Prologue

The world is divided into 3 continents, shared by 5 large kingdoms and several smaller ones.

Each continent is separated by masses of water.

At the Northeast, the continent of Neurithe. Being slightly removed from the other continents, it is the one with the lowest development in terms of both military and facilities. The populace here mainly focuses on agriculture and promotes the preservation of nature.

At the Southwest, the continent of Sulletry. Like Neurithe, it is separated from the central continent however, it is much closer compared to the other one. Being near the central continent, its technology, military and facilities are quite developed compared to the one above. Its main produce generally focuses on seafood mainly fishes, shells, seaweeds and the likes.

In between the two is the Central Continent of Curion. Curion has the largest land area compared to the other two. It has the shape of “7” and is divided into the western, main and southern parts. Its military might is second to none. Assisted with their advancement in engineering and logistics, they are unparalleled when it comes to sieges and skirmishes.

Mining is the leading produce of the Central.

Due to the almost never ending wars occurring on the Continent, agriculture and fisheries are low. Therefore, importing goods from Neurithe and Sulletry is required.

Wars continue to break out all over the world.

Wars due to land, wars due to resources, wars due to anxieties, wars due to personal grudges.

However, no matter how many wars break out, the human population never dropped. Rather, it was always on the increase.

Resources continue to diminish as time passes causing an increase in the frequency of wars.

Greed caused the continents to try to invade the other.

That caused the first Great War.

The war lasted for a span of a hundred years.

After the 35th generation king of Gerian Kingdom, the largest kingdom of the central, took the throne, he proposed a truce to all hostile kingdoms.

Since then, he became known as the Hero who united the whole world once again.

However, this didn’t really solve the problem of resources.

All of them tried their best in extending the amount of their resources but still ended in failure.

Even though the amount of food increases in an arithmetic manner, population increases in a geometric one causing it to eventually be depleted.

Due to the efforts of everyone, peace lasted for almost 80 years.

However, another adversity came.

One night, dimensional rifts suddenly appeared across the world.

Along with it, weird beings started pouring down onto the world.

Monsters of all sizes started raiding cities and castles, eliminating any living being that they encounter.

Human population dwindled to less than a fourth of after a year had passed.

Monsters looked for places where they wish to stay. Sometimes even occupying previous lively settlements.

Human race were driven into a corner almost instantly.

They were forced to live in small groups and defend for themselves.

The only Continent to survive the attack with only small losses was the Central Continent with its advanced military might.

However, they lost more than half of their land.

Monsters came to attack in waves, and the humans try to defend themselves desperately.

Losses cannot be ignored.

Decades passed under those conditions.

Humans learned how the monsters behave and succeeded in domesticating some species.

Human race never gave into despair and frantically tried to raise their war potential. Not to wage war to other kingdoms, but to eradicate monsters from this world.

Hundred more years passed and finally, the human race got equal standings with the monsters.

In each encounter, human casualties are quite high and so does the monsters. In a world where you wouldn’t know when you’ll be attacked, they came to a standstill. And that comes to the present.

Chapter 1: Birth of the Prodigy Part 1

Deep in the night, where most houses are already devoid of light and activity, only a single household has visible signs of life.

“AaaaaaAAAAAHHH!!!”

Sudden shouts of a woman in pain can be heard in fixed intervals.

Inside the house is a single bed surrounded by many individuals.

“Just a little more! Breathe… in, in, out… in, in, out… push!!!”

An elderly woman spoke as she peered under the blanket covering the woman.

A man was holding her hand while sitting beside her bed.

Two woman stands nervously behind the man.

This scene has already persisted for more than an hour. Any longer than this may endanger the life of the woman.

Yes, the woman is giving birth.

She was already undergoing labor for exactly 1 hour and 10 minutes. She no longer have enough strength to continue her labor.

Then, as the old woman spoke, she gave all the remaining energy in her body and did it in one go.

“nnngggggh - - - AaaaaaaAAAAAHhhhH!!”

As the end of her loud scream, she almost lost consciousness.

Then, moments after she finished her shout, a cry of a baby can be heard resounding inside the dim room.

“unnyaaaaaa~! Unnyyaaaaaa~!”

The baby crying continuously was quickly determined as a healthy young boy.

The atmosphere inside the room was quickly shifted to a mix of anxiety and joy.

The old woman quickly did her job as a midwife and finally covered the child in a piece of white cloth.

She then carefully handed the baby over to the man beside the mother of the child.

The face of the man as he received the baby boy cannot be clearly explained. It was a mix of joy, relief, anxiety and fear. However, after seeing the face of the baby, all but relief was left in his expressions.

“Look, Dear… It’s a healthy boy…”

He spoke lovingly towards the woman, the mother of the child.

The woman lying on the bed glanced at the baby, gave off a weak smile and finally fainted.

Maybe due to the relief she felt after seeing the baby, the tension in her body quickly faded off together with her consciousness.

She fainted with a trace of smile in her face.

The next day, after hearing about the news of the birth of their child, their neighbors one by one conveyed their greetings and congratulatory remarks to the man.

Since the woman was still weak after the childbirth, she needs to rest for a while.

Since this was their first child, they are constantly being taught how to properly raise the child by the midwife, the old woman who is actually the mother of the man.

There are times where the man frantically ran back and forth after hearing the baby’s cries. Thus earning the both of them some reprimands. The man was mostly the one at fault though.

Weeks passed and they gradually got used to the process of rearing the child.

After their situation became stable, the man then resumed his work.

He works as one of the village’s guard, and is acting as the chief of the guards.

He too was the one that is training his troops.

Since monsters came to attack frequently, they need to focus on their defenses. Slacking off will lead to the demise of the whole village.

Their village has quite some strong fighters, so there is no problem in driving off the monsters.

The chief could even hold off the front line even when alone.

Of the 400 villagers, around a fourth of them knows how to fight. That is about 1 person per household.

So even on the off chance that monsters manage to slip through their defenses, they could surely eliminate them before casualties are produced.

The peace in their village was said to have persisted for almost a hundred years already.

That is to say, around 5 generations of guard chief passed.

They said that this peace can continue for around a hundred years more.

A few weeks more passed and signs of hair started to appear at the baby’s head. It was of brown color, approaching blonde. A mix between the dark brown hair of his father and the blonde hair of his mother.

His eyes, which finally gained its color, is of a deep blue. His skin tone is of porcelain white.

Two months had passed for recovery since then and the mother decided to continue her work too.

The mother is the owner of the only apothecary in the village. During her recovery, she left the store to her assistant to manage.

However, since her assistant hadn’t yet to fully comprehend every sort of diseases and medicines, there are times where the woman’s opinion was required.

Having no one to leave the childcare to, she decided to bring the baby to her workplace.

Concoction of medicine is left to her assistant since the fumes may cause problems for the baby. The mother is the one manning the registers and doing examinations for the patients.

Every time that the baby cried, she apologized to the patients before going to him. The patients just smiled at the scene and waited for her return.

This cycle continues and finally a year has passed.

The baby boy, now knowing how to stand, runs all over the house. Every time he stumbled down, he will cry for a moment, then smile again and continue running.

The caring for the baby is left to the man’s mother, and she did her job to the best of her capabilities.

The mother and father takes days off every other day to take care of their child.

Two years passed and the baby now can walk, run and jump. There are still times where he stumbles down but the number of times he cried lessened.

By the time he reached 3 years old, he was already allowed to play outside the house.

He often comes with his father when he is training the villagers on how to fight. Watching his father with glittering eyes, and sometimes trying to imitate him.

Chpater 1 Part 2

It happened one day, when the boy was watching his father teach the villagers.

“You need to direct the force from inside your body to the point of contact. Then, you need to temporarily explode it causing damage to the enemy.”

His father explained the concept of using the latent energy inside them to attack. It is the most basic form of offence in the village. This is usually taught to those that finished the basic physical training under his command.

When used properly, the force could leave an adult unconscious after a hit.

“Did you get what I say?”

“““Yes!!!”””

The trainees answered energetically and tried practicing it. The basics of this training is letting the force to flow from inside the body to the tip of the fingers.

Some of the trainees easily managed pulling it off after a few minutes. Some that were having difficulty was given tips by his father.

“You need to imagine the flow of energy and guide it to the tip of your fingers.”

“Don’t put too much stress on your posture. Relax. Doing that, the flow will be much smoother.”

“If you can’t manage to do it on your right hand, try your other hand. There are those which are much comfortable when using their other hand.”

The energy, called «mana», is something that is present in any living organism. There’s no actual limit to the amount of mana that a person can have. It is often limited by the ability of the person himself.

There are also those born with the ability to see mana flow with their bare eyes. Properly trained soldiers can also see mana by focusing mana on their eyes.

The boy, having attended all the levels of training (just as a bystander), was unintentionally taught on how to control his mana.

During the training, he was focusing mana on his eyes and saw the flow of mana for each trainee.

Comparing the rough and random flow of mana of most of the trainees, the flow of mana of his father is calm and moderated. It is like comparing a crude ore to a refined one.

After training for an hour, all the trainees finally got a grasp of the basics.

The managed to release the mana inside their bodies to the tip of their fingers. However, the speed of their transition is nowhere near practical.

“Okay! Good work! Let’s have a break for 30 minutes.”

At his father’s command, all the trainees fell on the ground and started breathing erratically.

Continuous use of mana will make the body tired. Especially when you are just using raw mana without refining it.

“Papa!”

The boy called his father and ran towards him with a smile. The father noticed him and smiled back.

“Oh, are you watching the training again? You really like to watch our training don’t you?”

“Yeah!”

“Hahaha! If you could just share that sentiment to even half of the villagers, then guarding the village will be way easier.”

His father laughed while patting his head. He smiled again, enjoying the patting of his head.

“Be careful now okay? The next stage of our training is a little dangerous for bystanders. Try keeping your distance. You understand?”

“Yeah!”

The boy and his father then chatted for the whole duration of the rest time.

After the rest time ended, the boy stood a little bit farther than his previous spot.

In front of the trainees, large rocks about three-fourths of their size were lined. One for each trainee. It was arranged in a 4x4 matrix.

Then, to explain the next stage, his father once again spoke with a loud and clear voice.

“Okay! The next stage is for the explosion part! In front of you are a special type of rock that reacts to mana. All you need to do is to put a crack to the rock and you will pass. Be careful though, if you make it explode grandly, the rock may split and shower our gallery. Do you all understand?!”

“““Yes Sir!!!”””

And so, following his tips once more, the trainees tried to inflict a crack to the stone in front of them.

Half an hour passed and nobody still manage to inflict even a single scratch to the stone.

His father then gave his trainees more pointers and allowed them to rest a bit to recover their breaths.

After another thirty minutes, the first trainee to inflict a crack at the stone knelt down with a smile in his face.

The crack was just around a single small depression, stretching for around 10 centimeters from it. Even though it looks a bit insufficient, he managed to pass the current stage.

Trainees manage to inflict cracks on their stone one by one. At the end of the training, after 5 hours, only half of the trainees managed to do the task.

“That’s it for today! Those who passed will continue training and master the control of your energy! Those who failed will repeat what we did from morning until you manage to inflict a crack to your assigned stone. Cheating is prohibited. Then, you may rest before returning if you like.”

At his words, almost all the trainees dispersed and sat on the ground slightly away from the center. Those with still enough stamina continued training at the center.

The boy then once again ran towards his father. Unintentionally, the boy heard his father’s words.

“… We have quite a number of promising trainees this time… with this… then…”

“Papa?”

“Oh, you’re still here huh? Did you skip lunch?”

The boy shook his head at his father’s words. Then, the boy once again smiled and tried asking his father.

“Can I try it too?!”

The boy asked energetically while pointing to the stones standing on one side of the field.

The stones cracked earlier has already recovered and not a single crack could be seen.

“Eh? Hahahahaha! It’s not as easy as you think you know!”

“Can I? Can I?”

“Okay! Then, go! Play to your heart’s content. Be careful not to injure yourself okay?”

“Yeah!!”

At his father’s words, the boy ran quickly towards the stone matrix.

He stood in front of one corner. The stone was more than twice his height. However, he stood in front of it with a wide smile in his face.

He stood at an arm’s length away from it.

Then, as if just playing, he posed similar but quite far from what the trainees did. His posture is more similar to his father’s.

Seeing this, his father was slightly surprised. But then, he went back to his smiling face.

The boy then slowly calmed the flow of mana in his body.

He then let it flow towards the tip of his fingers, while swinging his left fist forwards.

Before contact, just right before his mana left his fingers, he collected the mana for a moment. It was like suddenly stopping the flow of water that is coming out of a hose.

Then, just like how he stopped it, he then let it flow once more.

He just followed his father’s tips to the other soldiers.

Then, when his mana collided with the stone, a loud explosion occurred.

Cloud of dust quickly raised up high, covering the surroundings. Visibility was zero for a short time before his father cleared the dust by the same principle.

His father’s face was quite pale from anxiety. That is because his own son is at the center of that grand explosion.

Then, his mouth slacked at the scene in front of his eyes.

There, the stone in front of his son, and the stones in front of it, four of it in a straight line. A hole about the size of the child’s fist was punched through.

“……….”

His father just stared dumbfounded.

The stone that they are using for the training, the Mana Stone, is a special type of stone that can absorb mana. When it absorbs mana faster than its maximum absorption rate, it will form cracks. If the influx of mana passes a certain level, the stone will be shattered.

Punching a hole in it is much harder than shattering the whole block of stone.

To do it, you must focus your mana on a single point and let is pass through at an elevated speed. To let it pass through the other side and continuously punch holes through other stones, a large amount of mana is required. With the increase in required mana, the required control increases with it.

And that high level of control is done by his son, who he though was just playing.

“Yay! I did it!”

The boy shouted as he ran back to his father, full of smile and without any sign of fatigue. He then stared up to his father, waiting for him to be praised.

“O-Oh… You did great… By the way, how did you do that?”

“??? I just followed papa’s words earlier… is something wrong??”

His father squatted down and started examining his son’s mana flow. It was similar to the trainees and is overflowing here and there. It can be similar to the heat released by fire in form.

“Do you know how much mana you used?”

The father asked for confirmation. He wasn’t really expecting an accurate answer, but the boy answered.

“Hmmm… About the size of my pinky… or maybe smaller?”

He quantified mana in visual size rather than using the common system. In the common system, it is quantified using points. By the boy’s words, it is around 5 points or lower.

For reference’s sake, the trainees uses around 20 points for every trial. And their body can use up to 800 points continuously before fainting.

Also, the required force to break the stone is around 100 points. The force is directly proportional to the mana quantity and the acceleration of the mana. And, accelerating the mana using lower mana quantity requires great concentration and control.

Punching a hole in a single stone can be reached after training for 1 year. The level of skill performed by his son is similar to the skills of someone that has undergone 5 years of normal training or 3 years of intense training.

“W-What happened?”

“Did anyone see that clearly?”

“… The stone suddenly had a hole!”

“W-What the?”

The trainees who still hadn’t achieved the skill to see mana flow couldn’t describe what happened.

To them, it just looked like the boy swung his fist and then it exploded.

Confusion quickly spread to everyone around the training grounds.

Those with the ability to see mana flow already, and coincidentally left it active during the whole event, started running towards the boy’s father.

“Chief! Your son, he used the skill you often use when combatting monsters!”

“I know. Just from a glance, I already know that. The thing I don’t understand is…”

“Chief… Could your son be highly sensitive to mana? Or perhaps…”

“Neither… I was told by my mother that this child is as normal as it can get.”

“But… that degree of control is…”

As the two adults were speaking with each other, the boy was approached by the other members.

“Hey, youngster. You did some amazing thing back there. Can you show it to us again?”

“Yeah! But… I destroyed the stones…”

The boy spoke as he peeked at his father. His face is as apologetic as it can get.

“Don’t worry about that! The stones will recover its form after you leave it alone for a day.”

“Really?”

“Of course! If you are worried of breaking the stones again, then try making me the target. Even if I look like this, I am the sturdiest student of your dad not too long ago.”

“Are you sure?”

“You bet.”

“Then!”

The boy ran towards the man. He stood in front of the man and stretched his right hand towards the man’s abdomen.

“Then, here I go!”

“Oh! Bring it on!”

At his words, the boy then proceeded to recreate the same skill.

“Eiii…”

He thrusts his palm forward slowly. At the moment of impact… nothing happened.

Or so he thought.

“…..!!! Focus your mana on your abdomen!!”

Seeing the situation, the boy’s father quickly shouted towards the man in front of him.

As instructed, almost reflexively, the man focused mana on his abdomen. At the moment he did, he went flying on a straight line until he crashed on a shed around 100 meters away.

“Owowowow… That packs a punch…”

Luckily, right before he crashed, he covered his back with mana to avoid injuries. However, in the end, he had a broken arm and a dislocated shoulder.

“What the hell happened…?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes Chief… Do you know what happened?”

“You almost died.”

“Eh?!...... You mean that skill is!!”

“Yeah… If you were a little bit late on focusing your mana in one spot, it would rampage inside your body and implode. Then, we would be picking the pieces of your body off the ground.”

“So it is the same skill chief uses as the final test…”

“Since you passed it not long ago, you sure know to what level it was based on the after-effects right?”

“Yes… It’s on an entirely different level than what chief used…”

“Just as I thought…”

Then, after that incident, the intense training for his own child started.

Chapter 1 Part 3

After months of training, his father quickly realized how talented the boy is at manipulating his own mana. On watching alone, he managed to reproduce all the skills his father used as exercises for trainees.

By guiding him just a little, he could quickly grasp the logic behind it.

A year passed. His skills continue to develop further and further.

He is now about the same level as an adult soldier of their village, possibly on par with his father.

As a test, his father took him and a few other trainees for their first test run at actual battle.

As a result, he manage to slay a whole horde of goblins singlehandedly. The rest of the trainees only managed to quell a measly group of a dozen. Their gap in skills is as far apart as the earth and sky.

The only difference to them is that the trainees took attitude appropriate to what they are doing.

The child, on the other hand, seems to be only playing around. As if all he wanted was to be praised by his father, he always run towards his father for everything he does.

His father is pleased to see his son’s own strength. However, he is always bothered by the attitude that his son is taking. That sort of attitude can easily cause the demise of the front line.

His father thought that one day, his son will be in danger, and he will not be there to help him.

Days passed continuously.

Days turned to weeks.

Weeks turned to months, and months to years.

Three years passed and he is now seven years old.

He is now at the age where he properly understands words and logics.

And due to that, many things changed for the boy.

One thing is, anyone can barely say that he is living as a normal child.

Instead of playing with kids around his age, he would continue training outside the village.

Instead of learning properly from the village’s small school, he is being taught by his parents personally.

When kids learn how to wave a stick, he learned how to wield a sword.

When kids learn how to bully the weak, he learned how to properly act as strong and protect the weak.

At the age where the names of children are only known by relatives and neighbors, he is well known throughout the village, even to other nearby settlements.

At times where children go to sleep, he is often at the border and guarding. Sometimes even fighting off monsters who tried to invade deep into the night.

However, he is not being forced to do these things.

Rather, he was the one who decided to do all these.

He is always acting older than his age ever since he reached 5.

He could even react to a kid’s logic properly without flinching.

However, he do not engage in any sort of fight with anyone in the village.

When someone throws stones at him, he will either avoid it discreetly or catch it with his own hands.

If someone picks a fight with him, he is just evading and never lifted even a finger against his peers. He would just wait for them to deplete their strength on their own.

There was once a time where a dozen children with varying ages ganged up on him.

All he earned are bruises from unavoidable attacks.

All the attackers though were left with heavy injuries.

Upon investigation, they discovered that the injuries he received were from pipes waved at him.

And the injuries that the bullies received are all inflicted by their own attacks coming back to them.

He was ostracized by most of his peers. Adored by some.

However, he doesn’t even once lost the smile on his face.

His smile is what gives hope to his parents and makes them work harder.

He is the one who gives the courage to fight to the adults acting as the village’s soldiers, thinking that a child to protect them is like having their priorities reversed.

Instead of protecting the children and women of the village, they are being protected by a child themselves.

This lit the fires within them and caused the influx in trainees.

Now, all of the males in the village knows how to protect their families at least.

Since the numbers of children started bolstering the population, the number of citizens of the village was almost reaching a thousand.

Soon, they would need to expand their settlement to make space for others.

Even nearby settlements who was destroyed by monsters’ waves decided to take refuge on their small village.

The population more than tripled in the small span of 7 years.

As their village grew larger and larger, the food stores of the village slowly became unable to keep up.

Hunting became more and more often.

The number of fields started to increase.

Their borders expanded, causing the absolute need for more soldiers.

The anxiety of the chief started to increase as they had more land area to patrol at night.

Not only that, but as the number of soldiers increases, there will always be slackers here and there.

How many times did monsters manage to invade due to those sort of slackers?

Thanks to the father and son’s efforts damage were always kept at the minimum.

However, whenever this happens and they are both out, damage accumulates continuously.

They are now reaching the point that being lenient will cause the demise of their village.

However, they couldn’t change the way they do things halfway.

This causes the chain of failure and damage to continue.

Fatigue slowly accumulated to the few serious soldiers that is a great help towards the protection of the village.

They believe in the strength of their soldiers. However, fighting tired will slowly cause them to damage their bodies. Both physically and mentally.

And then, after months passed with the border barely being protected, a special day for the boy approaches.

However, he didn’t yet know that that day will mark a dark page in his history.

Chapter 1 Part 4

Morning came and the boy woke up as usual.

He was just sleeping lightly actually. He was only allowed to sleep for 4 hours a day.

Despite being young, he has way better control of his body than an average adult.

However, his young body still couldn’t keep up with the fatigue that continues to pile.

He got up of the bed with a tired face. His lips are slightly pale, and so is his cheeks. Staring down for a moment, he then shook his head and assumed a smiling face.

He is good at concealing his state with his smile.

As he tried to stand up, he slightly wobbled before managing to regain his balance.

No matter how good he is at concealing his fatigue, his body slowly started to show signs of it.

Over fatigue.

If it is an ordinary person, in this state, they surely couldn’t even muster strength to stand up. Some may even run a fever at this moment. However, the boy pushes himself and continues working till noon.

His smile gives energy to others, how he wish it could give him strength too.

He walks out of his room and goes towards the dining room.

There, he started to randomly eat his breakfast from what is left over from dinner.

After eating, he started patrolling the town borders.

Walking towards there, he was greeted by various individuals. He greeted them back out of necessity.

Some praised him about working on a young age. Some offered goodwill in terms of refreshments, fruits and some random items.

He walked eastward of the village, towards the eastern gate.

At the east end, he noticed a broken wall slightly away from the eastern gate. He waited on the spot for quite a moment to pass the message on to others.

Minutes passed and nobody passed.

Usually, patrolling and guarding is done in pairs.

However, the boy patrolling alone was already a matter of course to the soldiers.

Most of the time, when he encounters a monster, it is eliminated in an instant. If not, the longest record lasted a minute. Thus erasing the necessity for a partner.

His father too patrols alone. However, his was on night shift often rather than day. Both of them took Sunday as their day-off and that is for tomorrow.

While waiting, he suddenly notices an anomaly in the mana of the surrounding air.

“…!!!”

He quickly jumped away from the slightly destroyed wall, now completely destroyed.

A large bull-like monster was rushing towards him.

Regaining his bearings, he quickly drew his worn out iron sword. This sword has been together with him since he was 5. It was looted from a nest of some monsters.

The bull-like monster, towering a total of 3 meters height and 5 meters length with around a couple meters in width, was rushing towards him like a large boulder. Its body was covered in black, thick and bulging muscles uncommon to a bull. It frankly looks quite disgusting.

The boy took a deep breath and tried applying mana to his legs to fix its position on the ground.

He then brandished his sword, aiming to impede the charge of the monster.

A split second later, a loud clash was heard throughout the whole eastern forest. Sparks flew from the sword and the tough horn of the monster.

Despite all that, he wasn’t even pushed back by a centimeter. He managed to hold his ground.

If he tried evading the monster then, it would continue charging towards the village, therefore causing great damage.

He then increased the mana in his back, shoulders, elbow and wrist.

After a small groan, he pushed the monster back by a few meters. One of the two curly horns of the monster were cleanly cut by his blade.

It all happened in an instant.

In his left hand was the slashed part of the monster’s horn.

The monster was clearly confused on what happened. However, the monster decided to ram him instead of running away.

He again focused his mana on his legs and knees.

The moment before the impact, he let the mana explode causing his speed to increase.

This is one of the skills taught to soldiers after their advanced level of training. A type of body reinforcement using mana.

When he uses this skill, only his father can keep up with his speed.

And so, the bull-like monster couldn’t even see what hit him.

The moment before the impact, he disappeared from the eyes of the monster. The monster tried to continue charging but instead fell to the ground.

Looking closely, all its legs are amputated from the knees below. That is, all four legs in an instant.

The monster quickly realized its fate. It flailed wildly trying to avoid its unfortunate end.

However, it was useless. By the time its leg was amputated, its body was also slashed three times. Twice vertical and one horizontal. Dividing its body into 6 parts.

In just matters of seconds, the enemy was annihilated.

After the monster’s death, it slowly turned transparent and then light particles started coming out of its body. Within 10 seconds, the body completely vanished.

The horn and the legs that are separated from the main body didn’t vanish though.

The horn, around a meter in length if straightened, can be smelted into black iron.

The legs’ fur, from over a meter long leg, can be used as materials for armor. The hide of the bull-like monster was supposed to be as hard as steel, but as light as normal leather.

Moments later, some soldiers and carpenters came running towards the wall.

The sound of the wall breaking was apparently heard up to the village.

Seeing the remains of the monster, the soldiers thanked the boy for a job well done.

After leaving the collection of war spoils to one of the soldiers, he continued patrolling the borders.

He walked in a clockwise fashion starting from the ruptured portion of the wall near the eastern gate.

While patrolling, he was also checking the state of the monsters outside the walls.

However, today, the monsters were very scarce. The only monster seen was the earlier bull-like monster.

He was already on the opposite side, the western gate, however there is still no sighting of any sort of monsters.

The hunters that came out earlier went back through the west gate with only a few pieces of game meat.

It is weird to say but the scarcity of monsters was slightly unnatural.

It is now noon and it is time for him to head back home for lunch.

After speaking with the hunters for a while, he went home.

Passing through the town, scenes similar to this morning was seen. However, more number of items were being forced on him to carry.

Some are food items, some are clothes and accessories like belts and sheath, and a fine looking bow and a quiver of silver arrows.

He was quite puzzled by the behavior of the people in town.

It is already a norm for him to receive food items but it is the first time that he received this much miscellaneous items.

Reaching his house, he opened the door using his free hand.

As soon as he opened the door, a loud voice was heard from inside.

“““Happy Birthday!!!”””

There, many people were standing along the pathway.

At the forefront are his mother and father. Behind them is his mother’s apprentice and his father’s confidant. Behind them were neighbors with quite a good relationship with him and his family.

All of them have a smile on their faces as they greeted him.

“… Ooooh. So it was my birthday today…”

He said absentmindedly. In all actuality, he really forgot about it due to the stress he is currently bearing.

“Thank you papa, mama, everyone…”

As he said his thanks, he was led towards the dining table.

The room was covered sparsely, conveying the shortness of the time for preparation.

However, as if to compensate for the shortcoming on decorations, the food above the table was so extravagant that his stomach started growling out of hunger.

All his favorite food was prepared, with large quantities.

Other foods like salad, seafood paella, and meat stew which is rarely served is currently set atop the large table.

The quantity of food was enough to feed dozens of hungry stomachs.

At the center of the table, a simple white cake was prepared. A candle was lit above the cake.

A phrase saying “Happy Birthday!” was doodled atop the cake using a red colored icing.

After seeing this, the surrounding gallery started singing.

He couldn’t help but feel happy from the depth of his heart.

After the song ended, he slowly blew the candle out. And then, the celebration started.

Eating happily while chatting with everyone, his stress was slowly reduced.

Laughing out loud at jokes let him recover from his fatigue.

And lastly, receiving congratulations from everyone individually caused his heart to overflow with joy.

After eating, the surrounding started taking out their gifts and giving it personally to the boy.

Some gave common items such as books, mugs, toys, clothes and shoes.

After everyone gave their gifts, his mother gave her gift to him.

It was a breastplate armor created with a type of lightweight iron. Its appearance was of a silvery white.

His father gave him a black sword. He said that it was made from smelted black iron and it is reinforced using a «Manadite» ore as the core.

It was a type of metal that becomes harder and sharper when infused with mana. His old sword uses the same concept but is instead forged with common rough iron.

The boy cried tears of joy as he received his gift from his parents.

He quickly tried fitting the armor but quickly realized that it is too large for him to use.

Despite its flashy appearance and the cool looking emblem at the right side of the armor. It is the type that only protects the front side. Often paired with a chainmail or a leather armor.

His mother said that she wished for him to wear it at the time he reached 15.

He tried asking why she gave an armor only to be used far into the future, however he received no proper response.

‘Just promise me.’

Her mother just said that line as if to divert the topic.

On the other hand, the sword his father gave was quite easy to wield and fits his preferences really well.

Infusing it with mana causes it to glow slightly with a blue color.

His father said that when he tried to infuse too much mana to it, it became heavy and unwieldy so he said to do so in moderation.

Few hours passed while celebrating and it is almost time for nightshift to start.

As if on cue, the visitors came out one after another.

His father told him to stay at home for the rest of the day before going out for patrol.

His mother started washing the dishes.

Having nothing else to do, he arranged all his received gifts inside his room.

Above his bed, one more gift was lying in wait.

Opening it, he saw a slightly oversized leather armor and lower garment set together with a small letter.

“Use this together with your new breastplate.”

That short sentence was all that is written on the card. The sender’s name wasn’t included.

Checking it, it was just like the breastplate. It was created with excellent skills. Its design is not too plain and not too shabby.

The size, color and design was really a match to the breastplate.

He then set the armor, which couldn’t be used in the near future inside his drawer.

He wore some leather armor that he received from one of the villagers.

He switched his black sword for his old iron sword.

He equipped the bow and arrow too, though his marksmanship isn’t yet good enough.

Appreciating his new look, he smiled satisfied.

Right after, he set his weapons beside his bed and changed to his sleeping attire.

He lay down in bed and prepared to take a short nap.

And then, the tragedy occurred.

Chapter 1 Part 5

Few hours after he started sleeping, on the eastern border where the damaged wall was, the carpenters were all working hard to fill the hole in the wall.

Around their perimeter, many soldiers stand watch.

Torches were lit by soldiers. Some were placed near the construction area.

The boy’s father passed by about thirty minutes ago and gave order to the construction team.

After he left, reinforcements came to increase the number of guards.

At night, the activities of monsters start to escalate.

Normally, in just a span of an hour, dozens of monsters will come to attack.

However, not a single monster could be heard or seen nearby.

It has been like this for about three days and three nights straight.

Due to this, the guards around the village started to feel doubt. Tension started building, especially at night.

“… Did you hear that?”

One of the guards outside the wall suddenly spoke.

“Nope. It’s been eerily quiet since morning. You must be hearing things.”

“No, I’m sure of what I heard…”

The guard spoke as he walked towards one of the bushes nearby.

“Whatever you heard, be careful.”

“I’m not dumb enough to let my guard down.”

He walked straight towards the bush.

Suddenly, something behind the bushes moved.

“!!! Who’s there?!”

As he shouted, he quickly drew his sword and applied mana to his eyes.

There are no anomaly in the surrounding mana. And there are no traces of any living thing in the surrounding.

The guard slowly approached the bush.

And then––

“Uwaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!”

Someone shouted from behind him.

When he turned around, all he saw was the body of his partner.

Rather, what used to be of his partner.

He was slashed in half from his waist. His body was separated by a few meters.

Near the head of his former partner, a silhouette could be seen.

It is about 2 meters tall. With long arms dripping with blood and thick, long legs.

It was covered in fur all over its body.

The guard was stunned for a moment. And that moment is what led to his death.

In an instant, the monster vanished. The guard felt a strong impact around his waist.

The moment he felt the pain, he was already dead.

Then, moments later, the massacre started.

 

The boy woke up in the middle of the night.

Weird sounds can be heard outside their house.

Unintelligible shouts resounded almost everywhere.

The mana in the air is tainted with something foreign.

Noticing this anomaly, he quickly equipped his leather armor and picked up his sword and bow.

Instead of going through the front door, he jumped out of the window of his room.

The scene in front of his eyes was quite a disaster.

Houses were in ruins. Some were burning. Blood stained almost every corner of the road.

Pieces of monster’s remains are littered here and there.

Not only that, but corpses of soldiers are scattered everywhere.

Traces of the brutal clash could be seen.

Around the corner of their house, a soldier whose legs were amputated from his knees down was clinging desperately to his slowly fading life.

The boy quickly ran towards the soldier.

“What happened?!”

Hearing his anxious shout, the soldier, lying face down on the ground, tried to move his head to see the source of voice.

“M-Monsters… Invasion… Flee……”

“What do you mean?! Where are the other soldiers?!”

“Around the east…… holding down………… waves….”

The soldier’s voice was slowly losing its energy. His last words were basically a whisper.

The boy applied basic first aid to stop the bleeding and applied mana to close the wound. He then laid the soldier down on the side of their house.

After confirming that there is no life signs anywhere inside and outside the house, he ran towards the pharmacy.

On the way there, he encountered several monsters.

Most of them are small fry that didn’t even last a second. Some were strong enough to retaliate.

However, in front of the pharmacy, a large number of strong types were gathered.

“Kuh!!”

He quickly applied mana to all the muscles in his body and wielded his black sword.

Each swing, a monster will be sliced in half or quartered.

Since he was outnumbered greatly, he was easily surrounded by the enemies.

Attacks came from all directions.

The more enemies attacked, the less counterattack he could release.

Only a little more and he will be stuck in a game of attrition where all he could do was evade.

Just then, he heard a battle cry nearby.

“Teryaaaa!!!”

Emerging from the entrance of the shop, his mother wielding a long halberd, driving monsters out.

Each of her lightning quick swing sends dozens of monsters flying.

She got a clear 3 meter radius where no monster could come close.

The monsters surrounding the boy flinched for just an instant. The boy didn’t let go of the chance and swung his sword with full force.

He severed all of those surrounding him in one swing.

Having gained enough running space once again, the onslaught began.

Her mother focused mainly on driving off the monsters.

Her halberd’s blade couldn’t cut deep enough on the monster’s skin even after receiving a full swing.

And so, she decided to send all approaching monsters away.

The boy ran fast all around the place, creating corpses of monsters at an outstanding pace.

3 minutes passed and finally the last monster was slain.

The surrounding was dyed deep red, however no signs of the monsters remain.

“Mama! Are you alright?!”

“Y-Yeah…. Just a few scratches…”

“Where’s everyone?”

“…………”

At his question, a shadow was cast on his mother’s face.

“There’s no time to waste… We need to save everyone we can… However, we ended up getting ambushed by a monster’s group… All the others were…”

“Where’s papa?”

The boy asked with a serious face.

“He’s at the front lines. Holding off the boss of the monsters… All of his top students were helping him hold off the wave…”

“A monster that papa can’t beat?”

“…. Probably.”

“….”

The boy just stood in silence. After a few seconds of pondering, he raised his head. His eyes were filled with determination.

“I’ll go and provide backup… Mama, please lead the evacuation… Save everyone that is still alive.”

“I know. Most of the survivors are stuck near the east side. We need to pave a path for them.”

The boy nodded at his mother’s words.

They then went inside the shop for a moment, gathering medicines that could be used.

Right after doing so, they ran as fast as they can towards the east side.

They are now currently running at the main road. It is a straight, pebbled road used for carriages’ transportation.

Down the road, swarms of monsters could be seen.

The boy, deciding that they have no time to pick the monsters one by one, drew his bow.

He nocked a total of three arrows. Infusing mana to its limit, he aimed at the horde.

As soon as he released the string, the arrows flew at unbelievable speed. They flew in three different directions, one is far away from the horde.

The two arrows that managed to hit home exploded upon contact. The explosion enveloped the swarm, eliminating most of them in an instant.

They then continue running while slashing at the enemies as they go.

Finally, after reaching their destination, they quickly eliminated all the monsters around the vicinity.

It took longer than anticipated, around 10 minutes. After that, they knocked and shouted at the door, trying to confirm those inside.

However, nobody answered. Not even a scream or shout.

Checking inside, by breaking the door, they became pale in an instant.

The whole house, the largest and sturdiest house in the village, was covered with blood. Pieces of garments, accessories, weapons and armors are scattered all around.

Also, severed body parts such as an arm, a leg, a decapitated head, a limbless torso, even bones, were scattered like garbage all around the house.

They quickly checked around the house for signs of life, however, not even a single mice could be heard or seen.

They could do nothing but regret their powerlessness in this situation.

Without even speaking, they both reached the same conclusion.

All the non-combatant villagers are dead.

Without even giving them a chance to mourn, monsters started to flood around the house once again.

They silently slayed every monster that they encounter.

Quickly, they head towards the front line.

Their pace was a bit faster than before. Probably due to their anxiety.

However, it didn’t reflect much towards their battle capacity. Monsters fell one by one like dried leaves at the side of the road.

Her mother switched her halberd with a giant axe about twice her height. She acquired it inside the armory on the basement of the previous house.

One swing from it and the monsters will be sliced, bones shattered and at worse, beaten to a pulp.

Not a single monster was let alive. They slaughtered each and every monster in sight.

By the time they reached the front line, they both already had rugged breathing.

After seeing the state of the front line, they both almost fell to the depths of despair.

Fighting the boss while surrounded by dozens of monsters, his dad was already too tired.

Scattered here and there, corpses of soldiers could be seen.

Of all the elite soldiers, only five of them are still standing. Wielding their already cracked shield and chipped swords, they desperately held the front lines hoping to buy enough time for everyone to evacuate.

The boy quickly dived at the swarm around his father.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”

He shouted to the top of his lungs as he swung his sword with all his strength.

Dozens of monsters were caught by the mana blade released by the sword, instantly dying.

His father quickly backed off towards the clearing his son made.

His shoulders were heaving up and down. Extreme fatigue and exhaustion of stamina. The boy quickly threw a recovery medicine to his father.

His father quickly drank it in one gulp. Mana quickly filled his body and he slowly regained stamina. His mother quickly ran to his father’s side, as if to protect him.

Taking his father’s place, the boy stood in front of the monster’s leader.

Determining who the leader among the monsters are quite easy. First, it is the only one acting with proper logic. Next, it is almost always the largest being on the horde. And last, it’s ominous aura.

The monster currently in front of him, lit by the moonlight, fits the bill perfectly.

His skin feels like burning the moment he stood in front of the monster.

Suddenly, the monster vanished.

Almost reflexively, the boy raised his sword defensively in front of him, applying mana to his legs. The moment he did, a bone breaking impact was felt through his sword.

Not missing a moment, the boy applied mana to his whole body to increase his speed and power.

Bystanders couldn’t see anything but sparks flying here and there.

Every time the sparks appeared near a group of monsters, all the monsters near will suddenly drop dead, their bodies showing signs of being hit by a strong blunt weapon.

However, the monsters weren’t directly hit.

What hit them was only the short shockwaves of the impact of the clashing fighters.

In less than a minute, the monsters were thinned down by a considerable number. His father, regaining his strength and catching his breath, joined the fray.

In this super-accelerated battle, the father and son combination was almost perfect.

The enemy was clearly being overpowered.

The boy will slash at the monster with disregard to defense. The slash will barely hit, however the monster will initiate a counter. The counter then will be parried by his father that is focusing on defense.

They’ve done this sort of battle many times before.

Every time that they join hands, no monster could escape alive.

However…

“Guuuuh!!”

Behind them, they heard the grunt of a woman. And there’s only one female in this battlefield.

Losing concentration for a moment, his father couldn’t manage to defend in time and received a hit.

His armor was easily crushed and a deep wound was opened on his right side.

He quickly applied mana to close the wound but it can’t be closed in an instant. The bleeding won’t stop.

Landing quite a distance out after being blown away, he then saw his wife.

She was currently swinging an extremely large axe at an impossible speed. However, her left shoulder, right thigh and temple are all bleeding profusely.

The father quickly decided to help his wife.

Returning to a one-on-one the battle of the two continued. Both sides have visually equal strength.

None of the two could land a decisive blow.

It’s more like, none of them can land even a single blow.

Even when the boy tried gambling and attacked while disregarding his stance, all he could manage is to cut a small wound on the steel like fur of the humanoid like monster.

With his stance disturbed, he couldn’t properly evade the following hit.

He braced himself and focused great amount of mana at the apparent spot of impact.

Even then, he still received a cut on his cheek.

Monsters started flooding the area where the two fought.

Without anyone noticing, all soldiers died. His father and mother are the only ones left defending against the wave.

Death was probably laughing right beside the three of them.

However, before that could happen…

“RUN!!!”

His father shouted to the top of his lungs. He then jumped towards the boss monster and engaged it in a fight.

“TAKE OUR SON AND RUN AWAY!!! QUICKLY!!!”

Hearing the desperate shout of her husband, the wife quickly grabbed the boy’s left hand and started running away.

Tears are falling off her cheeks as she ran in front of the boy.

The boy tried going back to his father but he couldn’t break off the strong grip of his mother.

They ran heading north while circumventing the perimeter of the walls.

Every monster that approached are slashed by his mother wielding a giant axe one-handed.

When they reached the northern gate, they saw the large number of monsters around it.

The mother let go of the boy’s hand. Then, the two of them started slaying the large number of monsters.

The boy accelerated his body to his limits, disregarding its effects.

Hundreds of monsters were slain in a matter of minutes. However, it was for naught but a drop in a bucket.

The swarm seem limitless.

The boy then changed strategies.

In order to protect his mother from the swarm, he needs to eliminate them all quickly.

He drew his bow once again, this time while using only a single arrow.

He filled the arrow with as many mana as it could carry before breaking.

The instant it was released, it flew in a straight line towards the center of the swarm.

A large explosion incomparable to his previous tries occurred.

The blast covered a certain death blast radius of over 50 meters.

Monsters that are hit by the shockwaves are either injured or stunned.

Quickly deciding that it wasn’t enough, he released arrows to where the monsters’ density is high.

One shot, two, three…

He continued to shoot explosive amount of mana all around.

After a dozen of shots, the monster was thinned considerably. There’s only less than a hundred remaining standing.

His mother quickly cleared the remaining monsters. The boy just held his position and only attacked those that tried to attack him.

After a minute more, they finally cleared the gate of enemies. His mother then ran towards the boy while reaching around her pocket for a potion.

“Drink this!”

The boy quickly drank the potion he just received. He could feel that his internal mana recovers much faster.

Gaining enough energy to move, they continued running.

They didn’t even think of looking back.

They just continued to run as fast as they can away from the village.

Few hours of running passed and they decided to rest.

They entered a small cave that is hidden by the forest. There, they examined their states.

The boy has only few wounds, most are limited to the level of scratches.

However, his mother is quite severe.

She had heavy wounds that are still bleeding. Large beads of sweat falls down from her forehead.

Her long blonde hair was disheveled but still hasn’t lost its luster.

Her breathing is ragged and labored. She also seems feverish.

The boy started tearing off the cloth on her wounds one by one, then applying first aid and tying it with makeshift bandages. However, the hands of the boy stopped after seeing her mother’s shoulder.

The wound on her shoulder started turning purple, sign of being poisoned. It couldn’t be seen from under her clothes but it seems that the poison has already spread on her body after the long time it was left unattended.

The boy started to panic. He first rummaged through the few items he brought, searching for an antidote. However, there is none.

Even on her mother’s luggage, not even ingredients for antidotes could be found.

When he tried to stand up to start looking for herbs around his mother gripped his hand tightly.

When the boy looked at his mother, she just shook her head with a weak smile.

“… It’s already too late… I can feel the poison around my body since we fought the swarm at the north gate…”

“T-There’s still a chance to––”

“Haha… I know my own body well… And I know that I don’t have much time left…”

Her blue eyes seems cloudy. However, she stared at the boy’s eyes showing her resolve.

Tears started flowing down the boy’s eyes.

“… Don’t cry…”

His mother said as she tried to wipe his tears using her limp left hand. The eyes of her mother too slowly started to show signs of tears.

“… Sorry… We’re really sorry…”

“WHY ARE YOU APOLOGIZING!!!”

The boy shouted at her mother’s apology. He shouted because he himself understood the meaning behind it is. However, he doesn’t want to admit it.

“*Sob*”

“… You must stay strong…… You must grow up… to be a fine man….”

“THEN WATCH ME GROW DAY BY DAY!!! JUST STAY BESIDE ME AND CONTINUE WATCHING MY ACTIONS!!!”

“… Haha…… I would like to if I can…”

Tears overflowed from his mother’s eyes. Her smile still hasn’t vanished from her lips. The smile that the boy tried imitating every day.

“DON’T LEAVE ME ALONE!!!”

The boy shouted as he grasped her mother’s left hand. Her hand was as cold as ice and is wet with his own tears. He wrapped her hand between his palms, trying to share his body heat.

“… You may become alone for a long time…… but one day…. You will surely meet great comrades…”

“––––!!!!”

“… Right…. You must take back…. My gifts to you…… I’m sure it will help you… in the future……”

“PLEASE!!! DON’T LEAVE ME ALONE!!!”

The boy shouted as loud as he can. However, all his mother did was smile.

“… Don’t worry…. I’ll always be watching you………… From the other side………..”

Then, she slowly closed her eyes.

The motion seems like she was just sleeping. Her smile is still on her face… However…

“…Mama...........? MAMA?!!”

She was no longer breathing.

And thus, the prodigy was left all alone in this dangerous world.

Having lost all people close to him in just a single night, he cried and cried until he was dried of tears. His tears started having signs of red, signaling the near rupture of his tear glands.

He felt despair. He was left alone with nothing but a sword and a bow. After crying for days, he decided to bury his mother outside the cave. After that, he stayed inside the cave without eating or drinking for days.

After pondering deeply, he decided on his course of action. And thus, a legend is born.

Chapter 2: The Forest of Dreams Part 1

Sound of an intense battle could be heard. Shouts and groans, the metallic rings of every strike, the rumbling sound of several dozens of soldiers running around.

“AAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

A sharp spear-like claw once again pierced a guard’s chest. With their formations in a mess, they cannot match the intensity of the attacking monsters.

The caravan that should reach the town in three days is now on the brink of annihilation. To think that they would get attacked when they are already this near to their destination, what a blunder.

Caught off guard, the mountain of corpses piled up high. This sight in itself, the scene of their friends getting killed in front of them, drove most of them to the brink of insanity from fear.

“DON’T FALTER!!! REFORM THE RANKS!!! DON’T LET THE MONSTERS REACH THE CARAVAN!!!”

A loud and overbearing voice rang. He may be the leader of the guards as they started to regain composure after hearing his voice. Their fear and anxiety were quickly turned to anger towards their enemy. As expected from professional guards, they can change gears quickly.

The monsters looked similar to that of a mongoose. That is except that this one is ten-times larger. By standing on two legs, they can use their barbed spear-like front limbs to attack. Their color of a mixture of black and red bring instinctive fear to those who see them.

Despite the difference in numbers, the guards are managing quite well. Some of the monsters are running away in droves. They believed that they can win in this battle. That is until they heard the report of the scouts.

“Captain! The monsters are chasing the deserters!”

Some of the merchants decided to run away. Their shouts, audible even with their distance.

“We’ll be dead if we stay here!!!”

“Out of the way!!!”

The confusion that the merchant caused was fatal to the caravan guards, and so to themselves.

“Arrrrgh!!!”

“Sa-Save me!”

“No, no no no! I don’t wanna DIE!!!”

Their shouts of grief followed soon after.

Amongst the escaping carriages, a single expensive looking carriage was running extremely fast away from the scene.

Behind them, a great amount of monsters are chasing. The horses neighed hard and stomped their legs frantically, literally running for their lives.

Dozens of minutes passed and the game of tag finally ended. With a loud crash.

With a single swing of their claws, the metal-plated wooden wheel of the carriage easily broke. High class clothes, large sacks of herbs and many other articles scattered around the forest’s floor. Of course, the passengers included.

Due to their speed, they were quite violently thrown off the carriage, flying off about a few meters and gaining bruises and scratches as they rolled around. The coachman was unfortunately smashed by the carriage into a pulp. Two men wearing silver-white uniforms were thrown off quite far. A girl wearing a red one-piece dress was also rolling on the ground until she smashed on a tree trunk.

One of the two men immediately jumped up and stood in front of the girl, wielding his lance in a downward, defensive stance. He quickly surveyed the movements of the enemies.

The monsters split into two groups, one ravaged the caravan and the other was forming an encirclement with them at the middle. Cold sweat started appearing on the brow of the spear wielding man.

“Gerald, take her to a safe place! Protect her with your life!”

“… I know.”

The middle aged man whispered while picking himself up. He then carried the unconscious girl and carried her away. Her blonde hair swaying along with the air currents as they moved away.

The monsters tried to give chase. However, they are blocked with the sudden thrust of a spear. The man’s black hair tied in a ponytail was swing left and right as he wildly, but efficiently, thrusted his spear.

“IF YOU WANT TO CHASE THEM, YOU MUST FIRST WALK OVER MY DEAD BODY!”

With a shout full of vigor, he impaled one monster in an instant. Another attack came from behind but by quickly and skillfully using the butt of the spear, he didn’t even need to look back. He fought intensely, alone against dozens monsters. Still, his defenses are not almighty. Not long after, some of the monsters managed to escape from the blockade.

“…! Damn!!!”

The middle aged man ran to the best of his capabilities while checking the state of the battle with a glance. Despite all his effort, the monsters caught up to them in less than a minute.

“I shouldn’t have stopped training even after I retired from the front lines…”

He murmured in regret as he was easily surrounded by the enemies.

He quietly laid the girl in a nearby tree and quickly drew his two-handed double edged greatsword from his back. Unlike the spear wielding man, he focuses on mana techniques rather than sword skills.

He quickly loaded his sword with his mana, giving it a boost in speed and sharpness. His sword glowed faintly with a bluish-white light.

He sighed in relief when he confirmed the situation. There are only four monsters. It would be a simple thing to kill them if he was alone, however, he is now guarding the girl. He cannot move carelessly.

A monster jumped at him with lightning speed. He quickly turned his head and swung his sword.

“SEYAAAA!!!”

The airborne monster couldn’t avoid the attack, it was easily beheaded. And while splashing its blood all over the place, it landed with a thud.

The other three became wary of the middle aged man. A staring contest was started. Neither side dared to make a move. Tension was straining the air.

“……………!!”

As if choosing this moment, the girl suddenly regained her consciousness. The middle aged man noticed it but didn’t break his eye contact with the enemy.

“… Uncle Gerald…?”

The girl murmured. Her right hand is pressing against her temple. Her eyebrows were crunched in pain. While still slightly dizzy, she slowly noticed her surroundings, which made her face turn pale.

“… Lil’ miss. Better not move from there. It’s dangerous.”

The middle aged man said in a grave voice. The moment he did, the enemies made a move. Three enemies jumped from different directions at the same time, just as the middle aged man had predicted.

He quickly stepped in and swung his sword horizontally. His short brown hair, with a hint of white, was shuffled wildly by the air current produced by his sword swing.

“TAKE THIS!!!”

Despite not having enough length to produce a fatal damage, the sword managed to wound the monsters. Their wounds, with varied locations, were dripping with red blood at a crazy pace. The monsters counterattacked by swiftly swinging their claws. One circled to his back, aiming for the girl.

“Playing smart huh?!”

He nimbly dodged the attacks by jumping backwards, then he immediately swung his sword to the vulnerable back of the monster. The monster immediately died after its top and bottom parts bid farewell to each other. Blood splashed around and the girl was instantly covered in sticky red blood.

Fear was clearly seen in her eyes, yet shock prevented her from taking any actions, even her voice was paralyzed. The battle continued nevertheless. The two remaining monsters relentlessly attacked the man. However, he easily dodged the attacks and sometimes counterattacking giving the monsters a hard time.

“Hahahaha! Weak! Too weak!!!”

The monsters however didn’t want to die that easily. The two of them jumped back and then started running around, circling the middle aged man. Being a veteran, he quickly noticed their aim, a feint.

Instead of fighting him head on, they will attack the one he should be protecting. With this, the chance of the monsters winning will be extremely high.

“DANGER––!!!”

Rooted on the spot, the girl didn’t even as much as twitch to his loud voice. The two monsters immediately pounced on her. A heavy impact sent her flying.

In front of her, the middle aged man with his left hand extended was staring with an ashen face, he was immediately skewered by two speeding claws.

“D-DAAAMMMNNNN!!!”

In a desperate attack, he swung his sword. The head of one monster went flying upwards in an instant. The other one managed to evade in the last moment but still had a small cut on its neck.

Having expended his last drop of strength, he dropped on the ground like a puppet with cut strings, bathing in a pool of blood. The girl, lying on the ground crawling in pain, stared wide eyed at his corpse.

Her shaking lips that used to be of a deep red color is now turning purple. Despair is clearly spelled on her face.

The remaining monster, slowly walked to where the girl is. The red eyes on its elongated head was staring at her intently. I’m going to die too…? She wondered.

The monster moved closer and closer, each time, her heartbeat turns even faster. After only a few seconds, the monster was standing right next to her head. Not having the strength to look up, all she could see is the wide and long legs of the monster. She then closed her eyes tight, preparing herself for what is to come.

“…….”

However, silence persisted for a moment.

A few seconds later, her body was suddenly pierced with a claw. Her face contorted in pain as she felt the taste of iron inside her mouth.

“Gahhaah––!!!”

Her red dress was instantly dyed into a deeper and darker red.

Not content in just skewering her body, the monster threw her body away.

Her mind is already blank from the extreme pain. Only faint groans escaped from her trembling mouth. Tears formed on the corner of her eyes, blurring her already blurred vision further.

Then, in her vision, a pair of boots appeared. No, as she looked up, an unfamiliar man was standing there with his back towards her. He was standing in between her and the monster.

His brown hair, close to a blonde, was being shuffled gently by the air. His body is covered with battered equipment, showing the intense battles that he had survived. On his side, a sword darker than the sky in a stormy night was silently hanging.

“… He…… lp……” She muttered in a whisper like voice. As soon as she did, her consciousness finally left her.

Chapter 2 Part 2

“… What’s with this thick fog…? Really…”

A man, alone within the forest, was grumbling in displeasure. He stood lightly with a hand on his hip while adjusting the brown leather bag on his shoulder, his only baggage.

“… I passed through here earlier… Right?”

He muttered as he noticed a marking that he etched on a tree an hour earlier. He was, unfortunately, lost. He had been going in circles around this forest for several hours already.

“The forest of Dreams… Yeah right… ”

Apparently, this is what this forest is called. Officially, it is said that when someone enters the forest, they will never come out again as they will be stuck in the world of dreams until they die.

“… What a farce…”

However, the truth is far off from that point. The real purpose of the forest is for the merchants to have a private road where not a single robber will appear.

They also said that the forest is also used by other kingdoms but that story’s credibility is a little doubtful. That is since inside the forest, strong monsters live.

Walking for several hours nonstop, the man decided to rest. He sat down beside a large tree.

“… Luckily, the forest’s canopy blocked direct sunlight…”

He closed his eyes and heaved a deep sigh. After repeating this several times, he finally took out a piece of bread and a small canteen. After moistening his dried mouth, he immediately downed the bread.

“……”

It was over in an instant. A small bread alone couldn’t possibly fill his stomach. However, since he don’t know when he will see another human settlement, he must be thrift with his remaining food.

After a few minutes passed, a shout broke the silence and tranquility of the forest.

“DANGER––!!!”

The man heard the voice clearly. However, since it was echoing, it was hard to pinpoint its location.

Deciding on a rough direction, he immediately applied mana to his legs and ran as fast as the wind. Despite running at the speed of sound, his footsteps was as light as feather and didn’t even leave a sound.

“… Miss…”

After about three seconds of running, he turned around and ran at an angle of 60 degrees to his previous path. He plans on triangulating the nearby area to see where the sound came from.

However, just a second later, he saw a harsh scene.

“………!!!”

A girl dressed in a red gown was covered with a dark red liquid. In one glance, it is clearly blood. Even her blonde hair is covered in blood.

The man ran towards the girl and then noticed that she has a large wound on the side of her abdomen.

Examining the wound, it seemed to have failed to reach any vitals. However, if not treated quickly, she will die of blood loss. He stood in between her and the monster in front of her. A «Mongurk».

Mongurks are monsters that moves in groups, luckily, this one’s alone.

He immediately summarized as he scanned the surroundings for presences. There are no living beings within a hundred meters from their position.

“… He…… lp……”

A pristine clear voice, trembling in pain, was heard. He didn’t even need to turn around as there is no one else within the area. He quickly drew his sword made of black iron and held it loosely in front of him.

The Mongurk in front of him seems to be gravely injured already. A single punch was probably enough to kill it.

“*exhales*”

Without wasting a moment, using the mana around his legs, he quickly and silently took a step. It was too fast that the Mongurk thought he teleported.

The monster was slashed vertically from behind. Making sure that the core will be destroyed, he slashed once more, this time horizontally.

A second later, the monster vanished into particles of light without even a pint of blood falling.

The man quickly headed to the wounded girl and checked her condition. The wound had pierced through her side, normal recovery would be hard. Blood loss is reaching critical levels, if left alone, she’ll die in a few minutes.

“… Condition, red. Prioritizing the closing of the wound.”

After his inspection, he immediately tore the portion of the dress around the wound. When he tore it using his hands alone, the slit ran vertically from her wound to her armpit.

“…!”

He quickly averted his eyes from there. After deciding quickly, he used his sword skillfully and cut off the surrounding cloth. His face felt somewhat hot.

Then, using a bottle of wine that is inside his bag, he disinfected the wound, albeit forcefully.

“AAaaaH!!!”

The girl’s face twisted in pain and her body squirmed. After the wound was disinfected, the next step would be to close the wound.

Just bandaging it wouldn’t be enough for sure as the internal bleeding would not stop.

He placed his hands above the wound. The girl grimaced in pain. Then, using a delicate method of manipulating mana, he tried to stimulate the mana circulation, in other words, the energy circulation inside the girl’s body.

Her temperature, almost as cold as ice a bit earlier, was now turning feverish. Her wound was visibly closing.

This phenomenon is brought as a side effect of a faster mana circulation. With a faster circulation, the metabolism of the body will quicken. This includes cognitive senses and motor skills improvement and faster natural recovery speed.

This skill is indispensable especially in the battlefield. However, there is also a side effect. That is, since the senses are strengthened, even the pain would be multiple times stronger.

“……..!!!”

The girl currently has her mouth opened wide as she squirmed left and right. She must be shouting in pain yet no sound came out other than a rough and labored breathing.

Based on the extent of her wounds, the pain she is feeling is without a doubt beyond imagination.

After a few seconds, she seems to be slowly adapting to the pain as her face is slowly relaxing. I gradually raised the output so as not to fry her brain from the intense pain, waiting for her to be accustomed to the level of pain before raising it a level higher.

“…… Almost done…”

Repeating this process over dozens of times, her wound if now mostly closed. However, her body was now limp and as pale as a ghost.

“… Too much blood was lost…”

He quickly fetched a vial from his bag. He poured the contents slowly inside her mouth.

“*COUGH* *COUGH* *COUGH* *groan*…”

He tried to make her drink it but it ended up getting coughed out. A whole vial of medicine was wasted.

He fetched another vial but, this time, he didn’t pour it directly to her mouth. He poured all the content of the vial into his own mouth.

After doing so, he raised her from lying position, holding her body in both hands. Then he unhesitatingly placed his mouth over her pale lips, his left hand supporting her head. He directly administered the medicine slowly with a mouth-to-mouth method.

If he poured it all at once, she may end up choking on it. So instead, he used his tongue to skillfully let the medicine to fall slowly. Since they are, logically speaking, kissing, he cannot confirm that she is swallowing the medicine.

A soft gulping sound was then heard and he felt that her tongue moved. Looks like it was a success. Thinking so, he kept the kiss until all the medicine was gone. Thinking that it may not be enough, he did the same process for another vial.

“… Nnnnn…”

In the middle of the second round, the girl’s eyes slowly opened. The sweet tasting medicine was the first thing that registered inside her muddy consciousness. Then, her dreamy eyes focused on the face that is currently pressed against her own.

Then, after a final gulp, their faces separated.

Her mouth was left open as she panted, her tongue was slightly extending out of her mouth, wanting some more of the sweet tasting medicine.

She blankly stared at the face of the man in front of her. His strict looking eyes, in the color of the sky, were staring straight back at her, making her feel a tingle on her spine.

“……”

At that instant, he gently let her down back into a lying position. He searched inside his bag for a moment, the girl staring at him the whole time.

After finally fetching a clean piece of bandage, he stared back to her once more.

“… Stay still…”

He quickly raised her dress upwards. Since it was a one piece gown, he raised the dress from the hem until it was right about her chest level. She didn’t even raise a voice. He just let him do what he’s doing.

“…*gulp*…”

Trying to not pay any attention as much as possible to the alluring pair of thigh that is pressed against each other, and the small piece of white cloth slightly above it, he wound the bandage around the remnant of her wound. It was an extremely hard test of concentration.

After finishing it as quickly as possible, and making sure it is not too tight, he immediately pulled her skirt back into position.

If a man without proper self-control was to do the same thing, they would end up doing something they shouldn’t have for sure.

What a nerve wrecking thing…

Despite her young looking appearance, her body contains the allure of a beautiful woman. If they were in a different situation, he can even stare at her for a long time without getting bored.

Then, noticing incoming presences, he immediately lifted the girl in a bridal carry. She reflexively placed her hands around his neck. The presence wasn’t that strong so he believed that even if it was hostile, he can manage even without using his weapons.

The man slowly walked towards where the presence was felt. The girl was still looking at his face with a sleepy looking eyes. A slight blush returning to her previously pale white face.

Chapter 2 Part 3

As he walked towards the direction of the presence, he saw the conclusion of the middle aged man’s, Gerald’s, battle. Three dead bodies of Mongurks are lying around. One was even directly atop Gerald’s body.

He wanted to destroy the monster’s core to avoid other monsters coming, but he currently cannot do so as his hands were full.

“Hmmm?”

The presence suddenly stopped in its tracks. It probably noticed his presence and was wondering if he was an enemy or not.

He walked straight towards where the presence was. Then, a strong wave was felt. It was a bit different from blood thirst, more like a threat of “Don’t come any closer”. It must be pretty battered.

Ignoring the threat, he quickly walked to where the wave was coming from until he can see the source clearly.

There, he saw a man of about late twenties in age. His black long hair is in a mess as he uses a lance to support himself. Countless scratches and deep wounds are visible even from afar. His armor was battered beyond recognition.

The only strength that can be visibly seen is the power behind his eyes. It was the will to protect even at the cost of his own life.

“… Who are you…?”

The battered man asked in a wary tone. His voice is fresh sounding despite his battered state. His sharp eyes stared straight at the other person without flinching.

“… Apollo… A traveler…”

Apollo answered as he hugged the girl’s body closer. The battered man widened his eyes suddenly. Not because of what Apollo said but rather because of what, or who, he is carrying.

“Miss Veronica!!!”

The battered man quickly dashed towards Apollo, his lance was aimed towards Apollo’s head, to be exact, it was pinpointing his right eye.

Apollo didn’t even bother dodging. Using a sudden surge of light blue mana, he formed a shockwave that sent the battered man flying backwards for a short distance.

“… Relax, this girl’s already safe… If I was a little late in the treatment, I don’t know what could happen though…”

Apollo turned his gaze to the girl in his hands, the so called Veronica. She was still staring at his face in a daze. Looks like her anemia is still not completely gone. She must still be feeling lightheaded as if she was in a dream.

“… Nnnnn?”

Hearing his words, for the first time since she woke up, she turned her head away from Apollo. Her gaze landed at the man who was currently trying to stand up painstakingly.

“… Julius…?” Her voice rang clearly.

The battered man stopped in his movements. Then, instead of standing up, he went down into a kneeling posture. Just like how a knight shows respect to his king.

“Miss Veronica, I’m extremely sorry for letting you have a fearful experience such as this. I wasn’t strong enough…”

He spoke regretfully, gritting his teeth hard. A red liquid can be seen dripping down from his mouth.

“……”

Apollo could tell his sincerity based on that action alone. Having lived as a nomad for who knows how long, he ended up polishing his skills at judging a person. And he judged that this Julius was a person worthy of trust.

However, he didn’t want to leave Julius swimming in his own self-contempt.

“… If you want to save yourself, be strong….”

With a strong voice, he spoke clearly towards Julius. Julius stared at Apollo in the eyes. Their intent passing through each other.

“… However, if you want to protect someone important to you, you need to be stronger…”

Julius went wide eyed upon hearing his words. The words that Apollo said, it was also for himself, a reminder to not repeat mistakes of the past. Then, Julius lowered his head and gritted his teeth. This time, with a different emotion from regret.

He will surely make use of this event to strengthen himself. Apollo could only pray for his wellbeing.

“… Let’s treat your wounds…”

Apollo first let Veronica sit beside a nearby tree as he treated Julius’s wounds. Since he was still conscious, Apollo just passed him a vial of blood recovering medicine then disinfected and bandaged his wounds.

“… Done.”

After the first-aid was done, they discussed what to do next. Apollo prioritized the opinions of Julius. They decided on checking the original location of the monster’s ambush.

“Hold tight.”

“… N-Nnnnn…”

Veronica was still unable to walk so Apollo was still cradling her. She was blushing up to her ears. Probably sobering up after recovering enough blood through the help of the medicine. Apollo, however, couldn’t understand why she is blushing so intensely.

When they reached the location of the attack, only the thick and repugnant smell remained. The bodies of the brave soldiers and guards were battered, some even dismembered.

The Mongurks probably took some bodies as food and spoils of their victory.

The numbers of the remaining corpses didn’t match the information that he got from Julius. Only a dozen or so had remained. The state of the remains isn’t something pleasing to the eye.

Apollo immediately took a still fine looking carriage and moved it a little distance away, letting Julius and Veronica rest on it.

As they were sleeping, Apollo made an impromptu grave and dumped all the corpses in an orderly manner. By the time that he finished, the sun was already about to set.

“Apollo…” Julius, who just woke up, came to my side and spoke. He immediately proposed to move away from their location as fast as possible.

The monsters nearby might get attracted to the stench of blood and come. Apollo quickly agreed as he was thinking exactly the same thing.

With Veronica still sleeping inside, Apollo pulled the carriage carefully. Julius was walking silently beside him, acting as a guide. If not, they may even end up lost within the thick fog.

“… We should rest around here…”

After walking for about 4 hours, they reached a small river stream. They stopped and decided to rest upon Julius’s words.

Using the food stored inside the carriage that they took from the ravaged carriages of other merchants, they ate their late dinner. Veronica, who woke up just before that, was eating silently while staring at the bonfire.

Apollo was oblivious to the fact that she was actually sneaking glances at him, who’s sitting right across from her.

She would then touch her lips softly and blush wildly an instant later.

It… IT WASN’T A DREAM!!!

She exclaimed in her heart. Not to mention, it was her first kiss. Her mind is now mumbled and jumbled together. Her uncontrollable emotions are running rampant.

In the almost two decade’s length of her life, it was her first time being handled roughly like what Apollo did. Just remembering the scenes from her memory sends an inexplicable tingle along her spine. Mysteriously, instead of feeling unsettled, she felt at an unfathomable happiness.

After finishing their drinks, the three discussed thing while the bonfire keeps their bodies warm.

After deciding that one of them should stay as a guard as the others sleep, Julius volunteered as the first watch. Preparing a sleeping space inside the carriage, Apollo and Veronica laid down.

Still, neither of the two got any blink of sleep.

Vanessa, as she had just woke up, cannot easily fall asleep. That was natural.

On the other hand, Apollo, who is conscious of the presence of Vanessa beside him couldn’t calm down and ended up just closing his eyes without even falling asleep.

An awkward silence enveloped the two.

Heaving a sigh, Apollo finally decided to speak.

“… How’s your wound…?”

Vanessa was slightly startled being suddenly talked to. But she quickly regained herself and replied.

“It stings a little but I guess it is fine. If I don’t move excessively that is.”

“… Is that so… That’s good to hear…”

“…”

Their conversation died out as instant as it started. Then, Veronica spoke in an almost inaudible voice.

“… ummm… Thank you for saving me… If not for you, I would have surely died…”

Apollo opened his eyes and turned his gaze towards Veronica. She was lying on her side, facing Apollo, her eyes showing both sadness and pain. The faint light from the fire outside gave her face a wonderful luminous gleam.

“… No… I should be the one to say sorry…… I came too late… If I came a bit earlier, that swordsman may still be alive right now…”

Apollo sincerely felt that way. Instead of praising himself for having saved a life, he pressed his self with the failure to save others.

Hearing his words, Veronica gasped. Her shoulders visibly shook.

Apollo easily guessed that the said swordsman, Gerald, is an important existence to her.

Without saying any comforting words, he rolled over and inched closer to Veronica. Then, he touched the back of her head and unhurriedly pulled it to his chest.

“….!!!”

Veronica was surprised by the sudden action as she stiffened for a moment. However, not long after, she relaxed herself.

Soon, soft sobbing sounds can be heard faintly. Apollo just stayed silent and gently caressed her soft hair. A pricking sensation was felt in his heart as he continued listening to her sobs.

After hours of crying, she finally slept with a smile on her face. Her eyelashes damp with tears was eye-catching. Apollo gently placed her head atop a stack of herbs inside a leather bag, acting as a pillow.

Assuming that his job is done, he tried to move away, but failed as Veronica was gripping his shirt tightly even in her sleep. Her anxiety must be pretty deep.

Resigning himself to fate, he finally managed to get a wink of sleep.

Four hours later, a fuming Julius came inside the carriage. You can guess what happened next.

Chapter 2 Part 4

Morning came while Apollo was out on ward duties. Other than a few animals that came near their small camp, the whole duration of their stay was as tranquil as still water. The first to rise was Veronica. She washed her face with a basin of cold water prepared by Apollo beforehand.

“Good morning.” She greeted with a fresh smile. Traces of swelling can be seen from her eyes, albeit only a little. Apollo, despite being as rude as he is, properly responded with a greeting, ignoring her swollen eyes.

“Good morning too. You woke up pretty early.”

“Unlike the two of you, I don’t have guard duties so that’s a matter of course!”

She answered while pouting her cute small lips. Apollo’s gaze fell to her lips unconsciously. He quickly averted his gaze right after though. He had this weird feeling of having something itchy on the back of his neck.

“I-Is that so…” He tried to feign ignorance but he stuttered magnificently instead.

“That’s how it is!” She shouted before sitting down forcefully on a fallen log to Apollo’s left. “It won’t do if you both always treat me like a child…” she muttered under her breath.

Silence enveloped the both of them. They just stared at the ground without looking at each other, listening to the sounds of their breathing and the signs of life within the forest.

A gust of cold morning wind blew, playing with the fiery red hair of Veronica. Apollo stared at this scene for a moment before jumping into action. He pulled a small dagger from his waist and jumped towards Veronica.

“… Wha–?!” She shouted in surprise. However, she couldn’t react fast enough. In a split second, he was already in front of her with the dagger held in a reverse grip.

He kept on moving closer, his speed not dropping, until their bodies seem to have overlapped. Veronica closed her eyes forcefully. A heavy thud then was heard. Still, she felt no pain. Opening her eyes, all she could see are a pair of eyes as deep as the blue sky, their nose almost touching each other.

His hand is stretched behind her, supporting his body from leaning over. His other hand, that is holding the dagger, was stuck at the ground just to the left behind her. There, a colorful snake was seen, beheaded, with blood flowing like water.

However, since everything was “behind” her, she couldn’t explain the weird behavior of Apollo.

“W-W-What are you doing?!!” She stammered as she shouted with a beet red angry face. Struggling to get away from him, she flailed wildly inside his arms.

“D-Don’t move! I’ll lose my grip!!”

“W-What?! Woah!”

Before even Apollo lost his grip, Veronica lost her balance and started falling backwards. Reflexively, she stretched her hands to pull herself back. What he ended up pulling on was the collar Apollo’s overcoat.

Apollo, despite getting pulled, managed to act properly. He immediately twisted his body and tried to avoid the fall, he also tried to grab her hand to forcefully remove it. His dagger was thrown slightly away in return. At the same moment, Veronica’s feet slipped and she ended up tripping Apollo. The result…

“……”

“… U-Umm…”

They fell down, entangled. Apollo’s arms were posted, supporting his body, by the both sides of her head. His right hand was pressing on the wrist of her left hand, like a restraint. His left knee was placed right between her soft thighs with her skirt slightly flipped up to a risky degree.

Her face was already deep red, up to her ears. Tears started forming on the corner of her hesitating eyes. Her mouth was opening and closing, as if she wanted to say something. Her body was faintly trembling.

From a bystander’s point of view, it will surely look like Apollo is forcing her into submission. And the voice that proved this, was soon heard.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU BEAST?!!”

Julius shouted to the top of his lungs, immediately swinging his lance’s blunt side to Apollo.

Apollo didn’t evade, rather, he couldn’t. If he moved even in the slightest, he is confident that the situation will turn to the worst.

The lance hit his side. Using the impact, he flung himself away from Veronica. It hurts a little but he can bear with it. After a rolling turn, he jumped up and landed on his feet.

“You didn’t hold back did you?” Apollo asked while holding his hurting ribs. Some may have cracked.

“OF COURSE! To think that you are such a wolf, I was… I was!!!” Veronica shouted while covering her body using her hands, slowly backing further away from Apollo.

“… I should have used the blade instead…” Julius mused after listening to her rant. Anger seething in his words.

“I’ll surely die from that.”

“I know. That’s why.”

“Talk about brutal…”

“Where are you going?!”

“… Patrolling. Eat something for breakfast while I’m out.”

After their short exchange, Apollo walked away while minding the pain on his side. Not long after, he was out of their sight.

“Miss Veronica, are you alright?”

Julius immediately asked. His voice showed signs of his anxiety.

“… No harm done…” She bluntly replied, averting her still hot face.

“Is that so… Still, what happened?”

“… Who knows? Try asking him.”

With that short reply, she turned on her heels and walked briskly back to their carriage. Julius just gave a sigh before chasing after her figure.

“Hmm?”

On one corner of his vision, a long and colorful object was seen. It has scales the color of the rainbow, sparkling beautifully even with the smallest spark of light. However, it is as dangerous as how beautiful it is. A “Rainbow Cobra”. It is a monster that stalks its prey before using its extremely potent poison that can eliminate even an elephant in just seconds.

“……”

Julius smiled and walked away. However, he isn’t as good a guy as to explain things to Veronica.

After selecting their menu for breakfast, the two of them ate silently. After half an hour, when the two of them are relaxing with fruits as desserts, Apollo returned.

“You’re back. How did it go?”

Julius immediately asked, treating the commotion that morning as a thing of the past. Apollo just continued towards the carriage and went straight for a bow lying on the side of the box of fruits.

“I encountered a couple of Mongurks while patrolling. I wounded them and sneaked after it when I found over a hundred of them hiding around the open area just a kilometer ahead of us.”

He spoke in a matter of fact manner. Unlike his relaxed demeanor, the content of his report was extremely alarming. Julius immediately paled.

“A Hu-Hu-Hundred?!”

His panic stricken face was worthy of praise. As instead of falling into despair, his expression shown that he was thinking of how to prevent the worst case scenario of getting them wiped out.

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it. You can’t even wield your spear properly yet right?”

“… How did you…” He muttered in doubt, however, Apollo cut in through his words.

“When you swing your lance this morning, your aim was slightly off. It was probably aiming for my ribcage but it ended up hitting lower to my side. Thanks to that, a few minutes was all it took to recover.”

Apollo spoke slowly while inspecting the quiver of common iron tipped arrows. In a matter of fact voice. Julius felt awed at his quick insight.

“Prepare to move shortly, I’ll clear the monsters around the area in the meantime.”

He spoke after placing 3 quivers of 40 arrows each on his back. Julius just watched his back in silence.

After entering the forest, he quickly broke into a quick dash. With silenced steps, he weaved his way through the sea of trees. Even with the fog limiting his vision, he can move twice as fast as a moving carriage on top speed.

In just a couple of minutes, he reached a small hill just before the large clearing.

He started observing the mana in the surroundings. The presences of the monsters around became clear.

“… Looks like their number increased…”

Within his range alone, already over tens of dozens of monsters can be felt.

“… There are reinforcements within the surroundings for sure.” He muttered.

Still, no matter how the situation changes, what he need to do still remains the same.

He placed the two quivers in front of him, on the ground. The last quiver was held aloft with his right hand. Using his other hand, he held the bow and posed it in a shooting position.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“… *exhales*…”

When he opened his eyes, at the same moment, he threw the arrows inside it all around him. It all scattered beautifully above his head.

“… Draw, aim, shoot!”

Using mana on his body, he accelerated his actions. To him, the falling arrows almost seems to be staying still in the air. He grabs a nearby arrow and nocked it on the bow.

“*Pshewww*” The sound of air being cut by the arrow resounded.

It flew in a straight line, as if unaffected by gravity. An unaware monster’s head was pierced easily and the arrow continued flying towards other monsters in a straight line. About a dozen was done in in a single shot.

“Next!”

He pulled another arrow and shoot. This time, the arrow’s tip released a faint blue light. Everything along its path was mowed down as if a meteor was passing through.

Explosions resounded not long after. The monsters were startled by it. They became wary of their surroundings in an instant.

The shooting continued without giving the monsters time to regroup or retaliate. A perfect sniping.

Soon, the arrows around him were gone.

After emptying the first two quivers, the monster’s reinforcement of about twice the previous numbers came. It was a mixed group of monsters, mainly composed of Mongurks.

Seeing that they are all lumped together, he didn’t waste his chance.

“… Three for one!”

He tipped the last quiver using his boots, making three arrows fly upwards. He caught them all and simultaneously placed them on the quiver.

After placing his mana, the silver colored metal tip of the arrows turned into a deep blue.

When he released the arrows, they flew at a speed incomparable to his previous shots. The air rumbled as the three arrows made their way to the monster’s location. The moment it made contact, a large explosion occurred.

The shockwave sent the other monsters flying. Even the nearby trees got uprooted. Most importantly, the fog covering the forest was cleared almost instantly.

When the smoke cleared, not a single monster remained unharmed. Using the remnant arrows on his last quiver, he finished them off.

In less than 5 minutes, a swarm of monsters were obliterated, leaving the battle area in a catastrophic state.

“… Looks like the coast’s already clear…”

He muttered before turning around and running back to their camp. After his figure vanished, from within the remaining smoke, beyond Apollo’s expectations, something moved.

Chapter 2 Part 5

When Apollo returned to their camp, what greeted him was a startled and on high alert Julius.

“Be careful! I heard some explosions earlier, maybe a swarm of monsters are rampaging nearby!”

He shouted to Apollo without breaking his attention towards his surroundings. Apollo just scratched his cheeks, wondering what he should say.

“… Is the carriage ready to move?” He said, as if to divert the conversation.

“Yes, of course. It’s not like we have much to carry!”

“Then let’s move. If what you say is true, it’s better to keep on moving.”

Apollo spoke calmly while placing the bow back inside the carriage. There, he saw Veronica curled up in one corner deep inside. She was trembling all over.

“……”

Apollo wanted to comfort her but having no experience doing so, he don’t know what to say. Instead, he just silently headed to the front side of the carriage and, using body reinforcement, he pulled the carriage.

Veronica was startled at the sudden movement of the carriage but after realizing that it was Apollo’s doing, she calmed down a little.

“A-are we leaving…?” She timidly asked.

“… Yeah. Don’t worry, there’s absolutely no danger remaining. I assure you.”

“*sniff* P-promise?”

“… I promise.”

With his words, her trembling stopped. However, her tears would take a bit longer to finish.

The group moved with Apollo on the lead, Veronica inside the carriage, and Julius guarding the back. They moved at a reasonable speed, not fast but not too slow. Soon, they will be reaching the place where the battle occurred. The scent of burnt flesh and wood drifted in the air.

Julius’s wariness went up a level higher. The scenery that was covered by a thick fog was slowly clearing. Then, a minute later, the fog completely clears up, revealing the state of the place they were headed to.

“… What… The hell… Happened…?”

He muttered after seeing the scene in front of them. The forest was full of trees moved down. Some were even burning still. The ground looked as if someone tried setting up several trenches, making it hard to pass through.

Not only that. All around them, countless corpses of different monsters are lying down, scattered.

“… It’s as if a war just occurred here…”

Veronica voiced her opinion. Apollo just continued walking forward, ignoring the reactions of the two.

“…?!”

Suddenly, within Apollo’s range of perception, he noticed a movement. It was fast, incomparable to normal monsters. Almost reflexively, he let go of the carriage and jumped forward. At the same moment, something crashed against him.

STRONG!!!

He cursed as he was slowly getting pushed back. Using that instant, he used the enemy’s charge and threw it away on the opposite direction. The split second that passed was used to see what his opponent was.

“…!!! Julius! Take Veronica and stay at a safe distance!!!”

He immediately shouted as he dashed forward. If he wouldn’t pin down the enemy, Julius and Veronica might die. That’s the gravity of the situation they are in.

Why is a variant here?! He shouted in his mind as he stared at the monster that was still to hit the ground. It’s over 2 meter body was covered in a deep black fur. Long arms enough to reach the ground even while standing. Claws sharp enough to cut rocks effortlessly. Lastly, a series of yellowish sharp razor teeth.

The pair of red, sharp looking eyes locked on to Apollo’s figure. Shivers run down his spine. He instinctively used body reinforcement and jumped aside. The same instant, something hit his previous position causing severe lashes on the ground.

Apollo quickly applied mana to his eyes. Then, he realized.

I’m getting cornered?!

Mana blades, invisible to normal eyes, are all around him flying at speeds impossible to dodge.

I should have brought my sword!!!

He regretted leaving it inside the carriage now that a time to use it came. He had no choice but to adlib. He concentrated mana on his fingers to the point that it turns visible. Using the impromptu hand-blade on both hands, he intercepted each mana blades around him.

He twisted, turned, rolled and ducked all while swinging his hands. The number of mana blades flying towards him slowly thinned. In one corner of his enhanced vision, he can see that the variant was running towards Julius and Veronica.

This is bad!

With Julius’s level, he couldn’t even defend against it. Only death is the possible ending for them if the variant caught up.

No choice!!

Apollo ignored the incoming blades and dashed. Some slashes connected to his body causing lacerations and when lucky, just a few scratches. When he finally managed to intercept the variant, his body was battered too much that he was already out of breath.

He launched a palm strike towards the variant. The variant was startled and couldn’t evade in time and was sent flying once more. Apollo used this chance to run back at once towards the carriage. He immediately picked up his obsidian sword and a vial of elixir.

Right after Apollo finished drinking the elixir, the variant was already running towards him.

He immediately placed the sword in a forward stance, ready to intercept any attack or give a heavy blow. The variant quickly dashed towards Apollo. Then, for the first time, it brandished its claws.

Without wasting a moment, Apollo received the sharp claw with the flat side of his sword. Then, he twisted the sword lightly, causing the attack to veer out of his location. He followed up with a lightning fast vertical slash, aiming for the vulnerable back of the variant.

“*Screeeeech*”

The variant wailed in pain as a large wound was opened on its back. The variant quickly turned around and slashed at Apollo.

“… Rend…”

However, instead of evading, he placed his sword once more to intercept the attack. And after muttering that one word, something unbelievable happened. Noticing its impending doom, the monster tried to stop the attack, however it was too late.

At the moment of contact, the variant’s whole arm, from hand to its shoulder, got bisected with an invisible blade. At the last instant, the variant twisted its body, avoiding a fatal wound.

“… Bad move…”

However, due to the sudden movement, it lost balance for the shortest of instant.

“…REND!!!”

Using that chance, Apollo aimed his sword at the monster’s core. At the center of its thick chest. The black sword seemed to multiply and a wave of afterimages smashed against the monster’s chest.

The variant having its core pierced almost instantly vanished into thin air.

“*pant* *pant* *pant* … Ugh…”

Apollo knelt down the ground due to extreme pain. He was pressing against his chest, his heart felt like it would burst out.

“APOLLO!?”

Veronica, seeing the conclusion of the battle and Apollo’s state, immediately ran up to his side. Julius followed slightly behind her.

“ARE YOU OKAY?!”

Her worried voice made echoes on Apollo’s hurting head.

“… Don’t… Shout…”

“S-Sorry…”

“… Using a… Killing art… Twice in a row… Seems to be… a bad… Idea…”

He muttered with bated breath.

“Don’t force yourself, you should rest.”

“… Don’t mind… me… We shouldn’t… Stay here for… long…”

Apollo tried standing up but fell forward a moment later. Veronica caught his heavy and battered body in a panic. They seem like they are hugging each other.

“W-W-Wait! I just said, don’t move!”

“… But… I still need to… pull the carriage…”

His eyelids felt heavier as he speak. Then, as if on cue, he fell asleep.

“What the…!”

Falling asleep, his whole body weight leaned against Veronica’s small body.

“J-JULIUS!!! H-HELP!!! ARRRGH!!!”

Before the two of them fell, Julius picked up Apollo and placed him on his shoulder.

“T-Thanks…”

“Miss Veronica should enter the carriage too. Staying outside is dangerous.”

“Ah. Okay. The exit’s not that far is it?”

“About a couple of hours away, I think. We should be out of the forest before noon.”

“That’s good.”

With Julius pulling the carriage, they passed through the battlefield and finally reached out of the forest. They are now only a day away from the city.

Impressum

Texte: Seraph Wedd
Lektorat: Seraph Wedd
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 01.09.2016

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