Mourning for the hero

Frore peeked out the window of the building and discovered that the large monster had turned to a stone statue. 

Blaze was standing in front of it with a deep smile on his face. 

{Did he... end it?}

[Not yet. I shouldn't leave open ends; I have to finish this properly.]

[The non-living things will go back to their original state after some time, when the little amount of mana in them is consumed. Even if this skill's effects on living beings is permanent, we can never be too sure.]

It is said that every being in this world possess some amount of mana.

Whether it be plants, animals, elementals, monsters or any other non-living things, they all have mana. 

Objects like stones, wood, metals, plastic, glass, etc. have negligible amount of mana.

Nature absorbs it and then produces the same amount of mana to replenish itself. This cycle is always taking place in nature just like other natural cycles.

But animals, particularly humans will die if all of their mana, including their latent mana is consumed or completely absorbed. 

Once the toxic mana is used up by wind and other things, they will transform back to their original forms. Living beings can not do that so, they will definitely die if they are attacked by toxic mana.

Blaze had a little headache because he had used up a lot of his mana to create that reflection spell, which according to the novel would have used up the mana of 4 S- class hunters to be completed.

He still covered his right arm in mana and used about 30 percent of his strength to punch the stone monster.

Cracks started forming from the spot where Blaze had punched and soon the whole statue was covered in cracks.

Blaze pushed it with his palm with almost no force behind it and the parts fell to the ground and turned to dust.

He felt dizzy and staggered backwards and felt a palm on his back.

Blaze looked over his shoulder only to find that his vision was blurry. But he didn't need to see to tell who was supporting him and supplying him with their own mana.

"Frore ..?"

"Mm...it's me. Sit down and take a rest. You are low on mana, aren't you?"

"Yes."

Blaze sat on the ground and closed his eyes while Frore continued to supply him with mana.

The dungeon gate from which Monoirister has come out of, started vibrating again.

Regular orcs of A and B ranks then came out in groups.

Blaze opened his eyes slightly to look, after feeling a fluctuation of mana from the gate.

"Close your eyes again, you don't need to worry about monsters like them. If they come here, I will deal with them."

Frore whispered to him.

Blaze closed his eyes again and replied.

"I am not worried about them. I know you can handle them. Besides, the association should do their work. I was just having a look."

{Anyways, the orcs are not that stupid. They should have seen me turning the boss to dust. They wouldn't attack us.}

At that moment, the system's *ting* sounded in his mind.

["New title unlocked : 'Saviour of thousands'."]

["You defeated a monster which could have taken thousands of lives. People would feel admiration and respect for you. Influence increases by 15 levels. Mana consumption rate decreases by 2%."]

[ "New title unlocked : 'Nightmare of Orcs'."]

["Orcs would naturally feel fear towards you. When fighting against orcs, damage resistance and attacking power will go up by 20%."]

{Oh, I got some nice titles. Especially the mana consumption decrease, even if it's just 2% it is something really useful.}

As they were talking, the association hunters who were a bit taken aback by the stoned Maragmus Lee and the monster which had turned to dust, noticed the orcs and engaged in battle against them.

When about 20% of his mana was restored, Blaze's headache receded.

He opened his eyes and turned to look at Frore behind him.

"It's enough. You can stop now."

Frore nodded and offered his hand to Blaze.

Blaze took his hand and stood up.

"Let's go. The association hunters will take care of the aftermath themselves."

-----

The next morning.

Blaze placed two glasses of warm milk and cookies on the table in the living room and sat down beside Frore on the sofa.

The reporter on the T.V. was talking about yesterday's dungeon break.

"Mr. Maragmus had fought bravely against the S plus ranked monster."

"Our sources say that he diverted the monster's attention so Mr. Blaze could get an opening to finish it off."

"The empire is mourning the loss of a hero."

"His majesty, the emperor has announced to reward the White Tigers guild for his heroic achievement."

"May his soul rest in peace."

Frore had a horrible scowl on his face, he gritted his teeth.

Even though Frore was very good at managing his emotions. Right now, it was difficult for him to hide his anger.

Blaze was unaffected by the news. He had expected the association to twist the story in this manner to cover up the incident.

{The vice-leader of White Tigers is also an S-rank. He must have a lot of influence on the association.}

Blaze gulped down the whole glass of milk in a single turn. He then breathed out.

{It's not like Sirus is the only person who is corrupt in the association. The leaders made a decision in their favour, because I still have no real power, connections and influence. But it will be different in the future.}

He turned his head and saw Frore's bad expression.

Blaze let out a small smile, he shifted closer to Frore and placed his left arm around his shoulders.

"Don't be so angry."

"But-But it's wrong, Blaze. You were the one who defeated that monster. They are making him a hero, he even tried to kill you. They are making it sound like you used him, to kill that monster."

Blaze chuckled lightly and used his right hand to ruffle Frore's hair and gently pat his head.

"You don't always get rewarded for doing right things, you might not get appreciated by people for your deeds. Frore, this world is a messed up place. Sometimes, you will even get punished for doing what you think is right. But, you shouldn't break or bow down to anyone because of it."

Frore looked towards him, his anger had subsided a little bit because of Blaze's patting.

"I don't really mind it. Besides, I got to show you something cool."

Blaze stopped for a moment before asking with a smile.

"Was I cool ?"

Frore's expression relaxed , he held the hand which hung down from his left shoulder and sincerely answered.

"Yes, really cool."