 after all, even there is a huge disparity between the two Ranks, it wasn't to the extent where he would be sent flying like a ragdoll.

Suddenly, feeling the wind caressing his face something that shouldn't be possible, the demon brought his hand toward his face to finally becoming aware that his mask had been destroyed.

His pale white face and white hair were displayed, he was a little bit handsome, his eyes were blood red.

''What?" He shouted eyes filled with disbelief, his black mask was a high-grade artifact, to think it could easily be destroyed filled him with fear.

Unbothered by the demon shout, Leena casually swept her hand and twelve heads fell onto the ground.

Gale's eyes widened, as for the demon, he started trembling, he expected this outcome when he saw Leena appearing, however expecting and seeing are two different things, somehow he hoped that Leena took different road hence his men's lives would be spared, unfortunately, it was not the case.

''So, you are their leader?" Leena casually asked as she started slowly advancing, the demon unconsciously took a step back, each time Leena took a step forward he would take a step back, he was afraid as he remembered the expression of terror on his men's face, suddenly he stopped and counted the heads on the ground once more, indeed there were twelve heads, not thirteen which would mean his right-hand man who was almost strong as him must have went to accomplish their real goal.

Thinking about it brought a smile upon his face which didn't go unnoticed by Leena and Gale.

Leena's eyes narrowed, she stopped advancing and asked, ''What make you laugh?"

''Hahaha! I noticed that you being here is a good thing, Marcos can accomplish his mission.'' the demon said not hiding his joy.

Feeling that whatever mission that Marcos was going to accomplish held capital importance to her, Leena decided to probe.

''Which is?"

''Hahaha, all of this, monsters rampage, killing humans and destroying several villages was part of our plan with a single goal of killing a person, an individual who had the potential to destroy our future plan, to help that person.'' the demon blurted out.

''So, you are saying all this massacre was because you want to eliminate only one individual?" Gale asked eyes filled with hatred, he released all of his killing intent. He couldn't be blamed, just imagining that it was because they want to kill only one person, they will go to the extreme and sacrifice so many lives, it's unforgivable.

Leena, on the other hand, was pondering about something, her expression started changing as she thinks about a certain possibility, if it's true then she had made a huge mistake by appearing here.

Meanwhile, the demon smiled and continued to speak, he was secretly planning his escape.

''Indeed, at the start, it was one individual, however, it became two, the one we were planning to kill survive and joined the second whose threat was even higher than the first one, the oracle says we must quickly kill the two. Like that, that traitor would not be able to complete its goal.''

When she heard the first part of the demon's words she was able to confirm her guess, she was not happy at all, her expression changed.

Gale and the demon noticed it, Gale didn't understand why Leena became panicked all of a sudden while the demon's lips curled up into a grin.

''Oh?! It seems you're able to understand what I'm saying, I bet you are now aware of our real motivation.''

To the demon's words, Gale was astonished, he quickly glanced at Leena in the hope of gaining some answer.

However, Leena did not even look at him, she looked at the demon dangerously.

Panicking, the demon stuttered, ''Wh-what? It's already too late, Marcos will accomplish his goal before you go there.''

''It's that so?" Leena said smiling, she started slowly walking toward the demon, the latter panicked and quickly tried to activate the hidden teleportation scroll inside his pocket because it's an extremely long-range teleportation scroll, it needed some time to activate and it must be secretly done, it was why he started blurting out their real goal to buy himself enough time to activate the scroll.

Suddenly, Leena who was fifty meters away from the demon disappeared to reappears right before him, he didn't have to move nor scream as he felt a hand piercing through the armor he wore underneath his clothes and directly destroy his heart, everything happened so fast that it gave the impression that time around the two had stopped.

Removing her hand from the now-dead demon, Leena's hand was clean without any blood on her it, if one looks closely you will notice that her hand was coated with the Wind element.

''Thank you for the information. I'm not a fool, I knew that you were secretly planning to escape since the moment you started spilling everything, it was to divert our attention as you complete your goal.''

Hearing Leena's words, Gale was surprised and at the same time, ashamed for not noticing the demon's scheme because he was too focused on what the demon was saying.

Turning her head in Gale's direction, Leena said, ''Gale, I'll let you clean the battlefield here, don't worry I have taken care of all the hidden problems, it was why I was late. Well, I'm leaving, got something to take care of.''

She didn't wait for Gale before soaring into the sky, leaving Gale to helplessly watch as her figure slowly disappears from his sight. As she was leaving, Leena mumbled to herself, 'I hope nothing bad happened to you two. Stay safe, I'm on my way.'

Back to Gale's location.

''What in the hell happening? Where Lady Leena is going? Is to rescue the two individuals the demon spoke about?"

Numerous questions started running through Gale's mind, he quickly shakes his head and decided to complete the task assigned to him.

Quietly mumbling,

[Wind Steps]

Gale vanished, moving at a fast speed, he appeared on the left side a gigantic Water Bear of 4 meters tall (19.69 ft), thrusting his sword through the latter back, he instantly killed it by crushing its heart.

He immediately switched to another monster and again instantly killed it, by now the adventurers fighting against those monsters became aware of their savior.

''Leader?"

''Yes it's leader, we are saved. Him being here means that demon must have been killed or driven away.''

''Oh?! It's true? If it is then let's quickly finish the remaining monsters and go back home.''

''Home.''

''Home!!!"

The adventurer's morales skyrocket as they witnessed Gale the leader of this expedition reappearing and started killing monsters left and right lessening their burdens, not seeing the demon, they judged it that he had been slain or flee, because the place where Gale and the demon fought was far from the main battlefield, none of the adventurers present here knows what happened, nor they were aware of Leena's arrival, same for when she departed. They were too focused on their fight, too focused on keeping their lives to be able to divert their attention elsewhere.

Gale smiled as he saw his men's morales back, he continued slaying monster after monster, only the strongest, though, as he hoped for whatever plan the last demon was going to complete may be destroyed, he prayed for Leena to quickly go save the persons who seemed to be in danger, the target of the demon's plot.

Suddenly, Gale remembered a certain handsome promising youth and his sister, he wondered if they have completed their final test? Knowing the siblings, they may have finished it. He hoped that it was the case because if it wasn't they may be swept in the demon's plan and die an unfortunate death, it would be sad and unfair as it had nothing to do with them.

''Hope you're already on your way back. Don't die soon, young man. You are destined to do big things. You will surpass this old man soon. I got the same vibe from your sister.''

''Sigh! Let's end this mission, too many of our men have died for a stupid reason, damn you demon.''

After saying those words he continued slaying the strongest monsters, leaving the weaker for his men to finish, they must gain few XP after all.

As for him, if weren't because if he doesn't intervene, he would lose more men, he would have sit on the sidelines and watch his men fight, letting them accumulate a lot of XP to be able to level up, even with all his kills (since he came back) he didn't fill even half of his XP when one's level becomes higher, it becomes harder to level up, it's for this reason that higher Ranked adventurers are rare and priceless.

127: This Shouldn't Have Appeared Here

Back to Alex's location.

As the light of the sun gradually rose and spread to the surroundings.

Alex and the others had already woken up after resting for a few hours feeling refreshed as they successfully managed to complete their mission without losing any of their members, they can now be considered D Rank Adventurer.

Alex who was back from his morning jogging with his sister saw the group outside chatting, they have already packed the tents.

''Morning Leader.''

''Good morning.''

''Good morning Alex, Gracier.''

''Morning, Leader~ and little Gracier.''

''Good morning Leader, morning Miss Gracier.''

Sebastian, Lucien, Meera, Eleonora, and even Golfak greeted the two as they came back, Alex astonishingly stared at Golfak because it was the first time he greeted him since the start of their mission.

Having seen Alex looking at him with a surprised expression on his face, Golfak scratched his face and said, ''Sorry, for all the troubles I've caused.''

Alex was surprised once again, Gracier also, the others looked at the two and smiled, it seemed they were aware that Golfak was going to apologize.

Smiling, Alex said, ''Morning everyone.''

Then turned his face in Golfak's direction,

''Golfak, don't worry, I'm happy that you know your wrong and repent. For my part I'm also sorry if it seemed that I was a little bit harsh on you back then, it was because if you cower it may cause trouble for others, I know it's hard for the first time. Well, glad that everything ended well but take it as a warning and at the same time as a piece of advice from me, better control that temper of yours and do some research before blindly acting.''

It was now Golfak's turn to be surprised, he wasn't expecting Alex's words, he nodded his head when he heard about Alex's advice.

''Don't worry leader, I'll be prudent from now on,'' Golfak said as he slightly bowed his head.

Nodding his head as he saw Golfak taking his advice seriously, Alex looked around and not seeing Conrad after checking the whole area with his divine sense he asked.

''Where is Conrad?"

''He just left a moment ago.''

It was Lucien who answered.

''Where did he go? We should be on our way already but now. Sigh! Let's wait for half an hour and if he doesn't come we will left.''

Alex said, Gracier and others nodded their heads, the girls decided to use this chance to clean themselves.

After the girls finished, the men went to clean themselves.

Half of an hour quickly passed, yet Conrad hadn't returned.

''Let's board the carriage and depart.''

Finally, Alex decided that it was wiser to depart even when Conrad their supervisor wasn't present. Since a while ago, he was feeling restless, his six senses keep ringing alarm bells inside his mind as if to warn him about an incoming danger.

Everybody boarded the carriage and Lucien started driving it, by now everybody seemed to notice that something wasn't right.

Just as they started moving, Silveria who stayed silent until now suddenly shouted,

〖Master, quickly stop the carriage and run.〗

The urgency in her voice couldn't be hidden, without questioning her because his own heart was thumping like crazy,

Ba-dump Ba-dump!

Alex shouted, ''Everybody jumps out.''

Immediately after shouting, he held Gracier in his arms and Accel-ed to reappears twenty meters outside of the carriage.

Lucien, Sebastian, Golfak, Meera, and Eleonora jumped from the carriage and quickly distanced them from it after rolling on the ground.

And just as everyone leaves the carriage a huge explosion occurred creating a big cloud of dust rising to the sky,

Kaboom!!!

The ground trembled as if an earthquake was happening, Lucien, Sebastian, and Golfak were blasted back, their backs colliding against the nearby trees.

''Gah!"

''Guh!!!"

''Gofuh!"

The three grunted in pain and puked a mouthful of blood.

Eleonora's figure blurred to reappears not too far from Alex and Gracier's position, somehow Meera also appeared beside them.

After the dust got cleared, everybody was able to see what caused that gigantic explosion, the moment they saw what was responsible for the earthquake fear took hold of their hearts, they could not help but tremble.

Standing on what remains of their former carriage (it was completely flattened and the three horses turned into meat patties.) was a gigantic figure that seemed to have come out from their worst nightmare. This figure had gray skin and stood 8 meters tall (26.2467 ft), it had two heads, bulging muscles, and wore armor, around its neck seemed to be some kind of necklace, this necklace was emitting a dark aura.

''Roarrrr''

Suddenly, the two-headed monster roared simultaneously, Alex and others quickly brought their hands toward their ears and blocked.

The monster's roar was so powerful that it created a shockwave in the air, even though they had closed their ears they still suffered damage, for some, it was not grave while for others it was worse. Alex was feeling dizzy beside his ears hurting like hell. Gracier and Meera were having it worse because of their racial features, they received more damage as Elves are pretty sensible, both their ears were bleeding, they became momentarily deaf, Lucien and Golfak fainted with blank looks on their faces. Sebastian was panting as he cleaned the blood coming from his nose, yet even when feeling dizzy he quickly dragged Lucien and Sebastian's unconscious bodies to safety behind a tree.

Alex quickly fed his sister a healing potion while Eleonora suffered a little damage as Alex quickly went to help Meera.

''Impossible, how can such monster appear here? This shouldn't have appeared here. What's going on? What a two-headed ogre doing here?" Alex wondered eyes filled with disbelief. This kind of monster should have never appeared here.

Indeed the monster with two heads glaring at them is a two-headed ogre, A-Rank monster, one of the powerful ones. The two-headed ogre in front of them had different pairs of eyes, the left head had a pair of blue eyes while the right head had a pair of deep red eyes.

''Not good it's a mutated two-headed ogre. We are in trouble, this is not an A-Rank monster but an AA Rank monster instead.'' Eleonora announced.

Alex could feel his back drenched in sweat because he had tried to appraise the monster, he didn't see a lot of information but what he saw made him fell into despair.

[Two headed mutated Ogre

Race: Blood Ogre

Rank 9

Level 85

MP:????

Magic: Dual Elements: Ice and Fire

Attack: ????

Defense: ???

Agility: ???

Intelligence: ???

Luck: ???

Skills: ????

Special Ability: ???

Titles: ??? ]

A rank 9 monster, and not your typical one, this one is dual elements user, not only that but this mutated Ogre possess a special Ability something Alex thought only human have. This monster, no abomination it was more than what the current him couldn't handle, none of them could handle it. The difference is too huge, a difference of 4 Rank in his case, 43 Levels to be more accurate, Alex had never felt so hopeless since the day he came into this world, nor so scared however he must survive, no they must survive.

While Alex was encouraging himself, Gracier's body was shaking even when she was trying to act tough, same with Meera, their complexions had somehow improved however their fear didn't lessen in the slightest.

Suddenly, the mutated two-headed ogre left mouth opened as if to shoot something when suddenly, it turned into another direction and shot a huge ice ball.

Kaboom!!!

The ice ball clashed against a huge fireball creating a huge blast, the two-headed shielded their eyes before the explosion.

''Alex takes the others and quickly escaped from here, I'll try to keep him occupied for a moment.''

Alex and others heard Conrad's voice, shortly they saw him appearing, his appearance was disheveled with few cut on his body, it seemed that he had been fighting.

Using this chance, Alex and others distanced. However halfway through their escape,

〖 Master quickly dodge.〗Silveria warned.

Alex held his sister in his arms before rolling on the ground avoiding a huge flame thrown at him, the huge fireball passed just above their heads before explosion into the distance. Fortunately, Alex and Gracier were not caught in the explosion.

Even without Silveria's warning, he would have dodged because of his passive skill, [Danger Sense], still, he was grateful. The two quickly get up,

Eleonora and the others looked back.

''Quickly go. Choose a separate direction to go in.'' Alex shouted at them before starting to run, it would be suicidal to stay together, their chance of survival will decrease considerably while if they choose separate directions, they had a slim chance of surviving, one or two may become the sacrifice for others to survive it may cruel but it was the best option.

Having understood this, well those who were still conscious, their nodded their heads as they scattered into a different direction, Sebastian with Lucien on his back went left, Meera with Golfak on her back choose the right direction, Eleonora also went right.

With his sister in his arms, Alex kept Accel-ed straight ahead putting some distance between himself and the dangerous monster, Alex had the feeling that the monster was specifically after him and Gracier judged by the way he looked at them when he showed up.

''I hope I'm wrong,'' Alex mumbled as he kept running away, Gracier was watching their surroundings ready to attack any monsters that would try to block them.

128: Conrad, The Flame Prince

As he watched Alex and others disappear from his sight, Conrad heaved a long sigh before suddenly jumping on his left, dodging the two-headed mutated Ogre's club.

Boom!

The huge club almost tall as the two-headed mutated ogre created a deep pit on the ground as it missed its target, hastily rolling on the ground because the two-headed mutated ogre followed with another swing of its club.

While rolling on the ground, Conrad aimed his right hand at the monster and said,

[Fireball]

A huge fireball was created and shot a the monster, the latter used its club like a bat and flung it into another direction.

Boom!

Conrad disappeared and reappears behind the monster with his sword coated in flame.

However, before he could bring down his flaming sword he switched to a defensive stance as he felt danger coming from its back.

Gakin!!

Successfully defending against the sneak attack, Conrad hastily jumped back narrowly avoiding the ogre's fist.

Finally looking at the culprit of the previous sneak attack, Conrad said.

"So you come. I thought I had buried you with that attack earlier."

Chuckling, the black-clothed man with an disheveled appearance said,

"It's not easy to kill me."

Conrad could only click his tongue in annoyance hearing that, when he disappeared early it was because he received an urgent message from Leena informing him of the demon's plot. He searched for them until he found this disguised demon, they starting immediately fighting, at that moment the mutated ogre wasn't with the demon, after fighting for a moment against the demon, Conrad learned that the monster had taken a different road to go eliminated its targets.

The demon had told Conrad the truth because he was sure that the monster must have accomplished its goal by then, unfortunately for the demon and fortunately for Conrad, it didn't happen as the former predicted but at that moment Conrad wasn't aware of it, hence he used one of his strongest attacks on the demon catching the latter off guard, Conrad had thought he had buried him alive and run in Alex and other's direction to barely manage to save them.

However now that demon he thought he buried came back blocking his way, the two-headed mutated ogre started running in Alex's direction after the demon whispered something under his breath, the black necklace around the monster's neck emitted a black smoke that entered into the monster's body and acted as a kind of signal, no order should be more accurate because the monster left just after that black smoke entered into its body.

''As if-"

''Sorry, Conrad, the Flame Prince, your opponent is me.''

The demon said as he blocked Conrad's road, making it impossible for him to give a chase.

Gritting his teeth so much that the gritting sound could be heard, Conrad glared at the demon in front of him, Conrad normal brown eyes started losing their usual hue turning into hot crimson color, the air around him started to change, becoming hotter and hotter, Conrad is a magic swordsman, he can use both sword arts and magic at the same time and he's a Fire element user, a powerful Fire user thus he got the nickname of Flame Prince.

The demon who was closed to Conrad could feel the increasing temperature, however, his expression behind the gray mask filled with cracks was not fear but the excitement of a good fight that was about to begin.

Suddenly, the demon also released his power, black bolts of lightning started dancing wildly around him producing a crackling sound. Conrad who saw this couldn't help but narrow his eyes as he knew how dangerous those black bolts of lightning can be.

Even if both are Rank 8, if he lets his guard down his will suffer, Fire element is hailed as the strongest element possessing a destructive power but it doesn't mean that it's was without equal, leaving aside the Water or Ice element its natural nemesis, the Lightning Element, especially Black Lightning possesses destructive power coupled with a swiftness that makes Black Lightning user dangerous.

Looking in the direction Alex and Gracier left to, Conrad hoped that they were able to put a good distance between them and this monster who just went after them, Conrad wasn't concerned about the other because he knew that the monster was only after Alex and Gracier, as for why he doesn't know nor he needs to know, following Leena's order was all matter.

Inwardly sighing, Conrad prepared himself to quickly end this fight to go after the siblings, he knew that Leena was approaching at fast speed.

Suddenly, the demon disappeared like a flash of lightning and reappeared behind Conrad slashing horizontally at him, without turning around Conrad brought his flaming sword to clash against the gray sword with black lightning around it.

Clangs!

Boom!

An explosion occurred as the two elements collided, Conrad disappeared to reappear on the left on the demon as if he had teleported however it was not the case, it was simply because his agility was so high that when he moves at fast speed it looks like he was teleporting, also he possesses a certain skill that increases his movement speed however the range was small, radius 50 meters (164.0420 ft).

Jumping back the demon dodged the slash and at the same time just as he was landing he pointed his finger in Conrad's direction and said,

''Black Lightning Bullet.''

Whoosh!

A small black lightning bullet was created and fired at Conrad at an extremely fast speed.

In the front of the incoming black lightning bullet, Conrad was calm as he muttered,

''Flame Shield''

Instantly a shield made of flame appeared in front of him to block the black lightning advance.

Boom!

An explosion occurred as the two elements clashed, the two had already moved and were clashing midair using their Gifts.

Clangs! Clangs! Clangs!

They kept moving around at fast speed exchanging moves while not forgetting at the same time to fire some normal spells like the ones they previously used. Because these kinds of spells don't require a long chant just a keyword, it was easy to use. When one's level becomes higher enough, like stepping into Rank 7 or 8 normal spells (skills) such as Fireball, Flame Shield, Water bullets, Wind bullets, and other normal spells doesn't require a chant to be used.

The two distanced themselves from each other as they stared at each other, Conrad couldn't help but curse under his breath because in their exchanges neither of them managed to get the upper hand, Conrad had thought of using some flashy move to distract the demon while he secretly slipped away to go rescue Alex and Gracier, unfortunately, it seemed that demon had seen through his plan thus blocking him whenever he tried to go.

Frustrated Conrad glared at the demon, the latter smiled, his smile would have been beautiful if hasn't for the long scar running through his face not sparring his lips, like the other demon who died under Leena's hand, this one also had a pale white face, red eyes, and light purple hair, because his mask who was filled with cracks broke under Conrad's attacks, the demon face became visible.

Not minding how his face looks, the demon with a crooked lip said.

''Why are you being hasty for? Flame Prince Let's play some more, let's destroy some more, let's have some fun while forgetting about everything else, I'll have only you in my eyes as you'll do the same thing. Let's love each other to the death.''

The demon when talking had a sickened expression on his face, no intoxicated expression should be more accurate, Conrad shivered as he felt goosebumps rising all over his body, so unconsciously he gripped the hand of his Gift.

''You are sick.''

To Conrad's words, the demon smiled,

''Thanks for the praise. I know you will accept me, I'm seeing it from your eyes, from the way you look at me, your hot gaze on me.''

Not paying any more attention to the weirdo's talking, Conrad decided to use his strongest move, normally he didn't want to use this because after using it, his MP is almost emptied and he becomes tired, he decided to use it considering the urgency of the situation he was in, it has only been fifteen minutes since he started fighting against the weirdo but he was feeling restless, he doesn't know if the ogre had caught up to Alex and Gracier or not but he must go after them, they can't face this monster, even himself know that he couldn't win against such a monster.

Having decided to use his strongest skill, Conrad already prepared a High-grade Recovery Potion even though this potion could only replenish half of his MP, it was better than nothing.

Seeing Conrad getting serious all of the sudden, the demon felt a sudden thrill that almost made him moan.

『You who are slumbering in the depth of mine soul, hear my call now and awaken: Flame Dragon』

Rumble!

As Conrad finished his chant, the world warped and ten meters (32.81 ft) long flame dragon appeared, it looks like an eastern dragon.

Using its flaming red eyes the Flame dragon glared at the smiling demon, the temperature around the two had increased to an alarming degree, the ground radius 50 meters (164.0420 ft) started melting.

Even so, the demon still had a smile on his face.

"Roarrrr!!!"

Suddenly, Conrad's Flame dragon roared before pouncing at the demon.

Seeing the incoming Flame dragon, the demon smiled and said,

''Guess, it's my turn.''

At the end of his words, he tossed his black sword toward the incoming Flame dragon and shouted,

''Devour Ashíntó''

Rumble! Zila~

The black sword instantly transformed into a huge black lightning dragon of the same height as Conrad's Flame dragon.

Conrad's eyes widened when he saw the demon black sword (Gift) transforming into a dragon, he quickly emptied the Recovery Potion he had prepared beforehand as he created a flame shield one after another to defend himself against what was about to come.

Kaboooom!!!

A mega explosion happened to destroy everything radius 5 kilometers (16404.20 ft) as the two dragons clashed.

Alex and the others who were running far ahead sensed the big explosion that sent all the forest into turmoil creating a big cloud that rises to the sky.

After the dust cleared the figure of Conrad nor the demon could be seen as the two disappeared not leaving any trace behind.

.....

Nickaido's here,

Kaboooom! Magic is too op.

Thanks to all of you for supporting this work filled with imperfections. With your support let make it better. Volume 4 is about to end in a couple of chapters, next volume will be on our MC going to the capital to enroll at the Imperial Magic Academy where Maria and others will be, what gonna happen? Stay tuned and keep supporting this shameless author as much you can, he is doing his best to provide you a better story.

Once again Thanks and happy reading.

P.S: I've changed Fire Shield into Flame Shield 'cause I think it sounds better.

129: Overdrive: Limit Break Part 1

While Conrad was fighting against the demon, the others were running away.

In a different location, the figure of Alex's and Gracier could be seen, the siblings were running at a fast speed.

Because Alex's agility was higher than his sister's agility, he held her in princess carry as he runs ahead, sometimes he would use his skill Accel to further increase the distance between them and the monster he hoped was still fighting against Conrad.

Alex couldn't find any reason why that kind of monster would show up, and more importantly why this monster seemed to be targeting him and his sister? Was because of he's otherworlder? Because of him? What was he missing? Alex mused over the possible reasons for this situation but he was not able to come up with a reason as he was missing the key point to understand why they were targeted. It never come to him that it may be because of his sister.

'Silveria, did you have an idea on what going on?' Alex decided to ask Silveria's opinion, maybe she may offer him a clue that would help him piece the whole thing together.

〖Master, I don't know but I can only speculate, I think-〗

However, just as Silveria started speaking she was cut halfway when suddenly the three heard a big explosion in the distance followed by a big cloud rising to the sky.

Even from here Alex and Gracier could feel the forest shaking.

Countless, startled birds flapped their wings and soared into the sky fearfully to escape what they judged to be the close-approaching death, as well as the individuals responsible for this mega explosion who killed countless of their brethren and other harmless animals.

Alex and Gracier knew who was responsible for the current explosion, without doubt, Conrad were one of the responsibles as for the other responsible it must be the two-headed mutated ogre.

Even though Alex would have wanted to know if everything was alright on Conrad's side, he did not have the leisure for that, they must quickly continue running, as for his previous discussion with Silveria, they will continue it later.

〖Master, it coming〗Silveria suddenly said.

Even without Silveria's warning Alex had already felt like the death god was about to claim his life, so threw Gracier in another direction as for himself he jumped back and summoned Silveria.

Gracier was surprised after being thrown like that, hastily stabilizing herself before landing on the ground, she spun around to observe her brother trying to understand why he threw her away, it was then she saw her brother aiming his gun in front of him and fired.

Bang!

Gracier only heard the gunshot not seeing any bullet, suddenly from the other side of the forest a big silhouette using its huge club like a shield to defend against Alex's invisible bullet came out.

The moment Gracier saw the big figure she shuddered, disbelief written all over her face, she had thought they put enough distance between themselves and the monster? So, how can this monster be here? Isn't it was fighting against Conrad? If so was then this monster couldn't be here. They must surely be another enemy who was fighting against Conrad in the two-headed ogre stead reason why the monster was able to catch up with them.

A lot of questions started running through her head, however now wasn't the time to be lost in thought. Gracier quickly came to a decision, therefore she summoned her status and quickly allocated her unused SP and BP.

『[Gracier Alexandra Touch]

「 Rank 4」

Level 33

Class: Fire Empress

Age: 14

Female

Race: High Half-Elf

Experience Value: 50/6600

Magic Power: 1430

Magic: Fire Magic

Attack: 345 (+50 BP) ✒ 395

Defense: 260

Agility: 260

Intelligence: 250

Luck: 260

BP: 0

SP: 0

Gift: Ignia's Bracelet

Skills: [Cooking Level 4] [Sewing Level 3] [Fireball Level 5] [Fire Arrows Level 4] [Meteor (???)] [Fire Snake Level 4] [Flame Shield Level 4 (+ 1 SP) ✒ Level 5] [Presence Detection Level 5] [Chantless Magic Level 5] [Fire Lotus Level 5] [Archery Level 1 (+ 3 SP) ✒ Level 4] (New skill)

Special Ability: [Dragon Eye Level 3 (+ 6 SP) ✒ Level 7]

Titles: [Avenger] [Child of Fire] [The Awakened] [The Diligent]』

After finished to allocate her unused BP and SP she insta-cast dozens of Fire arrows and mentally directed them into the incoming monster's direction.

Meanwhile, Alex was truly surprised as his Phantom Bullet was blocked, he had thought that the monster would be caught off guard by the sudden attack, however, the latter managed to blocked his surprise attack using the big club made from unknown stone like a shield, Silveria's bullet only left a small hole on the big club.

The monster with his two pairs of eyes glared at Alex and planned to squash him with its club, however before he could bring his club down he stopped because suddenly dozen of Fire arrows rained down on him.

Using the chance his sister had offered him Alex jumped back while at the same time shooting at the ogre busy dealing with Gracier's Fire arrows.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Alex shot three bullets special bullets at the monster, it was three Piercing Bullets, he tried to aim at the left head eyes however, the monster dodged the bullets by tilting its head sideways, however one of the bullets still managed to destroy half of the left head ear.

''Roaar!"

The monster roared in pain as his left ear was injured by a puny human.

Suddenly, something astonishing happened, under Alex and Gracier's eyes, the half-destroyed left ear start to regenerate at a fast speed.

''Wtf'' Alex exclaimed before Accel-ing to reappear elsewhere thus barely managing to avoid a huge fireball spat by the head on the right.

Gracier on the other hand had already used 'Materialize,' transforming Ignia's Bracelet into a golden flaming bow.

Drawing the bow, a one-meter-long fire arrow was created and fired at the mutated ogre who just attacked Alex. She thought of using this chance to catch the monster off guard.

However, the ogre was not surprised by the incoming fire arrow, opening his mouth once again, he spat another fireball that clashed against the incoming arrow.

Boom!

An explosion occurred momentarily blocking their sight, Alex who had his Divine Sense activated sensed something so he kicked the ground and disappeared to reappear in front of a startled Gracier, and pushed her down.

''Big brother, Wha-"

Gracier didn't manage to finish her words as she felt something passing above their heads and,

Baanng!

A big tree who was not far from the two had its upper body destroyed, Gracier couldn't help but shudder thinking about what would have happened if her brother hasn't intervened, she would be dead by now, crushed by a medium-size rock thrown by the ogre. How would have to that even with his sight momentarily blocked, that monster could still attack them.

〖Master watch out.〗Silveria suddenly warned.

Immediately Alex whose Six senses kicked in, held his sister tightly against his chest before rolling in the opposite direction, just as they left their previous location, a huge ice ball come crashing down there, instantly freezing the ground radius two meters (6.56167979ft), even from where they were they could still feel the bone-chilling cold, especially Gracier who was Fire element user.

No wasting even one breath, Alex picked his sister in a princess carry once more and started running not staying here any longer to receive another attack from the two-headed mutated ogre, the monster was too strong for them to fight it head-on, its instinct was too sharp, Alex strongest attack, the Phantom Bullet couldn't be used on the monster because of his instinct. They could only run away while thinking about another possible solution to keep their lives.

Seeing its preys running away, the two-headed mutated ogre was surprised at first because the two managed to avoid all his attacks, however, he started grinning as he watched them run away, the monster decided to give a chase as he felt it would more exciting this way, the more your prey struggles to keep his life, the more excitement you'll gain when you squash him like a bug showing him how meaningless his struggle was.

While thinking this, the two-headed mutated ogre started running after the siblings.

•••••

Nickaido's here with an explanation just in the case some of you may have forgotten about skill level up.

Gracier used 6 SP on her Dragon Eye special ability, thus increasing the level from 3 to 7.

This is how it happened: 2 SP to increase the level from 3 to 5, while the remaining 4 SP added 2 levels.

One must know that starting from Level 5 onwards, you'll need 2 SP to increase your skill point instead of 1 SP you usually use from Level 1 to 5.

I hope this cleared some of your doubts.

Happy reading and continue supporting this shameless author as you do. Thank you all for the votes and Gifts I appreciate it.

Keep up! Love you all.

130: Overdrive: Limit Break Part 2

Meanwhile, while the two-headed mutated ogre was thinking how exciting it would be to watch Alex and Gracier struggle thinking they could survive as he finally killed them, the siblings who were running ahead were communicating via telepathy.

[Alexandra can you use your Dragon Eye on that monster chasing after us?]

To Alex's question, Gracier immediately answered.

[Yeah Big brother I can, I just upgraded my eye to Level 7]

[Good, count to 3 before turning to use your eye on him. I'll take care of the rest.]

[Okay.] Gracier nodded at Alex's words.

As the two had decided on their next course of action they continued running, the monster was not too far from them, the latter was still grinning.

However, the next moment his eyes widened as he saw Gracier removing the eye patch covering her left eye, then a beautiful golden eye locked him in place momentarily making him stop.

As if the two were perfectly synchronized, Alex spun around and aimed Silveria at the monster's knee and fired a Phantom Bullet.

Bang!

Alex did not go for the heads because he knew it wouldn't work, he had this feeling. Instead, he chooses the monster's knee because he wants to incapacitate the latter as the two will use this chance to escape.

However, it didn't go as he had planned, even when still under Gracier powerful dragon eye, the monster managed to bring his club down.

A,

Baanng!

Sound could be heard as the phantom bullet clashed against the club followed by the monster anguish wail because even though he managed to bring down his club to protect his knee, he didn't escape the danger unscathed as the recoil produced by the bullet when it clashed against the club pushed the latter to collide against the monster's knee almost breaking it, however even while not breaking the bone it still hurts like hell and the monster was injured.

Alex immediately Accel-ed to reappear a hundred meters away, it was one of the downsides of the skill while taking someone with him he can't Accel further than hundred meters (328.084 ft) maybe it will change as the skill level increased.

Shaking his head Alex decided to continue, and just as he was about to Accel again he noticed that his sister became all panicked. He didn't have time to ask as he felt a sudden sense of crisis and Gracier muttering,

[Flame Shield]

A shield made of flame appeared in front of them blocking the big Iceball spat by the two-headed mutated ogre.

Kaboom!

An explosion occurred when the two opposite elements collided and because of the proximity of the siblings to the explosion, they were swept in and blasted twenty meters away before crashing against a nearby tree.

''Gah!"

Alex grunted in pain as he was the one who suffered the most when he acted like a cushion for his sister as they collided against a tree.

Hastily standing up, the two wanted to continue running however before they could move they, witnesses, the monster being attacked by a big water ball the size of a basketball crashing against its face pushing him a couple of steps back.

Alex and Gracier were astonished, so was the monster, he was not expecting someone to come to the rescue of his prey, enraged he roared.

While the monster was roaring, Alex and Gracier finally spotted the person behind the water ball's attack.

Surprisingly it was Eleonora, she appeared next to the siblings with rough breathing, she was sweating.

''Hah, hah! Howdy, you two?" She asked while trying to catch her breath.

''Not doing great as you can see. What are you doing here, I thought you went after-"

''Save your breath. He is attacking, better go all out, or else we will die. Hope help will come soon.'' Eleonora interrupted Alex and said before drinking a recovery potion.

Nodding his head, Alex also drinks a High-grade Mana recovery potion. Dusting themselves they saw the monster glaring at them before suddenly started to run in their direction, his speed was fast, he almost closed on them, just as he was about to arrive before them the head on the right opened its mouth to breathe flame.

''He is breathing fire,'' Alex announced jumping on the left, Eleonora and Gracier jumped back, with Gracier materializing Ignia's Bracelet into a golden flaming bow and fired an arrow at the monster who tilted his left head sideways avoiding the fire arrow.

Alex and Eleonora were ready to follow with their attacks however suddenly a suffocating pressure felt upon them locking them in place, the three had trouble breathing, they felt powerless.

''No- good it's a domain,'' Eleonora said with difficulty.

''Domain?'' Alex wondered, he had never heard of this thing called domain, it was his first time hearing it.

〖Domain is an absolute space where you have perfect control over everything. No good master you'll die at this rate, I-〗

With a horrified expression, Alex cut Silveria off and said, 'Sigh! I know.'

Meanwhile, the two-headed mutated ogre who just activated his domain started to leisurely walk towards the three, seeing the horrified expression on the three faces he was pleased with himself.

[Overdrive: Limit Break] Alex mumbled.

Suddenly, a powerful aura burst from his body, his Level soared from 43 to 53 surprising the girls not far from him, however it was temporary boost. Quickly checking his status he was surprised when he saw that he even gained BP, he quickly put them on his Attack's stat increasing it to 1070 points. Maybe with this he could injure the monster he thought, however Alex couldn't help but inwardly sigh as he knew the consequences of using this ability, having no other choice he was forced to use it.

『[Alexander Kael Touch]

Class: Magic Gunman

Age: 17

Male

Race: High Human

「 Rank 5」✒ Rank 6

Level 43 ✒ 53

Experience Value (XP): ??????

Magic Power: 2430 (+ 100) ✒ (2530)

Magic: None

Attack: 770 (+ 100 ( +200 BP) ✒ (1070)

Defense: 680 (-102)= 578 (+ 100) ✒ (678)

Agility: 775 (-116)=659 (+ 100) ✒ (759)

Intelligence: 680 (-102)= 578 (+100) ✒ (678)

Luck: 480 (-72)= 408 (+100) ✒ (508)

BP: 0

SP: 0

Gift: Two Guns * Semi-sealed

Skills: [Advanced Appraisal Level 1] [Item box Level 2] [Swift Fingers Max] [Divine Sense Level 4] [Throwing knife Level 5] [Dark Vision Level 2] [Dual Wielding Level 2] [Accel Level 1] [Knife Art Level 4] [Link Level 3] [Intimidation Level 5] [Gun Art Level 5]

Special Abilities: [Language Comprehension][Danger Sense] [Overdrive]

Titles: [Otherworlder] [The one who can't use Magic] [The one whose fingers are faster than Flash] [Goblin Slayer] [The Reborn]』

Gritting his teeth Alex managed to direct Silveria toward the ground, the two-headed mutated ogre eyes widened as he felt something bad was about to happen, he was not bothered even when the puny human managed to somehow increase his power, however, he had this sudden nagging feeling that whatever this human was going to accomplish he must not let him do it otherwise he would regret, so he decided to decide to kill this human first.

However, before he could attack something astonishing happened that left not only him but Gracier and Eleonora dumbfounded.

The ogre domain suddenly got canceled when Alex fired a bullet at the ground.

Even if she was surprised by what happened, Eleonora decided to ask later fully knowing Alex wouldn't answer her, kicking the ground she disappeared to reappear under the still surprised ogre, summoning her two black daggers who were currently emitting bone-chilling energy, Eleonora slashed at the monster's legs leaving deep cuts there.

''Gugiahh!"

The two-headed mutated ogre wailed before striking the ground with its club.

Boom!

A big shockwave was created around around the monster.

Everything happened too fast, from the moment Alex used one of Silveria's Unique abilities who earned her the nickname 'Mage Nemesis' to the moment Eleonora attacked the monster, only four seconds passed.

Eleonora has blasted away as she hasn't expected the monster to strike his club against the ground creating a big shockwave that blasted her back, the monster followed with another attack by opening its left head mouth intending to spat an Iceball in Eleonora's direction, however, he was stopped by Gracier dragon eye, glaring at Gracier he threw his club at the startled girl who wasn't expecting such quick counterattack.

Alex who was planning to unleash Phantom Bullets on the monster hastily stopped and Accel-ed to reappear beside his sister, using his right hand he pushed Gracier away with all his strength. Let's not forget that he was currently level 53 so when he used all his strength to throw his sister into another direction, the latter was sent away like a ragdoll, she collided against a tree fifty (164.0420 ft) meters right with her head first, she immediately fainted.

Meanwhile, Alex whose Overdrive skill was about to end brought Reaper out and used to divert the huge club trajectory, however, because of the club's weight and the speed behind the throwing, Alex only managed to slightly divert it before his right was bent into an unnatural angle and he was flung back.

''Gaha!''

He spat a mouthful of blood, using his left hand to stabilize himself before crashing against the tree at his back, Alex started to feel dizzy, Overdrive Limit Break had just ended, the consequences of the skill started to kick in.

〖Watch out〗

''Watch out.''

Silveria and Eleonora both said simultaneously, lifting his head with difficulty, Alex pry open his heavy eyelids to see the two-headed mutated ogre who should be fifty meters away appearing right before him with his right leg aiming at him, too tired to even move Alex couldn't helplessly watch as the leg slowly moved toward him.

Suddenly, Eleonora appeared between the two with her daggers crossed in front of her, the aura around her wasn't less than the one Alex had when he was still on Overdrive.

Alex didn't have the time nor the energy to question her, he saw her forehead was bleeding, it seemed that she was injured by the monster's earliest attack.

Baanng!

Crack!!!

Finally, the ogre leg connected with Eleonora's daggers, both the maiden, the daggers, and Alex were blasted back destroying several trees in the process before finally stopping after thirty meters.

They were gravely injured, Eleonora's hands were broken she fainted.

Not too far from her was Alex puking blood, he felt like all the bones inside his body were broken, his body feels hot, he couldn't move, not even lift a finger as he continued puking blood, slowly his conscious started slipping away, even though he didn't want to close his eyes he was forced to as he had no control over his current body, his body refused to listen to his brain's command.

Before losing consciousness he asked himself,

''Will I die? Just like that? For what reason? My journey just started. I refuse to yield. Move, move I said. Move my body, move damnit.''

Even though he shouted with all his might, his body still stubbornly refused to listen to his command as finally, he lost consciousness.

〖Master, Master you will not die, I'll make sure of it. Master stay awake, Alex stay awake please.〗

Somehow Silveria's voice seemed distant.

On his final moment before completely losing consciousness he could swear to have heard Silveria shouting at someone, he vision blurred and he saw a black space, a simple black throne with someone sitting on it, few black chains were wrapped around this person dressed in a white robe, it was a girl, Alex didn't see her face but he knew she had silver hair and it was Silveria.