Please Let Me Fight You!

"God damn it!"

Nex moved his body uncomfortably while dealing with the excruciating pain that was going throughout his body and soul.

The techniques [Mana Body] and [Soul Sword Zero Art : Unsheathing] that he used were very consuming of stamina that even slightly overtaxed his body and soul.

[Mana Body] is a technique that dispenses a large amount of mana per moment in order to make his body on the same level as his mana. In the game language, it makes his physical stats equal to his mana stats.

But using this [Mana Art] at his current level of strength is still too early. Until either his mana or body reached a certain high enough level, he has no choice but to suffer this backlash of physical damage after every time he uses it.

As for the [Soul Sword Zero Art : Unsheathing], although it is not as consuming as a normal [Soul Art], it still contributed to Nex's fatigue for a myriad of reasons.

Using it for a prolonged time with a rough and inadequate wooden sword as a medium and even overlapped it with another [Soul Sword Art], in the end, the state of his soul wasn't any better than the rest of his body.

"Good thing I leveled up from that piece of crap."

Nex grumbled as he began to do a breathing technique that restored his body at the price of mana.

"Or else, it would have been a nightmare to restore enough mana with my body's current state."

And thanks to the mana that he had, he quickly restored his body, enough to move properly and stand back up after a short time.

"Now, let's check out the loots!"

Nex reached out his hand in order to grab the equipment that was dropped by the Devil Viscount. Before his hand managed to get close, the tattoo suddenly shone and before he managed to react, all of the loots from the Devil and demonic power in the air was sucked into it, leaving nothing behind but an additional marking to his hand.

"…"

Nex's expression froze at first. After a moment, he calmly pulled out his sword and put the tip of it over the tattoo.

"I can handle perfectly without my hand. Can you do it too?"

*Bzzz!*

*Bzzz!*

"What do you mean it will help me more? Prove it!"

*Bzzz!*

It shone once again and projected a hologram of a radar.

"What is it?"

*Bzzz!*

"You mean that this radar will locate any special ingredients or treasures related to my Professions?"

*Bzzz!*

"…Want me to find you some more Devils?"

♦♦♦

"Still, no signs of any Demons."

The old Dwarf sighed deeply as it stared at the direction of the mines. The last few hours were the most nerve-wracking ones it had in the last few years.

But no one can blame the Head for that.

Right now, there is probably an army of Demons inside the mines and the only one who is standing between them and the settlement is a young man in his twenties. He might have an amazing battle power, but in the end, he is still alone. This kind of battle statistics isn't really encouraging in the slightest.

Although the old Dwarf has had its fair share of thrill before retiring to this settlement, the times it had been under this magnitude of pressure can be counted to only one hand.

They couldn't fight back. The Demons were stronger than them both in quality and quantity. They couldn't get help.

The communication device signal is blocked and there is still some time until the messenger they sent will come back with reinforcements.

Run away? They are in a mountainous area and even though they have a natural advantage as Dwarfs, they will not be able to escape along with the young and weak ones. They will be caught by the Demons in no time.

Facing such a hopeless situation, the settlement Head could only pray that Nex will be able to do the impossible and hold the Demons off until help arrives.

"Fate sure loves to mess with people."

The settlement head shook its head and turned back.

"Yeah. She is quite a b*tch."

Upon hearing that familiar voice that agreed with it, the old Dwarf froze. It took a moment before it tilted its head in confusion and looked around. A silver-haired man sat near the inner part of the gate. He was munching on a kebab while examining a black gem that resembles a marble but emits an eerie aura.

"Say, if I remove the creepy feeling it gives off, do you think a core of a high-rank Demon will be a cool gift for a ten-year-old boy?"

"Y-you!"

The old Dwarf pointed at Nex with a shaking finger.

That man was here, unharmed and not fighting in the mines. But why were there no signs of Demons? Why haven't they attacked?

"Oh! Where are my manners?"

Nex acted as if he remembered something and pulled another kebab from the inventory and offered it to the old Dwarf.

"Earth Drake Kebab?"

♦♦♦

After finally eating the surprisingly tasty Kebab that Nex incessantly offered, the settlement Head, at last, managed to get an answer from the man as for why he came back and also what happened to the Demons.

"Oh, about this?"

Nex shrugged under the old Dwarf's expectant gaze.

"There was a rift to a Demonic realm under a Viscount Devil's rule. Since it was limited to only First Awakening Demons, there weren't any strong ones there. So after killing all of the Demons, closing the rift and destroying the soul projection of the Devil Viscount that came out---"

"Stop! Stop!"

The old Dwarf waved its hand to cut Nex off.

"You didn't only slaughter what can very well be hundreds of Demons; you also destroyed a rift to a demonic realm. To top it off, you also slew a soul projection of a being that can easily destroy over a third of the kingdom."

"That pretty much, sums it up."

Nex nodded in agreement, he was actually satisfied by the summary but he added a key point.

"But it was easier than what you made it sound. After all, they were all at First Awakening in terms of power."

"…Are you even human?"

The old Dwarf asked weakly after a brief silence.

"Well, that's just rude."

Nex frowned while patting his chest proudly.

"Do you know how much crap I had to go through to get my body back to one of a human? Before, every time I got close to someone, they cried and ran away!"

"I see."

The old Dwarf sweated while its thoughts were in disarray.

'What kind of hellish creature was he before?!'

"Ahhh! I remembered!"

Nex suddenly cried out.

"I canceled the blockage of the communication signal when I destroyed the gate. Now, you can communicate with the outside world. In addition, there are tons of Demon corpses back at the mine, so you should do something about them soon. You can keep the things there. I already got what I wanted."

He flipped the Demon core in his hand like it was a coin.

"What?!"

Like every other being that met Nex, he got surprises after surprises.

"You don't know the value of this many Demons? You can earn a fortune that could set you for life!"

"Don't need it. I earned enough money for now after defeating some Bosses. I don't like carrying too much on me. Besides, you should use the money to get some capable fighters for this place. If it had a proper fighting force, you might have not needed my help at all."

"But still…"

The old Dwarf still tried to find a way to reject such generosity. They were already in such a great debt to him.

"Just take it. I am on my way to Starshine and I am going on a rough way. You can't expect me to carry all of those, right?"

"Wait, are you saying that you are going to Starshine?"

Upon hearing the name of the Western city, the old Dwarf's eyes shone and he ran to his house. After a few moments, he came back and handed Nex a letter along with a badge.

"Give this to the Mayor and tell him what happened here. This letter and badge will prove your identity, so you won't get any problems. Although I can't offer you much by myself, as I and that man are close friends, he will surely give something that will satisfy you."

"Thank you."

Nex didn't reject and politely received the items. Who knows? Maybe there will be uses for them.

After getting the letter and the badge, Nex suddenly noticed that it was time for him to log off.

Telling the old Dwarf that he needed to go and with reassurances that the settlement is no longer in danger, he then logged off.

The old Dwarf stared at where Nex disappeared with a flash of light as if he was trying to digest what just happened. After a few moments, it shook its head and walked away.

"I am too old to think about those things. I should just be thankful for what I get."

♦♦♦

'How much time has passed since I went on a leisure walk in the park?'

Nex leaned on a bench inside the park while closing his eyes, unknowingly letting out an irresistible aura that made all the women around blush and stare at him foolishly.

Since Eddie needed help in studying, Jane cancelled all training except for the morning ones. She then kicked Nex out so that he won't disturb Eddie from studying.

It should also be said that it was an indirect move to prevent Nex from further corrupting her brother.

So without anything better to do, Nex decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood. After walking for a while and saw what the place has to offer, he stopped and sat on a bench in a public park.

'Honestly, I thought that I would get bored from walking around pretty quickly. But this is more… relaxing than I thought. I am actually starting to like it.'

He let out a small smile that made the women around blush harder and even let out sighs and "Kyaa!" noises from the younger ones.

Strangely, they were all content on just staring at this guy and no one dared to get close to him.

"F-finally! I-I found you!"

Being disturbed from his daydreaming by a slightly familiar yet stuttering voice, Nex furrowed his brows and stared with slight annoyance at the beautiful young girl who looked at him while heavily blushing.

"Oh, you're the kid from before."

"D-don't call me kid!"

The girl said without being able to look at him directly in the eyes.

"My name is Elise!"

"Nex. Now that we have finished with the introductions, what do you want from me on this pleasant day?"

Hearing his question, Elise managed to somewhat recover and after taking a deep breath, she stared at Nex straight and with a resolute voice, she made a declaration.

"Please let me fight you!"