Duranda Mountain

It was still night when the three of them dragged me into the forest, saying that it was all part of my training.

King Adam didn't let Persia come along because there's a possibility that things might get dangerous, so only William, Ryan and him was with me.

After reaching our destination, the trio tied my whole body on the thickest tree they could find, which was on top of the huge mountain that was also far away from the palace. They also took the bracelet artifact from my wrist, and opened up a portal.

After all of them went inside the portal except for me who was left behind, Adam finally opened his mouth, saying, "The air in Duranda Mountain is thin. There is also some dangerous monster living inside this place so if I were you, I might as well go on the move immediately after you got out from the rope." Before turning around.

"Wait!!" I tried to struggle free from the rope, but I failed because it was made from King Adam's mana, which was so strong that I barely even managed to move it even though I'm strengthening my whole body using dark magic.

"I've also placed some dangerous traps in the mountain so that it would pose more challenging to you.... Well, anyway, good luck on surviving this place a whole day." After saying that, they all turned around, as the portal practically began to slowly close, leaving me all alone behind.

"Hey, wait!!" Raising my voice, it didn't take long for me to escape the mana rope because it was weakening everytime the portal shrink. I tried running at my full speed towards the portal, but right where my hands was about to reach it, the portal disappeared.

"You mother fuckers!! I just want to sleep, for god sake!!" I screamed out, cursing at the four of them on top of my lungs.

Since I didn't got enough time to sleep due to what I did last night, I am really tired to be honest... Tired enough that I have to forcefully open my eyelids to keep me from falling asleep.

I slumped my body next to a tree as a support, then slapped my cheeks hard to keep myself awake.

-Plak!

-Plak!

-Plak!

....

.....

It took me twenty slaps just to force my eyes from closing, as my cheeks turned red because of the continues slaps on the face. And just after a few minutes, I then decided to move, heading towards the direction where we first came from.

They're going to regret this, I swore to myself. I slowly raised my head up, briefly staring at the stars and constellations above.

Then....

While I was walking, my whole body shivered up, as if it was warning me about something dangerous that was coming from my side.

Shiii-!

The whistling wind whispered to my ear. I didn't know what was happening, but when my body subconsciously moved to the side, barely managed to dodge the arrow that came pass through the trees from my right.

The arrow managed to put a light scratch on my cheeks when it passed through, and pierced inside the tree trunk onto another.

At first I didn't know how it managed to pierce through the thick-layered trunk and passes through the tree behind me, but after carefully inspecting the arrow, I noticed that the tip was covered in mana.

"Shit, that was dangerous... If this thing manages to even hit my chest, I'm sure that it will just pierce through, leaving a hole like this tree."

I was about to take a step back when I realized that I stepped onto something. Raising my right foot a little, I saw that it was a rope that was attached onto the other tree beside me.

Shiii-! Shiii-! Shiii-!

When I heard more whistling sound coming from above, I hid behind the rock near me as several incoming arrows hit it, making the rock crack into several pieces.

-Crack!

I hurriedly used [Ghastly Step] to move away from the rock I was hiding. And just right after I did that, the rock exploded into pieces.

"Explosive too!!" Saying that, I moved my body to the side after I heard more whistling sound coming from behind me. But, I barely managed to dodge all of them as some hit my shoulders, cheeks and legs, leaving scratches all over my body.

As I continued dodging the incoming arrows from all over the sides, I heard a loud roar not far away from behind.

"Raaa!!!!"

Casting away a back glance, I saw a bear-like monster heading towards my direction. Gritting my teeth tightly, I took out my sword inside my [Pocket Ring], then jumped backwards to distance myself from the monster.

But...

-Creak!

"Eh?"

I immediately regretted my actions after I saw my left foot sank, revealing a huge hole with bamboo spikes from below.

"Fuck!" I cursed. Stabbing my sword on the ground, I used it to launch myself up, while avoiding the rope that can trigger the arrow from above.

Thankfully, I managed to land on a safe spot as I soon readied my stance, saying, "I'm going to make those guys regret their actions when I get back."

"Raaa!!" The monster roared. Raising it's claw up, the monster used it to slash downwards at my direction.

I dodged this by using [Flicker] and moved to his back, then activated [Black Cross], and thrust my black flaming sword to it's back.

The monster immediately went on a rampage after it felt the burning pain coming from my sword, as it's reckless costed him to hit the hidden rope, activating the arrow trap from all around us.

While it was moving around violently, I decided to create a rope that works similar to what Adam used earlier using my dark magic, as I hopped above a tree using it's body, and then tied it's neck on the thick branch to try and strangle it to death.

"Hueek!"

The monster struggled from breathing, and not long after, it died while hanging above the tree. When I saw this, I released the mana rope and let it's dead body fell on the ground.

While panting, I wiped my sweat using my arm, and slashed my sword down to remove the blood coating it.

After fixing my clothes, I once again heard a loud roar coming inside the deep forest. But this time, there was four monsters coming towards me.

"Roooaaar!!!" The four monsters roared loudly, that it's roar echoed throughout the whole mountain.

When I saw this, I took a deep breath and once again readied my stance, muttering "Fuck." in annoyance.

***

Somewhere inside the palace, three people could be heard talking.

While looking at directly at King Adam's back, Ryan asked, "Are you sure that he managed to survived, Father?" With his arms crossed. King Adam sighed when he heard his question as he threw the bracelet artifact up, then catching it using his other hand.

With a firm and amiable tone, King Adam answered, "Oh, yes. He'll survive that. I'm sure of it." before putting the artifact on to his wrist.

"How can you be so sure about that?" This time, William asked while his innocent eyes gaze at Adam, who was slowly turning around. "I mean, there are five A-ranked monster in the mountains. Not to mention, the traps you've placed has mana covering them."

"No need to ask, you'll find it out yourself soon enough." He replied, as he raised his hands up, summoning a portal in front of them.

William and Ryan looked at each other in confusion for a couple of seconds, then shook their shoulders, and returned their heads to focus on the portal in front of them.

After the portal finally fully opened, they saw Athan, who was covered in blood including his face, staring hatefully at them while holding a sword on his hand.

"Took you long enough, fuckers." He said, as he walked out of the portal, leaving trails of blood from the ground.

But...

That wasn't where the two's attention was directly at. Both of their eyes was staring directly on the five dead monsters that was stacked onto each other. They were clearly left speechless.

"What are you two staring at? Do you guys want to follow those guys, as well?" Athan asked, clearly not hiding his annoyance on the both of them.

Ryan finally recovered from his shocked expression, as he slowly turned his head towards Athan.

"H-how....?" Ryan stuttered while asking. Wiping the blood away from his face using the towel that was given by the maid, Athan gave him a look of annoyance.

"Just kill them. Nothing else matters after that." He replied, lifting his shirt up and squeezing it to remove the blood inside. "Anyways, I'll get back to my room now. Don't bother to visit me later because I'm a bit too tired because I didn't even managed to get to sleep because of you guys last night." Before sighing heavily, as if he was tired.

After Athan left the three of them alone, Adam chuckled after seeing the two's expression, before clearing his throat to speak.

"See. I told you that he'll survive that." Adam smiled. "At least, that was already expected since he was the son of the person who alone killed six gods in his lifetime."

For a moment after Adam turned around, Athan's back overlaps his friend, Aamon, while he was walking away from them.

"Although I wanted to help him in his journey, it seems like my days is already numbered like you said it was." Adam sighed. "Honestly, naming your son after that 'guy' really is going to bring more problems.... Also, it seems that your son will grow up achieving more than just 'killing gods', Aamon.... Just like what you said it would be."