Leroy Jenkins

"Thank you." These words distracted his attention from the blue beast essence in his hand. He didn't notice that Jian was standing beside him.

Aiden nodded, fearing that he would turn into a chatterbox again, and said nothing else. However, his effort was futile. And again, Jian opened his mouth.

"I never thought you would be so powerful." Aiden could even see the praises in his eyes, but what he couldn't understand is how he knew it. And as expected, he replied on his own.

He pulled up his thermal dress and showed his waist. Aiden had no intention of looking at it, but he understood what he meant when he did.

When Aiden tried to stop Jian from falling, he left a red handprint on his waist. Jian smiled and said, "Don't worry, I will not charge you the medical bill. I know you did it to save me."

Jian knew very well that if Aiden didn't catch him when the transporter was turned upside down, he would surely have been badly injured if he hadn't died on the spot.

"What is this?" However, Jian's concern changed too quickly.

"Ice troll," Aiden said instinctively, but added, "that is what I call it."

"Ice troll?" Jian looked like he was in deep thought as he said, "Yeah, this one looks like one. Like you can see in those old VRRPGs, but who killed it?"

"Where the hell is that son of a bitch?" before he could answer, an angry howl caught their attention as a commotion broke out near the transporter. "How did that bastard dare to hit us?"

Even without looking in the direction, a frown appeared on Aiden's face. He knew he couldn't avoid it, and he had no intention to do that.

He walked as Jian followed him to the transporter. On the other hand, he saw that Cooper was trying to calm them down.

"Stop it. Are you a kid or something?" it was clear from his voice that Cooper, too, was not happy with their attitude.

"Why don't you tell him that? That son of a bitch dared to attack us after we saved him."

'Rescue him, huh? Why don't you say that you were trying to kill him?' Cooper whispered in his heart, but he didn't say that loudly. "Stop it, this isn't the time or the place."

"Who the hell are you?" said the younger brother, who was more unrestrained. "Why do we have to listen to your words?"

"Apologize" Aiden's voice wasn't loud, but all those present felt the chill that the voice emitted.

His sudden appearance startled the older brother for a moment, and the younger brother was the first to react.

"What did you say? Apologize? To you?" He gave a hysterical laugh before poking Aiden's chest with his finger, and said, "We saved you from the beast, and you are the one who at... ahhhhh." His seamless reasoning turned into a cry of pain.

When he realized that the finger of his brother was bent into the opposite direction, the older twin wanted to help. However, for a moment he froze on the spot.

As soon as he recovered, he threw a punch at Aiden. But before the punch could connect, an excruciating pain spread from the side of his chest. His legs gave up, and he fell to the ground while holding his chest.

'Again' he cursed in his heart. He couldn't understand how Aiden caught him off guard, not once, but twice. Yet all he could do was to clutch his broken rib and glare at Aiden.

Aiden, too, was staring at them with a pair of cold eyes. Without any emotion on his face, he turned to the younger brother again, and he repeated the same word, "Apologies."

"What did you *Slap*..." it stunned the younger brother in the middle of the sentence before he burst out again, "How dare you *slap*."

"You *slap*."

"I *slap*."

"Sorry *slap*."

"Why *slap*."

There was nothing, but the sound of slapping continued to resonate. The turn of events shocked those who were looking at the commotion. Most of them didn't know what happened all. The only thing they saw was that Aiden was harassing the twin.

"What are you doing?" complained one of the righteous, with a bandage around his forehead. Aiden looked at the boy but said nothing. But the younger twin didn't miss the chance. He quickly covered his cheeks, and he continued to stare at Aiden with his red eyes.

However, when Aiden turned to him, he avoided his eyes. Aiden snorted and decided not to pursue the matter anymore and moved. However, his elder brother…

As soon as the older twin found that Aiden was coming to him, he broke into a cold sweat and began screaming, "Do you know who I am? If you touch us, ahhhhh"

His explanation of self-worth soon turned into a cry of pain, and the history repeated itself. Aiden put a little more pressure on his foot, and the scream intensified. "I am sorry. I'm sorry."

"Hey!" It was the righteous one again, "What you're doing isn't right. You should…"

Looking at Aiden, who was snickering at him, he couldn't complete his sentence. However, Aiden said, "If you continue to think in this way, you will be the one who will die first."

Yet, before he could reply, someone else shouted, "Oh! They are here."

All of them turned to look at the direction he had pointed. There was something that was coming in their direction at full speed. They couldn't discern their identity from this distance, but Aiden had no problem at all.

"Those are ice tr… monsters," Aiden said with a calm voice, but their reaction was anything but calm.

Even if they had been trained for such a long time, or had taken part in a mock battle, it was their first time in an actual fight. And going against such a humanoid monster has made them more unsettled.

"Quick. Get your guns out of the transporter." However, Cooper was different. The air around him changed as he continued to command, "What are you waiting for? Would you like to die and become a monster food?"

He was the first one to get his gun out of the transporter. Soon others followed suit.

"Are you not going to get the gun?" Cooper asked as he came close to Aiden.

"No. I am not very good with a gun. I am more comfortable with blades."

"Oh!" Cooper was a little surprised at his answer. They equipped the rangers with a sword and a shield, along with a gun. But they were only for the last defence. Nobody expected that they would fight the monster with swords and shields.

'He fought with the monster barehanded. Could it be…' Cooper wasn't too sure about it, but rumours were going around that the federation would send some mana warriors after the monsters appeared. 'Could he be one of them?'

It wasn't something he could confirm right now, but he removed the sword from his waist and said, "Take it. This one is military sanctioned. They are good."

"Thank you." Aiden took the two-feet-long blade and said, "Do you think it will be enough for them?"

Although Cooper had never fought with them, he heard that these beasts had already demolished two strongholds and many more outposts. And looking at the recruits who were shaking while holding their guns, he couldn't be too confident about the fight, but...

"It will be all right. We need not kill all of them, we just need to hold them back until the reinforcements arrive."

*Trrrrrrrrr*

Before Aiden could respond, the roar of an unknown beast attracted his attention. He looked at the incoming beast as Cooper turned to look the other way.

The beast tide that was charging at them, while sending a cloud of snow in the air, became chaotic.

*Trrrrrrrrrr*

"They're here," said Cooper, with a bright smile on his face. Aiden followed his sight to find out that there were two aircraft which were hovering in the middle of the air. The beaks of the cannon turrets were glowing in blinding blue, spitting fire and hot metal at the incoming horde of beasts.

And the result couldn't be more devastating. Looking at the chaotic line of the beast that was scattering under the devastating firepower of two cannon, Aiden couldn't help but wonder, 'there is nothing better than a gun against the beast. Yet they could not defend two strongholds! What could have happened?'

*************

Thirty minutes ago, Stronghold # 11.

"Oh! There are so many with a high reputation." The more he looked at the list in front of him, the more his face darkened. "Do these guys think this place is a child's playground?"

The man, with a face full of beard, was the director of the Stronghold no. 11, one of the three military strongholds. A three-star general, Leroy Jenkins.

'That is the reason you aren't getting any promotions.' The face of his assistant twitched a little as he heard those words. He knew that the more he would try to calm him down, the worse it would be.

"What about this kid? Aiden Law? 16 years old? Did he even complete his military training?"

"He is a special case. It looks like he has a terrible relationship with one director."

"Huh!" Leeroy frowned, "what kind of idiot director sent a child here for such a silly reason? Which director is it? Which stronghold does he control?"

His assistant shook his head and said, "it is the director of the Federation, not of a stronghold."

"Oh!" Leeroy was a little surprised, but he didn't expect that. "Those bastards only know how to bully a child." He continued to look at the list. "These twins too?"

His assistant nodded and said, "No, we must take good care of them. And the deputy director of the military had ordered us to take good care of his…"

*knock* *knock*

"What?" Shouted Leroy.

"General, it's an emergency." shouted the man from outside.

"What are you doing outside then? Come in."

A man in military uniform came running in. From the star on his shoulder, it was clear that it was a one-star general.

"General, they attacked the transporters which were transporting the recruits."

"What?" shuddered the assistant in fear. "There are so many important people in them."

"How many?" His fist was clenched, but unlike his assistant, he was calm.

"32."

"32 out of 63, huh?" Leroy thought deeply, as he mumbled, "that stupid scientist might be true. There might be some intelligent beings controlling these monsters."

"General, what are you doing here? You should send out the army first. Do you know how important they are? If anything..."

*crash*

Leroy slammed his fist on the table, startling his assistant. Although the cry of Leroy's assistant was directed at the new person in the room, still Leroy wasn't happy.

"General!" The assistant turned to Leroy with pleading eyes.

"Sago." But Leroy's voice was louder, and his assistant, Sago, turned silent.

"Have you sent the reinforcement?"

"Yes, general. I dispatched two striker cannons for those which were attacked and the one for those who weren't attacked."

"Good. Let them come back. After they come back, call everyone. We need to tighten up the defence."