Chapter 35 : Crimson (Part 2)

"Hah! hah! hah!"

*TAP* *TAP*

Under the sea of stars, Alicia and the other kids ran through the dark forest in a straight line, as they were told and they kept running, not turning their head to look back.

Alicia continued to run while feeling extremely worried and guilty for leaving Rei to fight Banzana alone.

They don't know how far they had been running but they eventually saw a person standing in the middle of the forest wearing a cloak and a hood.

They stopped running, some were catching their breath before they could start looking at the person before them. From their appearance, the person seemed to be at the same height as them.

That person pulled back their hood, revealing a blonde haired little girl underneath it.

Alicia widened her eyes after seeing her. She ran towards her and then pulled her into a tight embrace.

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*THUD*

"Litia!!"

"Onee-chan!!"

It was Litia who was waiting for them and now she broke down crying in her sister's arms.

"I'm glad you are okay..." Litia sobbed and continued to hug her older sister.

"I'm back now...I'm back..." Alicia soothed, trying to assure her that she's back safe and sound.

Litia pulled slightly apart, looking around as she wiped her tears, she frowned a bit when she's not finding Rei with them, "Where...where is Mr. Warrior?..."

"Mr. Warrior? You mean...Mr. Knight?" Alicia asked to make sure that he was the same person.

"Y-yes! A man with black armor and a red scarf! Where is he!? Didn't he save you and the others!?"

Alicia wasn't sure how to tell her so she stayed quiet for a while and not really looking at her. The other kids also looked away after she asked something like that.

"W-What's wrong...Onee-chan...is he okay?!" Litia asked, looking fearful to what she's about to say next.

"Litia...hear me, Mr. Knight...right now he is–..."

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"Fighting with a [Monster].

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Alone."

******

Rei was standing in the middle of the forest. In front of him is [Banzana, The Bandit's King] who are known for being infamous with his...well, job.

Bazana was grinning from ear to ear in excitement while he stared at his opponent. "Now then...how about we start the fight now?~"

"....."

Rei didn't give him an answer and quickly used skill for the first time instead.

'[Beast Will].'

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[Beast's Will]

Using the power of the mysterious beast, it allows the individual to temporarily increase STRENGTH, VITALITY, and AGILITY by 15.

Duration : 45 sec.

Cooldown : 65 sec.

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Suddenly, Rei's red aura was mixed together with some kind of bluish aura.

Banzana saw it and if he wasn't excited already, he is now definitely. "Ohhh?~ a Buff Skill huh?~ such a rare equipment you got there~ where did you get those anyway?"

"If I told you, are you gonna shut up or what?" Rei replied coldly, 'But then again...his name is still red, do I need to build up all my point? it will take a long time to think about it.'

"Heh, such a cocky lil' brat...makes me wanna know–"

*SHUUSTH*

Banzana disappeared in an instant when he's about to finish his words.

Rei was taken aback, and when he felt some presence behind him...

He turned his head around. There was no one behind him and that presence disappeared.

'What?!–'

However, another presence quickly approaching behind him and a voice came out.

"–How long are you going to stay alive~"

Banzana appeared right in before his eyes all the while swinging his sword down to him.

Rei quickly responded to his strike by lifting his sword to block it.

But...

*TANG*

Rei was sent flying from that single strike, he didn't know it was that powerful.

'Again...what's with this strength?!'

Rei landed on his feet on the ground and quickly tried to retrain his focus on his opponent.

"Hoo?~ quite sturdy aren't you? If a normal soldier meet that attack, they will bleehh~ split apart!" Banzana cackled.

"Heh...well too bad I'm not those kind of soldiers."

"Indeed...it won't be fun if you die this quick!!"

This time, Banzana ran towards him with full force then lifted his sword up and swung it down towards him.

Rei quickly jumped back.

*CRACK*

The ground was destroyed when his sword hits and it was quite deeply embedded in the ground.

'Kiritsuka! Watch out!'

While in midair, Ray warned him as he could see that Banzana was about to do something.

"[Ground Splash]!"

He shouted his skill as he forcefully pulled his sword out from the ground, creating a wave of dirt and rocks moving towards Rei who was still hanging in midair.

'Tsk! [Shadow Movement]!'

Rei quickly activated his skill, engulfing his body with dark mist as those wave of rocks and dirt passed through his body.

*SWOOSH*

When Rei looked at his front, Banzana disappeared from his sight again.

"Where is he–" He cut himself off as soon as he noticed Banzana appeared right behind him.

The man grabbed his head with his giant hand that seemed to be bigger than his own head.

'When did he–'

*SWOOSH*

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*BOOM* *CREAK*

He threw Rei against a tree and the impact was enough to break the tree apart.

"Ack!"

He coughed as he could tell his [HP] went down by 25%. That's quite a lot.

Rei quickly stood on his feet but then again...

Banzana once again, appeared right in front of him.

"What–?!"

The man grinned and swung his sword down towards him.

*BOOM*

It created a large explosion, sending a lot of dust and dirt around.

When the dust disappeared, Banzana noticed that Rei was nowhere to be found, only the broken tree and destroyed ground where he was standing before.

'Hmm, I feel the impact from my sword...but it seems he used [Shadow Movement] before he got fatally injured.'

Banzana looked around as he still couldn't find him, '[Shadow Movement] not only hides the user's presence...it also hides their mana and aura at the same time.'

His grin grew wide again

"Heh~ what an interesting guy, using such a rare item like that."

"Huehehehehe....HAHAHAHAHA!!!" Banzana laughed madly.

"Yes~ just like that!! Show me more!! More!!"

As the laughter continue...

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*SWOOSH*

Meanwhile Rei came out from the shadows under the trees. He was a bit far away from him now.

Rei panted exhaustedly. His right shoulder got injured because of that last strike from before while his body was clad in darkness using [Shadow Movement] once again to hide his presence.

'Madman...no wonder he was able to fight toe on toe with the Knights...he's fucking strong!'

Rei takes out a green potion from his [Inventory] then pour them on his right shoulder to heal his injury.

'Houston...is there any plan to defeat this guy.'

'If I had one, I would have been telling you by now...' Ray sighed, 'right now we need to know how to survive from his attacks.' Ray replied, not being confident about how are they gonna win this.

'Dammit...why the heck every gigantic guy I fought has that kind of speed!!' Rei cursed in anger, 'And not only that, I couldn't even see his movement at all.'

Ray widened his eyes a bit as he noticed something strange, 'Hmmm...Rei, did you focus your eyes with aura constantly?'

'Well yeah...since I learned how to do that when I fought with uncle Nel right? I mean, he was fast.'

'Hmmm...I see, it seems our enemy used some sort of trick.'

'What kind of trick?'

'Do you remember about the [Magic Item] we were talking about a while ago?'

'Wait– you mean he was using some sort of [Magic Item] to have that kind of speed!'

'It's not speed actually...it's more like a movement spell.'

'A movement spell?'

'Yeah so….you already know [Shukuchi] right?'

'Yeah? What about it?'

'It's a skill that shortened the range between you and the enemy...like, you moved fast so your opponent couldn't read you. With [Aura] you can either focus on your sense to react to that.'

'So what you're saying is??'

'It means, Banzana used a spell that comes from [Magic Item]...the spell that he's using is called [Teleportation]. It's a spell that allows you more than just moving with speed since you can also move around place to place without even moving your body....for example, when he disappeared and reappeared at the same time.'

'I-i see...dammit, such a neat skill he has...to teleport anytime at will.'

'Anytime isn't the right word...every magic item has their own limit, if you used it too much it will overheat and break on itself.'

'So it has a limit huh?'

'I don't know yet, the possibility isn't that high but...' Ray trailed off, still unsure about it.

'Then we just need to breakthrough that possibility first.' Rei spoke with confidence.

'Heh, you always put your trust on me too much.'

'Well we are partners anyway.' Rei said with smile.

Ray flashed him a faint smile. 'Yeah.'

However, his smile fell when Ray noticed something odd.

'Hmm? Why it's so quiet now…'

'Huh?' Rei noticed it as well, since he was using his aura to enhance his hearing, he should be able to hear Banzana voice from afar.

'You're right, this is weird.'

******

Meanwhile when Rei was having discussing with Ray. Banzana suddenly got quiet.

The man who was standing in the middle of forest was focusing on something.

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The ground began to shook...

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The trees rustle violently as powerful gust of wind blew the forest.

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As Banzana's body began to be engulfed by an orange aura, he lifted his saber sword.

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Rei who noticed the change of the situation around him, quickly stood up from where he's resting before.

'Kiritsuka! Run! That guy–' Ray quickly warned him.

When Rei's about to jump away….

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It was too late

Banzana grinned and then shouted his skill, "[Mother Earth]!!!"

He slammed his sword down to the ground, creating such a devastating explosion.

*BOOM*

*CRACK*

*CRACK*

The ground was destroyed completely and from it a wave of earthquake washed through the surrounding area.

*SWOOSH*

*CREAK*

*CREAK*

*BOOM*

The trees fell down one by one from the impact, many animals fled from there but...as for Rei...

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He was caught by that explosion.

******

*SWOOSH*

As the dust cleared, the whole place was totally destroyed.

Banzana reduced his surroundings that used to be filled with trees and rocks to nothing but a field of sands.

The man was still grinning as he turned around to see behind him.

"Finally~ you showed up~" Banzana spoke as if there was someone there.

But he was right...

Rei was standing behind him while still being clad in darkness but eventually...

[Notice!]

[Skill "Shadow Movement" cannot be used due to no shadow casted in the area]

That, and the fact that the moon was shining brightly above them rendered his equipment skill to be...unavailable.

Banzana laughed, "Hah, it's quite amazing for you to be able to dodge that skill~!"

Rei remained silent, 'Dammit...what the hell was that.'

'Tsk... an Earth Element Warrior's strongest skill...[Mother Earth], it's a skill that can even cleared out an army with a single strike.'

Rei was taken aback at his explanation, 'The strongest skill?!'

'Just like uncle Nel's [Gale Thrust], it was acquired when a Warrior type job reached their peak.'

'Ughh...no wonder he was mad at me for facing that skill head on.'

'Well you were lucky because you have your own aura and high status despite your low level.'

'How come you never told me all this?'

'. . . . .'

'Because you didn't ask.' Ray said while turning his head around.

'Oi' Rei got irritated at that, only briefly though since he heaved a sigh then and focus his attention to his opponent right before him.

'Do you have any suggestion?'

Ray shook his head, 'The only thing we can do now is focus on knowing his [Teleportation] item limit and destroying his weapon.'

Rei nodded a bit, "Okay, then how about this..." Rei suggested one of his idea alone with Ray.

Banzana who was still standing there was looking increasingly impatient.

"Heh, have you done combining your plan? Cause right now....I'm so fucking bored."

"Yeah, I'm done." Rei replied while getting into his stances.

Banzana gripped his sword and grinned widely once again, "Then don't die on me~"

*SHUUSTH*

"–Because I'm enjoying myself right now!!~ Oraaa!!!~"

Banzana suddenly appeared right beside him and swung his sword once again.

Since Rei started to get used to his [Teleportation], he moved his sword to block the attack.

'[Focus Block].'

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[Focus Block]

Active Skill

MP Cost: 50

Maintain the skill: -5 MP/1 sec.

By focusing one's aura and covering them into a single point, it can create unbreakable (low) block by its user.

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*TING*

This time, the strikes moved Rei's body back a bit due to the man's strength. By using his skill, he focused his aura on his sword to withstand his strikes.

Then again, he could tell that the durability of his black sword went down a lot.

"Ughh...Huh?!–"

*SHUUSTH*

But Banzana didn't stop at that and used his Teleportation again to appear from behind him.

Rei who noticed his presence much earlier, used [Fire] right in front of Banzana's face.

Banzana looked at the small fire in front of his face and backed a bit but…

BUGH

His face was welcomed by Rei's kick after the fire disappeared. However, the kick wasn't effective at all.

Rei's feet stayed still on his face as his mouth stretched into an amused grin.

"Heh!"

Rei twisted his body around then jumped away by kicking off his face as his foot hold.

*THUD* *TAP*

Rei kept his distance but Banzana reappeared right in front of him while lifting his sword up to swing it down at him.

"Oraa!!"

'[Sprint].' Rei used his skill to increase his speed and quickly moved his body aside to dodge his sword.

"I'm not falling with the same trick."

*BOOM*

Since he jumped back before, Rei just slightly moved his body to the side to dodge his sword. The powerful impact didn't crack the ground this time though.

*TAP*

Rei used his foot to step on Banzana's hand that was holding the sword.

'Heh, this kid...is pretty observent...he waited for this moment. Who knew there's a time lag of how he used [Teleportation] and the limit of how he can use it before cooldown.' Ray commented with smirk.

'I caught you, [Beast Will].'

Rei buffed himself within that short amount of time as he lifted his sword and swung it down using his [Vertical Slash].

*SLASH*

His sword hit him on the shoulder, creating a large wound and sprayed out blood all over them.

Rei who saw him managed to injure the man that was supposed to be a legend...thought that he could win.

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But in the end...

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Rei widened his eyes in surprise after seeing the expression of his enemy.

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Rather than a pained discomfort, it was pure joy and excitement...

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He was grinning from ear to ear with eyes blown wide and then he licked his lips as if he was presented with something delicious.

When Rei about to jump back, Banzana let go off his sword and swung his arms with such speed towards Rei's face.

"Hmmm!!!"

'Kiritsuka!! dodge!!' Ray warned him but...

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It was too late...

*CRACK* *SHATTERS*

When Rei used his black sword to block his fist, it shattered into pieces...

'What–?!'

Even though he also tried to use [Focus Block], his sword couldn't withstand the power coming from that fist.

"Heh! Another one!" Banzana swung another punch on him.

Since Rei's still in midair, he could only block it with his crossed arms and focused his aura to them.

He believed he could block it this time but...

The punch stopped and he changed his fist's course from downwards.

'A feint?! from there?!' Rei noticed the fist went through his block and got himself uppercutted from below.

*BUGH*

*CRACK*

As his helmet cracked a bit, his body flew from the ground and up to the sky.

*SWOOSH*

When Rei was half unconscious in mid-air, he looked down at Banzana as he rapidly falling off from the sky.

'Kiritsuka!! Wake up!'

Rei could hear his shout, giving him an idea of his situation.

Banzana whistled in joy after sending his enemy flying upwards like that. But then…he noticed it.

Rei never thought he would think of this kind of idea...

By opening his [Inventory] he sent out something that whizzed past the man, grazing his cheek and drawing a bit of blood.

*SLASH*

Banzana widened his eyes when he turned his eyes around to see what it was.

'Huh?? A sword?'

After that, he realized something.

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*SHUUSTH*

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*SHUUSTH*

*SHUUSTH*

*SHUUSTH*

Rei discarded all 256 Swords from his inventory, creating a rain of swords from it while still flying mid-air.

Banzana who saw that was about to use his Teleportation, but in the end...

'Just as expected...it was short-range Teleportation item!! He cannot teleport far away! It's my win...

Banzana!!'

Rei smirked as he fell with a rain of swords rapidly approaching the man.

Banzana couldn't help but grin seeing himself pushed to a corner like this.

"Heh! HAHAHAHAAAA!! This is the best!!!–" Banzana laughed like a madman as he couldn't contain his excitement any longer.

*STAB*

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*STAB*

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*STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB*

As the swords continued to fall, they buried Banzana's body along with them.

After the swords stopped raining down on him, Rei steady his body to land on the ground using his aura to act as cushion.

*THUD*

"Hah....finally...it's over."

Rei sighed while turning his head around to look at the mountain of swords that was formed at where Banzana used to stand.

'You did your best.' Ray spoke.

Then Rei walked towards that mountain as he stood right before it.

'Kiritsuka, don't let your guard down.'

"I know." Rei replied calmly.

'Hmmm...do you think he would still be alive?' Ray commented while also staring at it too.

"Hey! Don't jinx it!" As Rei shouted, he suddenly heard something.

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*CRACK*

"Huh?" Rei looked at the mountain again with wide eyes.

*CRACK* *CRACK*

The ground suddenly start to shake again and the mountain continued to let out more cracking sound.

"Oi oi...you gotta be kidding me!!–" Rei shouted and soon saw his thoughts came true.

*SHATTERS*

The mountain of swords before him shattered into pieces.

*SWOOSH*

And... a massive fist came out from it and aimed at Rei's head.

'What–'

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*BOOM*

*SWOOSH*

*BOOM* *BOOM*

Rei who couldn't reacted to that punch...was sent flying and crashed against the remaining trees around the sand field.

*CREAK* *BOOM*

As the trees falling down from where he crashed...Rei was sitting down with his beack leaning on a broken tree.

Rei coughed blood out through his helmet, "W-what...just...happen."

He coughed again as his eyes were a bit blurry, trying to see what's in front of him.

Through the fog clouding his vision...he could see Banzana's body was clad in some sort of dark metalic skin.

"How..."

Banzana approached him with uninterested look on his face, "[Iron Body]...it's a skill that I got after I was born in this world."

"[Iron Body]?..." Rei asked while trying to keep his breathing steady.

"A skill that allows you to create unbreakable shield with your own body, this is my one and only last trump card~" He chuckled, "I applause you to be [The second] person who made me use this skill."

"Second?..."

"Yepp~ I still remember up until this day...[that knight with a spear]."

'Spear?...' Rei tried to save his energy for the last bit.

"Heh, well I guess you don't know his name since he retired before he got known in the kingdom.

"Ahhh~ If I remember, his name was...[Nel Shubert]."

Rei widened his eyes after hearing that name slipped out from his mouth.

"Heh, he was strong...his strongest skill was able to pierce through that skill of mine. He was the best~ but unfortunately, he retired."

Banzana was lost in his own little world when he remembered his past.

But then he noticed that Rei didn't answer him any longer and that made him uninterested to talk again.

"Well...I have to go to that village to massacre them all~ you lost your bet~ so...no hard feeling bud~"

Banzana turned around and whistled while pulling out his saber sword from the ground.

"Heh, so boring–"

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But before he leaves...

*SHATTERS*

A sound of a bottle shattered on the ground stopped him. Banzana turned around, and his eyes were blown wide after seeing something unbelievable.

"Hah! No way!!~" He couldn't stop grinning when he saw it

Rei was standing on his feet again.

"Hmmm?~ oh a potion huh~ I see what were you thinking...you were saving your strength when we were talking and when I let my guard down, you drink up that potion!" He cooed, "Such a sneaky little bastard you are!~"

Rei could only be silent at that moment...but behind that helmet he was smirking and then chuckled.

"Heh."

"Hmm? What so funny?"

"No, I just found out how funny this coincidence is...really."

"Hah?" Banzana raised one of his eyebrows.

"It just that…I'm really thankful to someone I know from my village, that before I met you...I managed to defeat that person."

Banzana become more confused, "Defeat that person? What kind of joke is thi–"

"Nel Shubert." Rei cut his speech by speaking that name and Banzana froze a bit, "Yeah...I don't think there's someone out there who has the same name and the same skills with spear like him."

Rei suddenly reached his hand towards something then...

*SHUUSTH*

*BZZZTT*

He pulled out something from his [Inventory]... somesort of staff covered with cloth. Banzana couldn't help but be fixated to his words and noticed of him pulling that out.

As he held that thing on his hand, he took the cloth off of it.

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As the moon shined down before him...

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He revealed it...

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A beautiful spear with dark blue blade that was shining like a crystal from the moonlight above them.

Banzana who stood there was mesmerized after seeing such weapon like that for the first time.

"Hahahaha!!!~ that's more like it!!~ you bastard!~" He grinned widely in joy and aimed his sword towards.

*SWOOSH*

Rei spun his spear and went into his battle stance. His eyes shined through the slit of his helmet and his red scarf fluttered around due the wind as he shouted,

*CLINK*

"Now then...shall we start the next round for I...[Kiritsuka Rei] will be the first one who defeat you!! Banzana!"

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The fight continued on to the second round...

To be continue...