《Magic;World》


 Magic;Land

    The healer gets killed first.


    In a raid against monster beasts in a dungeon, it is a healer to whom they target first. But not all monster beasts had intelligence so it was a relief for the party who were in their first raid.


    In the dawn of the winter season, five people were gathered before the entrance of the dungeon. With fog covering the entrance, no eyes could gaze at the horrific beasts lurking inside.


    The five people were looking at each other in nervousness as they were ones to arrive first.


    "It seems others are taking their time." The man wearing silver armor said as he sat down in the ground.


    "Mr. Chris is right. They sure are taking their sweet time, aren''t they?" The boy who seemed to be fourteen years old spoke as he gazed at the entrance.


    The other three who weren''t wearing too warm only shivered.


    "What? If this cold defeats you here then how are you going to raid? Aren''t you adventurers? Man up!" The boy said with a smile.


    "Sigh~" The one with short black hair moved her legs and kicked the boy,


    "I am a girl. I don''t need to man up!"


    "I was just kidding, Raiha. You don''t have to take it to heart!" The boy said.


    He then sat at the place where he fell and kept quite.


    As if satisfied, Raiha took back her leg and sighed as the air that blew from her mouth became smoke and vanished.


    "They are here!" Chris spoke as he stood up.


    "Where? I don''t see anyone!" Raiha couldn''t even see them when Chris told them others had arrived.


    "Raid leader''s sense exceeds anyone''s in this group. If he says they have arrived then indeed they have arrived." The boy spoke.


    A number of shadows started appearing in the fog after the boy said that. About ten other adventurers joined them from afar.


    The raid must consist of about ten people, no matter what rank the dungeon seemed to be. And the rule said that there must be a raid leader to lead others which was filled by Chris and with the support of Ben, vice-leader, they had ventured many dungeons and returned back with their life.


    The rule wasn''t set by the dungeon since the dungeon didn''t have any rules. They were set by the Guilds for the safety of humans. This time the dungeon was an E-Rank one.The fog it gave off wasn''t too thick and the Guild that supervised the raid had already confirmed its rank.


    Today''s raid was supervised by the Guild ''Thousand Lakes'' and it was composed of fifteen people.But the party didn''t entirely belong to the Guild.The ten which joined them, later on, were all sellswords to fill the gap. Five B-Rank adventurers of ''Thousand Lakes'' were enough to wipe the entire dungeon clean but rules were rules, so the Guild decided to rent sellswords.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Among the sellswords, he too had come for the hope of earning some money. In these lands, money wasn''t everything but for someone like Oslo, it was a dream come true.


    The only thing he strived for was to pay the debt his late parents left on his shoulder. Otherwise, if he couldn''t pay his debt, he feared even his little brother would have no choice but to become an adventurer.


    He knew how dangerous of a job it was and there was not a dungeon in which he hadn''t struggled just to keep his life intact. He wished nothing more than not letting his little brother bear such a burden and end up miserable as him.


    When he arrived he saw most of the people in the group were wearing armor and had good equipment they could rely on. He just cursed his misfortune at this time.


    When a sigh left his mouth, Chris as the leader said,


    "You''ll receive your pay but inside the dungeon no matter what it is, everything belongs to ''Thousand Lakes'' Guild. Not even hair will be rewarded if someone tries stealing our property."


    The sellswords all knew what they had signed for, so everyone agreed, even Oslo who was struggling for money agreed.


    After the sun shone above their heads, Chris held his shield and sword and entered the dungeon as the rest followed him.


    Magic Land wasn''t a place humans were familiar with. No one knew for what reason it appeared. Ten years ago, a hole black in color appeared in the streets of America. It didn''t seem like a black hole as it appeared neutral.


    But when a human tried touching it, he was sucked inside. Many citizens feared such wretched existence and the authorities had decided to ban the people from nearing it.


    But after a day, the man who tried touching it came back and the whole Earth was shocked at then news of man coming back alive.


    Many holes had appeared throughout the world and what the man said shocked them.


    It began like this,


    "The hole leads to another world in which human existence is possible. But it didn''t come as a surprise to me as this one did."


    A small flame appeared in his palm out of nowhere and the news reporters filming him opened their mouth wide.


    "There is magic in the land and it seems after venturing the hole one can even use magic on Earth."


    Many people just because of that sentence jumped in the hole without thinking twice. After the discovery of such a world, many people joined forces and started living there.


    But after living there for over a year, Authorities formulated a rule.


    ''No one is allowed to live in the land for their whole life.''


    The Earth had already degraded and many didn''t want such land to bear the same fate as Earth. After the formulation of the rule, the system was created in which every power holders of different countries signed in.


    The land was given a name.


    Magic Land. The land of magic.


    Many researchers till the date researched the ''Portal'' to discover as to how could such thing teleport humans to Magic Land, but the mystery hadn''t revealed yet.


    Many people started entering the Magic Land and it didn''t take humans too long to create the system inside the land. Guilds were created solely for adventurers and Magic Council to keep magicians at the toe.


    Not all people were good after all.


    Upon entering the dungeon, the temperature increased. The ones wearing heavy armor felt like they were suffocating and the ones who didn''t wear many clothes enjoyed the warmth.


    Temperature outside and inside the dungeon was the complete opposite. If it wasn''t for this, Dungeons wouldn''t have been called ''World inside world ''.


    But upon entering the dungeon the party hadn''t spotted a single magic beast. The cave stretched far as a mile but not a single creature greeted them.


    Many sellswords sighed in relief but they who had visited the Dungeons most of the time had an odd look on their faces.


    " Something isn''t right!"


    They felt something was amiss but they could their finger on it. As they walked for about an hour, everybody started worrying. Chris too frowned in the situation, not expecting something like this to happen.


    "Don''t tell me the boss has intelligence and has ordered other monsters to remain in the boss room."


    Oslo spoke from the back of the pack as other sellswords stopped their feet in fear.

 Entrance

    "You seem somewhat knowledgeable about the dungeons," Chris said in a calm tone, "but you don''t have to worry. No matter how strong the boss is, it will still be an E-Rank boss unless the dungeon is interconnected with another dungeon."


    Sometimes in very rare cases, the dungeons of different or same ranks would be interconnected. Two entrances but both leading inside the center of the same dungeon.Unless the dungeon was interconnected to the dungeon of higher rank than B, Chris was confident about taking the dungeon with the party.


    What Chris said calmed the others down.


    Finally, after the walk of an hour and a half, they saw the light at the end of the cave.


    "It seems to be the boss room. Prepare yourself!" Chris said as he raised his shield.


    Everybody took out their arms. Oslo too took out his dagger which seemed as if it was about to break at any moment. The scratches in the dagger made it look ugly in comparison to the swords of others which were polished anew.


    The boy seeing the dagger laughed and approached Oslo from the front.


    "Your weapon is all beat up and it seems to be made up of black-horned rabbit. Seriously, are you trying to tickle boss to death?"


    Oslo smiled and said,


    "Yes!"


    The boy was speechless. He wanted to make fun of him but when Oslo accepted it, he got disappointed. He pouted and walked to the front.


    "You''re no fun at all!"


    Others in the group seemed to be disappointed as well. For their viewpoint, he just nobody, trying to mooch of easy money.


    When they exited the cramped cave, a pond greeted them. But as before no monsters were there. Chris furrowed his brows as he stared at the pond. He knew what the pond was but his feeling of uncomfortable rose up.


    Not everybody in the group knew what it was, so one of them asked,


    "What is it, a leader?"


    "It is the pond that would strengthen the body. The ''Pond of Evolution''". He said but didn''t dare take another step since he couldn''t shake off the feeling that something was wrong.


    " Pond of Evolution! " Everybody in the group was drooling gazing at the pool.


    "Something is wrong," Oslo exclaimed, " Normally a pond of evolution is of great importance to the monsters, but it seems every monster abandoned the pond which means there is something of more importance in the dungeon than the pool which made them vacate the pond and protect another thing."


    "I thought so too because it was being easier than stealing candy from a kid!" Chris said as he looked at every direction. Not only his eyes but his sense couldn''t detect any monsters as well.


    "The thing for which they abandoned the pond must be something of great value but,"


    He again furrowed his brows, " There seems to be no other entrance leading to the place. Only the entrance from which we entered is here. So, we don''t have any means to enter the place which they are trying to protect."This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    " The pond of evolution is the only spoil so let''s jump in it." He said looking at everyone in the group.


    After he said that everyone jumped in the pond in excitement but Oslo again tried to confirm,


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yes, since pond can''t be taken outside the dungeon and once we leave the dungeon, the dungeon would most like disappear. So, might as well soak when we still have the chance."


    After he said that he too jumped in the pond. Oslo hesitated but still jumped in the pond.


    When his whole body immersed in water he felt his whole body brimming with energy. The once lost abs were starting to show itself again but were only half showed when the water stopped working on him. The pond couldn''t even strengthen his body till all abs showed itself.


    "Was that it?" Oslo was half disappointed.


    But at the party, Chris and the rest were the ones disappointed the most. The pond didn''t strengthen its constitution a bit. It seemed it could only strengthen a body that was very weak but not the body of the adventurers above D-Rank. Except for some sellswords, everybody was disappointed. Even their control over magic wasn''t affected in the least.


    Upon the defeat of boss, the dungeon would disappear after everybody exited it but there were some dungeons which would disappear instantly upon the defeat of the boss and because of which, to date, thousands of adventurers were lost in Magic Land.


    No one knew where they ended up and it was also one of the reasons Oslo didn''t want his brother to become an adventurer. Because every dungeon was a potential risk he wanted his brother to be far away from such jobs.


    When Chris was about to leave the pond, a head popped up above the water and said,


    "There is something down there!"


    Everybody was confused, Ben from Chris side asked,


    "What did you find?"


    The male aged man grinned and said,


    "It seems to be the entrance. When I tried reaching the bottom of the pond, I found it. The pond has no bottom and upon swimming down, we''ll reach the place. Maybe it is the place where all the monsters are and there may also be treasure raid leader talked about."


    Upon hearing the word Treasure'', the heart of sellswords sank as it now all belonged to ''Thousand Lake'' Guild and the worse part about it was they had to help them take it.


    Oslo, on the other hand, didn''t seem to care since he was going to be paid and also got the chance to soak himself in the pond. He was happy.


    "Don''t lie! How can the pond have no bottom?" One man spoke in disbelief.


    "It is up to you whether you believe me or not but friend what I told you was the truth." The man said in a calm tone. He then dived down the pond.


    Chris and the rest followed in greed. When they dived about five meters, a blurred image of the ground caught their eyes. When their body left the water, they fell three floors down in the ground.


    Chris and the group slowly picked themselves up as the water dropped from their armors. Chris looked up and said,


    "It really had no bottom."


    Ben cast his lighting magic but the water remained calm and not a ripple formed in it.


    "Yeah, what you say is true."


    "Does anybody have wings?" Chris asked looking at the group.


    They shook their head and Chris didn''t ask again.


    Killing a monster was very tough but obtaining their skills and parts was seldom seen.


    Only one in a millionth had the chance of obtaining its parts and one in ten thousand had the chance to obtain the runestones in which the skill of monster was stored.


    Anna Raygal was called a prodigy in the Magic Land just because of obtaining a skill of a tiger beast to control the fire efficiently.


    Chris then watched the cave in front of him. The cave was pitch dark and at the entrance one stick was burning in the wall.


    "The only thing we can hope for is by exiting through this cave." He said in a calm tone.


    Even if it didn''t lead them to exit he could escape from here using the scroll the Guild gave him to escape.


    Ben nodded in agreement when the ground started shaking violently.


    Chris furrowed his brows and immediately lifted up his sword and shield.


    One. Two. Three... Thirty.


    "Everyone!" He shouted looking at the entrance, "Prepare yourself for the battle. A mob of monsters is coming in our direction."

 Boss

    Even If he hadn''t yelled, they were already holding their weapons upon the shaking of the land. The boy''s blue sword was pointed back as if he was about to one-hit-kill a monster.


    In only mere seconds, green, blue, yellow, silver and feet of different colors emerged through the darkness. It wasn''t a mob of a single kind but many monsters had created the pack.


    Everybody was engaged in battle. The sword in Chris''s hand had already traveled through the neck of five creatures. Oslo too had killed a goblin and was currently engaged with a green-scaled monkey.


    Others too were engaged but only one who didn''t move was the boy who was in the position to leap off and his sword facing back.


    The long nails of the green-scaled monkey were about to scratch Raiha when she leaped across the air and pierced its heart from behind.


    "That''s twenty."


    Chris swung his sword at the silver for before him but his sword bounced back upon the strike. The silver rhinoceros used its horn to attack it''s for before it but it missed its target.


    Pang~


    The sword again bounced back when Chris struck rhino at its back.


    The hard scaled rhino dashed at Chris in full strength. This time too his horn missed Chris but it pierced through the heart of another sells word.


    "Aargh~"


    The man cried upon the sudden strike and died by the horn. The monsters this time were attacking the group ferociously as if they wanted to finish the fight as soon as possible.


    They were difficult to deal with and seemed to fear something inside the cave. Since the group was blocking their way to exit they had no choice but to attack the group to forge a path.


    The rhino in a hurry again dashed towards Chris. Chris dodged again but the man behind him wasn''t as lucky. Another one died by the horn of a rhino.


    Pang~


    The sword again bounced off.


    In the time of five minutes, the ground before the entrance was dyed red with the blood of both humans and monsters.


    Ben who was in the back was mumbling something. He after finishing the incantation said,


    "HEAL!"


    Ben who was the only healer in the group had the responsibility to heal everybody in the group. Unless someone was dead, he could just make their wound go woosh.


    Rhino was getting annoyed by Chris trying to break through his flesh again and again. It was waiting for Chris to use up all his strength and was waiting to kill him at that moment.


    It seemed to possess intelligence and was angered by what Ben did. It was waiting for Chris to use up his strength but the support provided by Ben was preventing it.


    It then switched its target and madly dashed toward Ben. Everybody had dealt with the monsters except for the tough-skinned rhino. Seeing rhino approaching the healer, everybody near it tried to stop it but the rhino ignored them as if they were bugs it could kill at any time.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Ben couldn''t react to the sudden change of event and was frozen to his feet in rhino''s line of attack.


    When rhino was just a foot away from Ben, a leg leaped and blue light flashed through its neck. The head dropped in the ground and its body followed suit.


    Thud-


    "And that''s the last one." The boy said as he slowly sheathed his sword.


    Ben heaved a long sigh of relief after affirming that he was safe.


    "Was that the boss?" The boy asked.


    "No!" Chris shook his head, "It''s coming now."


    Hearing him everyone''s gaze fell upon the entrance in nervousness. If the mob was this strong, how strong would the boss be?


    Tat- Tat- Tat- Tat-


    The sound of footsteps was heard throughout the place and engulfed in darkness, the figure finally revealed itself.


    It was a skeleton with red eyes and a ball-sized orb was in its one hand and a spear in its right. It turned its gaze and looked at Ben with its red murderous eyes and raised the hand with a spear.


    "Do you think I can only heal? You bastard!" Ben unsheathed his sword from his waist and took an attacking stance.


    The boss seemed to have watched the previous battle and knew how powerful the group was, and who the most bothersome in the group was.


    It threw the spear at Ben at great speed as he slashed his sword at the spear.


    Clang~


    The spear and sword collided with great force and the sound of metal clashing against metal rung. But suddenly...


    Boom!


    The spear blasted and pieces of the sharp edge of spear shattered.


    One. Two. Three.


    Three people fell victim to the shattered piece as it pierced through their body and Ben was among the unfortunate ones as he had met the attack head-on.


    Thud-


    Ben fell at the ground lifeless as the two others followed him in his death.


    Many were injured because the pieces of the spear had grazed them. Oslo''s left shoulder had a small hole as if a bullet had pierced through it. A small bullet actually.


    "It''s not an E-rank Dungeon." One of the sellswords exclaimed as he turned back and tried to escape from the hopeless situation he was in when suddenly his head hit the ground.


    The boy behind him said,


    "Fool! We''ve already lost our vice-leader, the only healer of the group and you want to run? If any feet bend to run, his head will kiss the ground just like this one."


    Among the fifteen who had entered, five people had died. Four of them being sellswords and one of Chris''s group, ten were the only ones surviving, half of which were injured including Raiha of whose blood flown down her right thigh.


    Chris had anger and only anger inside his mind. Upon venturing many dungeons and had gone through many tough situations, been on many adventures, Ben was more than a teammate for him. He was like a brother to whom he met at the Guild when he first arrived there.


    He slashed his sword at the skeleton with monstrous strength and pure rage but the skeleton stood there doing nothing, it only shrieked.


    The red orb in his hands glowed with a blinding light and the sword was stopped mid-air. The sword couldn''t slash through the creature that had appeared before him.


    Upon glancing at the creature he couldn''t help but say,


    "How?"


    It was silver rhino through which his sword couldn''t pass through before. This time it was white but Chris had no doubt that it was the same rhino from before.


    The boy as before slashed his blue sword covered in blinding blue light and cut its head. The white rhino then vanished.


    The boy then looked at the skeleton in awe and said,


    "Did it resurrect them?"


    Chris shook his head,


    "I don''t know but it seems like your guess is more correct than what I had guessed."


    At this point, the creature before them seemed like the God of Death itself mocking their stubborn act to cling to their life.


    Slowly, the white creatures rose up above their dead body and filled the place. The place which was about empty seemed cramped up again.


    "It seems the dungeon was interconnected with a high rank one. Judging by its look it is at least B-rank." Chris said as he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.


    Shriek~


    The boss shrieked again ordering the creatures to attack the group.

 Killing The Boss

    The group of monsters wasn''t as ferocious as they seemed to be. They were far from their original selves.


    One hit kill!


    They just have to stab or cut, to inflict wounds on the white beasts to kill them. When every beast vanished in next to no time at all, the boss roared. The roar was filled with anger. The red orb in its hand glowed again and the blood that dyed the ground floated in the air.


    After the blood gathered, it sprayed itself all over the body of the skeleton dying the skeleton red.


    The color of the bones and its eyes now matched. Some of the blood reformed itself into a spear in the skeleton''s hand. Chris didn''t know what was happening but he knew for sure he shouldn''t let the monster finish what it had started.


    He leaped off and pierced his sword through the chest of the skeleton.


    Swoooosh~


    An arrow flew at the same time and pierced its skull, the middle-aged man who had shown the entrance again took out an arrow from his quiver and pointed its head at the skeleton.


    Raiha too dashed to cut the skeleton''s leg when a shadow emerged from her back and slashed through its neck.


    When the head hit the ground, everyone took a step back. Raiha turned her attention from the skeleton and looked at Chris,


    "Is it over?"


    "Hey, look out!" Chris shouted at Raiha, warning her to be careful.


    But it was too late. The hand holding spear traveled in the speed of light and pierced her from the heart. Blood dripped from Raiha''s mouth when the skeleton raised its spear and dropped the body mercilessly.


    The ground cracked at her death.


    "You bastard!" The boy slashed his sword at the skeleton.


    When the body was cut in half, the boy realized that what he had cut was the white shadow of Raiha the monster had created. His again clenching the sword tried attacking again when a hand pulled him back. Chris said,


    "Don''t try anything that will cost you your life."


    Droplets of tears flowed down his eyes,


    "But big sis-"


    "I know how you are feeling but calm down and think things through, Ray. If you die as well then how are you going to avenge your sister''s death?"


    Upon hearing the word ''avenge'' Ray gritted his teeth and stepped back.


    Oslo who saw the skeleton''s body move felt very powerless at the moment. If he was powerful enough he could have saved at least one life but he was not and because of that even though he knew that skeleton was about to attack, his lips moved but his body didn''t.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The head in the ground slowly flew and reattached itself with the body of a skeleton and again its eyes glowed red. Its body was again white hinting that it had already absorbed all the blood except for the spear in his right hand.


    It was different from before. With each step it took the ground made a crack. Fortunately, it wasn''t too fast, if it was they knew they would stand no chance of fighting it. None at all.


    Ray again swung his sword at the skeleton with great force but this time sword didn''t slice through and was deflected back. He felt as if his hand would snap any minute.


    Everybody tried attacking it but their weapon couldn''t even leave a scratch on the bone. Chris attacked the skeleton but unlike other times, it didn''t stand still and dodged the incoming attack, also attacking Chris from an incredible angle using the bloody spear.


    A hand barely pulled him and he was able to get back with just slight scratch on his forehead. If he was just a second late, his forehead would have been cleaved in half.


    Oslo noticed the unusual move the skeleton performed and felt it was weird. The boss which didn''t pay any mind to the incoming attacks from others dodged when Chris attacked it. Why? Oslo suddenly realized something.


    He was not sure what he had surmised was correct so he decided to test it out. He threw his scrapped dagger from afar towards the skeleton from left and as he had guessed, the skeleton deflected it with the bloody spear.


    He now had his confirmation. He then looked at the people attacking the boss and said,


    "Everybody listen!"


    Except for some people distracting the boss, every head turned his way.


    "What?"The middle-aged man said," Don''t waste time and attack that freak!"


    From how it looked, everyone was getting impatient, Chris, however, asked,


    "Did you realize something?"


    Oslo didn''t answer but just nodded.


    "If you can distract the boss for some time we can forge a plan to kill the fiend!" Oslo said.


    Chris not having an idea of his own to kill the boss nodded and asked two of the sellswords to distract the boss and gathered to forge a plan.


    After Oslo revealed the plan, the middle-aged man said in an angry tone,


    "You don''t really know that it is indeed its weakness, do you? And even if it was, there will only be one chance and if we fail to kill the skeleton, we''ll surely die! I object to follow this plan."


    Chris then coldly glanced at the man and said,


    "Do you have other ideas to take down the boss?"


    Seeing the man keep quiet, he clapped his hands,


    "We''ll follow the plan then, and..."


    He glanced at Ray and said,


    "You''ll deliver the last hit so save your energy and take that stance like before."


    Ray nodded and took the stance. The two men couldn''t distract the skeleton any longer and one man had already fallen victim to the spear and it was the turn of another man.


    Skeleton swung it''s a spear and pierced through another man which got skewered and as the skeleton lifted up the spear, Oslo took hold of the opening and kicked the hand holding the spear as hard as he could.


    But as expected the hand only deflected a little but it was enough for him to pick his dagger from the ground and stab the skeleton.


    The dagger as any other weapons deflected back as well. The monster tried skewering him as well when Chris swung his sword from the left side. With a body weighing down the spear, the skeleton threw it and grabbed Oslo by neck throwing him at Chris who was swinging his sword at it.


    Chris immediately took back his sword and as Oslo collided with Chris, it finally snapped. Many of their bones had broken. Both threw a mouthful of blood.


    The ground they fell on was cracked by sheer force.


    The skeleton then tried picking up its bloody spear when Oslo yelled with his bloody mouth,


    "NOW!"


    A blue flash covered the place and as the skeleton was caught off guard, it couldn''t react on time. Ray slashed his blue sword in a flash,


    "DIE!"

 Skill Statue

    The sword sliced through the red orb in the hand of the skeleton like a butter. It wasn''t as hard as the bones so the sword cut through it in a flash.


    The orb had been robbed of it''s the glow and the bones crumbled falling in the ground. The pool of blood was formed around the skeleton.


    After confirming it was indeed dead, Ray looked at Oslo and smiled,


    "It''s dead now but how did you know that it was orb which was its weakness?"


    "Well, he dodged when Mr. Chris''s attack came from the left but I found it peculiar that it dodged the attack so I connected the dots."


    "It had intelligence and if it had kept the orb inside its body we would''ve guessed that the orb was supporting its life, that it was its core," Oslo said, slowly standing up.


    "If it didn''t want us to know that the orb was its core then why did it carry it around like that?" Ray asked in surprise.


    "Range! It is because of the range." Chris stood up with his messed up armor, "If the core of a monster is far from its body than, it will die. Not only that, it is rare to see monsters which could even take out their own core from their body."


    "No wonder."


    Chris looked at the orb and sighed,


    "Since the core is cleaved in half, it is of no use."


    A core was used by adventurers to absorb the mana of the beasts and add it to their own and to make progress in the path of adventurers.


    But not all monsters had core and even if they had, it would be difficult to collect them. Because of this, the core was rare and even the core of E-Rank monsters could be sold for thousands of dollars.


    Chris then took a step forward,


    "Boss has been defeated. So, let''s find an exit."


    Out of fifteen who had entered the dungeon now only seven were breathing. Everybody was injured and without a healer to bring them to health, the situation had become grim.


    After traveling inside the cave with their wrecked body they found something which they guessed as the treasure monsters were protecting.


    It was a statue of a little boy holding a golden pot that had assumed a posture too as if it would spill the golden liquid inside the pot.


    The Skill Statue!


    There were chances of obtaining runestones from monsters and it was very rare. The runestones were used to gain the skill of the monsters it once belonged to but skill statues were different. It was guaranteed to bestow a skill to someone who was standing beneath its pot. The only bad thing was the skill was random and it would depend on your luck what skill you would gain.


    The middle-aged man who was practically drooling at the sight of the statue pointed the end of his arrow at Chris and said,


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon."We too will get the chance to stand below it and get a skill."


    Chris without looking back said,


    "Suit yourself. It is the same as for Evolution Pond, we cannot take it outside so we''ll all take our turn."


    Seeing Mr. Chris act so kind to some nobody who helped next to nothing struck Ray''s heart. He thought Chris will kill the man but seeing the man stand below the statue, he blinked his eyes in surprise.


    ''Mr. Chris is out of character today.'' Ray thought.


    The middle-aged man returned from the statue with a smile. It seemed he had got good skills.


    Chris then took his turn. Holy light enveloped his body as before, the process was too eye-blinding. Chris too returned with a smile.


    Similarly, others took their turn and returned happily in the group. When one got a new skill, their mind would automatically know what it was and how to use it. The more powerful the adventurer was, the more powerful the skill would be.


    But when Oslo stood below the statue, holy light enveloped his body but he didn''t get the vision of skill he had received. His mind was blank as before. Was the all giving statue ignoring him? He thought.


    He sighed at his bad luck and joined the group with a disappointed face.


    "What? You got a skill you don''t like?" Ray asked.


    Oslo shook his head.


    "You got a skill that isn''t suitable for you?"


    Oslo again shook his head.


    "What happened then?"


    "I didn''t get any skill."


    "Hahahahahahaha," Ray laughed heartily, "Even the statue that was 100% guaranteed to grant a skill didn''t bestow any upon you? You must have very bad luck."


    "Your luck must be in negative, do you didn''t get any," Chris added the salt in the wound.


    "Haha, don''t get disheartened," Ray patted Oslo''s back,


    "Life will show you many things you don''t want to see or imagine but that is how life is....."


    Blah! Blah! Blah!


    Ray''s speech lasted throughout the whole travel, he didn''t stop until they saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Oslo was 16 years old but Ray was comforting him as if he was someone younger.


    Unless it was pitch dark adventurers didn''t need any support or light for vision. Their eyes already developed to see in the dark because of their frequent venture inside dungeons.


    When Chris saw the light, he immediately took off at full speed to reach the exit and leave the wretched place. Upon reaching the end of the tunnel he froze with a stiff pale face.


    He didn''t know what to think anymore, his legs were shaking crazily when he muttered,


    "No wonder the creatures were fighting with such ferocity, not wanting to engage with us for a long time but run for their lives. The dungeon was connected with an SS-Rank one."


    He used his shaking hand to wipe off the cold sweat of his forehead. With his trembling eyes, he gazed at the clear sky from a big hole that was in the ceiling.


    The way out, it was there within his grasp but life was toying with him. A wretched creature was outside before the exit to greet him. He was very terrified that not even he who had the best senses in the group could sense it.


    "The one from before. It wasn''t the boss." He took a step back and took out a scroll from his pocket. He ran in haste towards the group approaching an exit and shouted,


    "Ray, grab my hand!"


    Ray was confused about a sudden voice but he grabbed the leader''s hand anyway. Chris immediately tore the scroll in his hand.


    "Sorry friend." He looked at Oslo and said.


    After he said that both Ray and Chris''s body turned into the streak of light and disappeared out of sight heading towards pond of evolution.


    The middle-aged man jaw hit the ground as he mentioned,


    "Escape scroll!"


    "Damn, those bastards had such scroll but he didn''t use it to run from the battle with us." The man cursed.


    Oslo thought that something must have triggered Chris to use the scroll because such scrolls were treasured among humans.


    "Let''s just get out!" Oslo said as he walked towards the end of the tunnel.


    When he looked ahead, he froze and cold sweat dripped down his forehead.


    "That''s..."

 One Spit Kill

    A creature larger than any dinosaur was in front of him. It had red scales flowing with lava and the wing on its back was that of a devil. The tail was very long and its nose blew smokes.


    "Dragon!"


    Everybody''s reaction was the same. Their jaw was in the ground.


    The dragon had its eyes closed and it seemed to be protecting something. Only a little part of it was visible because of a large body of dragon covering it but they all knew what it was.


    An egg. The dragon was protecting it''s egg...more like warming the egg for the baby to hatch out. When they all saw a huge monster in front of them, they realized how gravely mistaken they were.


    The skeleton wasn''t the actual boss of the dungeons that were merged but the creature before them was. The dragon was the real boss.


    Oslo gazing above the dragon''s head found the exit from which the rays of the sun shone above the creature but he knew he couldn''t escape through that. There was also a cave behind the dragon''s tail but it was less likely an exit since the entrance of the dungeon was at the ceiling which was at the height of about 30 meters.


    Not wanting to attract its ire Oslo just remained in the shadow thinking how he could again return from the pond.


    The pond was high but there must be some way he could get out through that, he thought. If he couldn''t exit through that entrance it was most likely that he would get killed if he tried to climb out from the ceiling before him.


    Others too thought the same thing and frowned for an idea. But human greed had no end.


    Swooooosh~


    An arrow with mana thread tied to it flew through the air piercing a small hole in the egg. The middle-aged man then immediately pulled the thread and the arrow returned to its owner''s hand.


    With the arrowhead covered in yellowish yolk and transparent liquid, the middle-aged man gave it a lick.


    "Y-You, What have you done?" Oslo was angered by the display the man showed them.


    The man grinned and said,


    "As I thought. The egg has the ability to heal a person and strengthen the magic power."


    He shot a last glance at the egg and sighed. Although it was a huge loss to leave the whole egg rot like that, life was more important. He then turned tail, without saying a word he ran towards the place they came from at full speed.


    "I knew it, that bastard had a way to save his life. Let''s catch up to him and make him spill the beans." One of the sellswords said.


    "I agree." Another man agreed.


    But Oslo who was watching the dragon felt a chill run down his spine. The eyelids of dragon suddenly opened as it''s vicious eye-rolled and glanced at the egg. There was a hole.


    Shriek~


    The dragon let out a cry glancing at its baby which now couldn''t be born. The cry was filled with magic power as blood dripped down from their ears listening to it. The dragon stood up making the space feel cramped.


    Everybody had covered their ears the best they could but the sound as still much than they could handle. With its menacing eyes, it gazed at the murderers of its child.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Maybe it was their will to survive but when dragon suddenly rolled its eyes at them, they turned their legs to run.


    But they couldn''t move as they found that their body grew heavy.Their legs were shaking upon the pressure as if they were carrying a mountain at their backs. In only a breath of time their legs gave up and everybody found themselves kissing the floor. With an unknown force weighing them down, they couldn''t even move a muscle.


    Suddenly, Oslo who was at the ground felt like he was being pulled. He got dragged towards the dragon with next to no control over his body.


    His body hovered in the air until he reached before the dragon''s head. With its nose dragon sniffed him. After done with it, it let out steam from its nose covering Oslo in it.


    Not finding a trace of egg''s scent on Oslo, the dragon felt it wasn''t the person it was looking for. But the dragon didn''t have any plans for letting him go either.


    Intruders were Intruders and among them was the one who was responsible for its child''s death. Without mercy the dragon used it''s a nail to skewer Oslo through his stomach and dropped the body in the ground.


    Oslo bled profusely and his bones shattered upon hitting the ground. He coughed blood and looked at the dragon with his bleeding eyes. The dragon ignored Oslo and another sellsword hovered in the air before the dragon.


    He too received the same fate as Oslo and was skewered and dropped in the ground behind Oslo. The man didn''t die, however, and was still alive and breathing.


    ''Did he use some skill to remain alive?'' Oslo thought as he glanced at the man, but the situation he was in was too dire than the man. He felt his life slipping from his body bit by bit.


    Suddenly, his whole body shivered and he felt that his heart had stopped. It was just his imagination, however, and his heart was beating but it wasn''t as fast as before and his breathing too had stopped.


    If it wasn''t for him seeing the situation unfold with his eyes, he was sure that he was dead. Even he couldn''t hear the sound of his heartbeat and the sound of every breath he took. His condition was a little different than before but he was still bleeding.


    ''Is it the new skill I got from the statue?'' A thoughtcrossed his mind when he tried finding something because of which his body was acting like this.


    But it wasn''t a time to rejoice about getting a new skill and it didn''t help improve his condition like the other sellsword, he was still dying.


    Sniff! Sniff!


    The dragon using its nose found someone. It again cried and after a moment a body hovered in the air in front of the dragon.


    Thud-


    The unknown force stops pulling him and his back hit the floor. The middle-aged man was with no wound and scratchh marks on his body. He was fully healed after he licked the yolk but he was confused about the situation.


    He was about to fly above the pool when he suddenlygot dragged inside the cave again in which the dragon was sleeping.


    Sniff! Sniff!


    The dragon sniffed the man and shrieked in fury. It had got the confirmation that the man in front was responsible forts child''s death and the scent it smelled coming from his mouth was its evidence.


    Shriek~


    The dragon wanted to kill the man in front and as it shrieked the middle-aged man''s ear bled. The situation others were in was even worse since they had to experience the cry many times.


    "Shut the hell up!"


    A voice came from the cave behind the dragon''s tail. A new shadow of someone emerged from the cave picking his ear.


    "Elf?"The middle-aged man looked at the figure who emerged and said.


    With its pointy ears, there was no doubt that the figure in front was an elf but something about it was different. Its whole body was as white as ice and a crown was resting on its head which was also made up of ice.


    It was indeed an elf but man was wrong about something. It was an elf king. With its cold eye, it looked at the people present in the place and frowned.


    ''Humans?''


    The middle-aged man looked at the dragon which too had a confused expression on its face. Then he formed an evil smile thinking about something. He had forged a plan to kill the elf and run out of the place from where the elf emerged from in the midst of confusion.


    He fired an arrow at the elf and tried running through the cave.


    "Ignorant fool!" The elf only uttered two words without bothering to dodge the arrow, it spat towards the man.


    Clank~


    Thud-


    The arrow touched elf''s skin and fell in the ground failing to penetrate it but it was followed by the middle-aged man in the ground.


    The spit had pierced through the man''s skull and the man died. After penetrating the skull the spit dropped the ground,which dissolved the floor like an acid creating a small hole in the ground.


    If the man had died with a hit from the elf, it would have been considered a one-hit-kill but it was something else, it was...


    One Spit Kill!

 Slaughter

    Everybody froze in their place for a second then the two who were not very injured turned their legs to run. By no means they could handle such foe, it was even scarier than dragon which was just about to kill them.


    But as their legs turned, one of the sellswords droppedin the ground. Again it was one spit kill.


    Not thinking of humans before it as much the elf wasn''t even bothering to lift its a finger. It was just spitting to kill them and thought too low of humans who has next to no power as compared to its monstrous strength.


    The sellsword that just died was a B-Rank adventurer and to kill a B-Rank adventurer just like that, it was no little thing. The spit was like an acid that could dissolve anything in its path and pierce through it.


    But that wasn''t the scariest part. What was scary andut the spit was the speed it traveled in.


    Another man who had tried running away found his left half and right half of the body hit the ground before the cave.


    No one could see what had transpired but they knew that it was the deed of the elf.It was the one who cleaved the man in half. The scene was too much for them to watch and they felt like they were about to puke any second.


    The elf then turned its attention towards the dragon which was looking at the elf with its murderous eyes after realizingng what had happened. The middle-aged man was for it to kill while the elf just killed him.


    The dragon roared and the lava began to gather in its mouth as it did. The lava then formed a sphere that looked like a small sun and spat it out like a laser beam.


    The temperature of the place suddenly increased as its breath hit the ground. The cave from which the elf had emerged from melted and no hole was there like before. The breathing didn''t hit the elf though.


    Before the lava touched it the body, it had already leaped off the place and was right before the dragon''s head.


    "You''re annoying!" The elf said as it clenched it''s icy fist and punched the dragon''s face.


    Bam!


    Upon being punch its neck broke.


    In the dragon''s field of view, it saw the elf floating behind a large body covered in lava which shocked it. It realized that not only its neck had broken but the sheer force had also made its head fly away from its body making the huge body headless.


    The large body of dragon fell at the egg it was warming before and the yolk splattered everywhere.


    Thud-


    Its head finally hit the ground. Some of the yolks had also spilled before Oslo and the other man and two stone-like things fell behind him from the dragon''s corpse.


    He was shocked watching the dragon that skewered him and scared them out of their wits getting killed just like a newborn fawn by a lion. It stood not to chance at fighting back. It was like a horror movie, blood was everywhere and what was even more horrifying was to see such strong creatures and adventurers getting killed like an insect.


    The elf got down and headed towards the direction where Oslo and the other man were lying. When he looked at the elf and its cold glance, Oslo felt that it was his final moment. He was going to die for sure.


    *Ba-dum* *Ba-dum* *Ba-dum*


    The heart was beating faster and faster with eyes looking at the death, creeping closer and closer. It felt as if the heart were beating like drums making noises throughout the room even though it was just beating normally.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    ''Stop. My heart doesn''t beat right now. Not right now.''


    The elf then opened it''s mouth and spat. The heart that was beating very fast got pierced by the spit and the man behind Oslo who was feigning death died with a cry.


    "Aaaaaarg~"


    "Now that the annoyance has been dealt with, I should be able to sleep in peace." The elf yawned and said.


    It then looked that the cave it emerged from and concluding that the cave was definitely destroyed it headed to another cave before which a body laid that was cleaved in half.


    After the elf went and dark shadow enveloped it darkness, Oslo blinked. He realized that because of the new skill he had gained he couldn''t even feel his heartbeat and listen to his own breathing. That must be it! He thought that elf had concluded that Oslo was just a dead corpse.


    But still, it was only a moment of time before his eyes closed. After the elf left the place and Oslo confirmed that it wasn''t coming anytime soon, he stretched out his tongue with whatever strength that was left in his body and licked the yolk of the egg that was spilled in the floor.


    Gulp!


    He had heard it possesses the ability to heal from the mouth of middle-aged man and upon feeling it himself, tears formed in his eyes. He was relieved that there was still hope. He could still survive.


    A cool sensation surged throughout his whole body and the wound in his stomach was healing slowly but surely. The body that was in the ground with next to no energy was not brimming with it.


    When the process of his healing was over he felt refreshed. It was as if he got born again. He was as good as new as not even a scratch was left on his body.


    When he tried standing up with the help of his hand he heard a crack coming from his hand. After a closer look, he found out that it was a runestone that got broken by his hand.


    Accidentally though it was, he received a new skill which once belonged to the dragon. He had a clear image of what it was and how to use it in his mind.


    After he stood up, slowly, he rolled his eyes to analyze the surroundings and found that there was another stone behind him. It had fallen after the death of the dragon. It was smaller than the runestone but Oslo knew what it was and how valuable it was.


    It was the dragon''s core. Like ash, it was charred black but it was colder than ice.


    He grabbed the core and fiddled with it thinking about the way to leave the place. The whole place was dyed red by the blood of both creatures and humans. Just gazing at them made him remember the terrifying scene where elf slaughtered them all like pigs.


    He thought he could also escape using the new skill he got from the runestone but, he glanced at the core said frowned again.


    If he sold it, it would sell for no less than millions of dollars but if he absorbed it, it would make him stronger making his life a bit easy.


    After a while, he thought that if he became strong he could earn the money as easily as lifting a finger. But when he tried absorbing it, he couldn''t extract the magic energy inside the core.


    "There are some cores that cannot be absorbed and needs to be eaten. Maybe it falls in that category." He thought and opened his mouth wide.


    Gulp!


    It was very cold to swallow and in the process, he felt like his throat was about to freeze. But when the core reached his stomach, it began heating.


    He shivered in pain as the temperature in his stomach was increasing more and more until it was unbearable and he rolled in the floor crying in pain grabbing his belly,


    "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh~"


    The heat rose, raising the temperature of Oslo''s body. He realized something and stopped rolling. It wasn''t a time to cry as the elf could return hearing his voice.


    He gritted his teeth and stood up grabbing his heating stomach. He wasn''t proficient with the skill set but he decided to use it anyway. If it couldn''t help himescape then there was no way he could run away from the cave he came from because of the elf that had gone there to sleep.


    The magic power inside his whole body concentrated in his palm which was facing the floor as his other hand supported the arm.


    After every bit of energy concentrated in his palm, he said,


    "Repel!"


    The concentrated mana upon hitting the ground sent his body above, flying, as the reaction. Barely enough his body exited the hole.


    After his whole body escaped the hole, the hole disappeared without a trace and ground covered where it once was as if there was no hole, to begin with.


    He had already expected the hole to disappear because the boss was defeated and all. His back then met the newly formed ground.


    His face had grown pale, robbed of its color. The use of the skill was taking its toll. The height was simply too much as it required all of the mana his body was able to store.


    With no mana left in his body, he felt exhausted and not a single cell of his body was willing to stand up. Slowly darkness covered his eyes making him unconscious.

 The Cursed Village

    Sniff! Sniff!


    A dog with two heads sniffed an in unconscious body lying in the ground and it barked.


    "Did you find something Jack?"


    An articulate female voice said upon hearing the bark. Then she slowly walked towards the dog and found a body which was looking pale.


    "Mana exhaustion?"


    She frowned and ordered her dog to carry the body back to the village.


    Woof!


    The dog bit a little piece of cloth and threw the body at its back and headed towards the village with its master.


    When he opened his eyes, he found himself in an unfamiliar place. He was inside a house made up of mud which seemed like it could fall any minute and when he looked around he saw a bed, two chairs and some utensils in the small house.


    He also found a weird girl before the fire who seemed to be cooking something. What was weird about her wasn''t her appearance but the mask she was wearing on her face. It was creepy.


    He rolled his eyes looking outside the door, or the gap where a door once was, he saw a dog outside tied to a pillar.


    When he tried sitting straight, he felt the heat in his stomach which was very scarce but it was still there. But as before it didn''t pain him but he didn''t feel normal either.


    ''Looks like it''ll take some time before I fully absorb the core.'' When he frowned his eyes widened.


    ''A new skill? How?'' An image flashed across his mind and he realized he had indeed gained a new skill. With a surprise expression, he thought of trying it when a voice interrupted his rejoice.


    "You woke up,"


    The girl wearing a mask said, "Just lay there and rest for a bit, although your mana has returned you''re still weak and you need to rest."


    The girl then provided him a bowl of rice and asked him to rest after finishing it. The treatment he was getting was too good to be true, he thought. He knew there was ko such thing as free meals in the world.


    Although there were some people who were helpful toward others but the girl wearing a creepy mask giving him such treatment made it harder for him to swallow the rice. He knew he shouldn''t judge a book by its cover but believing her was too much to ask of him.


    "Do you need some meat?" The girl offered to show the meat that was being grilled in the fire.


    "What do you want?" Oslo asked in return.


    Not expecting such response, the girl shook her head,


    "I don''t want anything."


    Her reply made it even more suspicious. He asked, standing up,


    "Really?"


    "Yes."Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "Then," He put down the bowl, "Thank you for taking care of me. I appreciate it."


    He said, standing. He then walked towards the door.


    "W-Wait a minute," The girl said in haste, "I saved your life, don''t you think you should return the favor? If I hadn''t saved you, you were about to be eaten by a two-headed monster."


    "Monster? You mean your pet dog?" Oslo asked.


    The girl became red in embarrassment, though it didn''t look like it because of her mask, she then asked,


    "H-How did you know it was my pet?"


    "If you didn''t want for me to know that then you shouldn''t have tied it right outside the house." He said pointing at the dog.


    She was now even more embarrassed. When Oslo took a step to leave again, she hurriedly grabbed him by his shirt.


    Tak~


    The creepy mask she was wearing fell down and when Oslo looked at the one grabbing her shirt, he was mesmerized.


    Why was a beauty like her wearing such a creepy mask? But the girl then said,


    "I want a favor to ask of you. Please help us!"


    She was too close, Oslo leaned back and said,


    "O-Ok, but it will depend on what sort of problem it is."


    He knew he owed her for saving his life. If he had been left unconscious in the wild like that then he would have been eaten by monsters for sure. If it was a problem that could be solved by him, a D-rank adventurer; he would gladly comply with it.


    She then sighed deeply looking down, at least he was willing to listen to their problem. When her eyes glanced at the fallen mask she took a step back. Touching her face she found out that it was indeed her mask at the ground.


    She immediately picked it up and put the mask on her face.


    "Did you see it? Did you see my face?" She asked looking at him.


    ''Shouldn''t I have seen it?'' He thought.


    She then sat down and said," Well it doesn''t matter. Since you have already seen my face then it would be easier for me to explain."


    Oslo was shocked when she said that. Was being a beauty her problem? If it was indeed her problem then why?


    "The problem lies in my face." She said.


    Hearing her he thought, ''Girl you shouldn''t say something like this so casually, if it was a girl instead of me sitting here, she would''ve scratched your face to death.''


    "Not only my face but the problem is related to the faces of every villager." She added.


    "Every villager?" Oslo couldn''t help but exclaim.


    Were all the villagers suffering from the disease called ''Handsomeness'' and ''Beautifulness''?


    "Yes, the village has been cursed by a magician. He is too powerful to curse the whole village at once.What we want for you to do is that you help us by defeating the magician and lift the curses he put on our faces." She replied.


    Wait, does that mean they were originally ugly ones but a magician was kind enough to beautify them?


    "Since you''ve seen my face, you saw how the curse worked. You saw my rotting face, didn''t you? Because of the curses, my flesh in the face is rotting day by day. When I look at myself in the mirror I can''t help but cry at my own face."


    "Many days have passed since we were cursed and now, I even see the bones of my face when I look in the mirror. My own face makes me puke. It won''t be long before we die because of the curse and every villager will have the same fate." She said.


    The words she said were too hard to process for Oslo. When he saw her face, she was completely fine and healthy and her description of her own face was the complete opposite of what he saw.


    According to her description, the magician was too powerful and he thought he as a D-Rank adventurer cannot match up to such dangerous foe. He shook his head saying,


    "I''m sorry but I don''t think I can help."


    Hearing him, the girl felt hopeless. There weren''t any magicians in the village who could save them and they rarely came across one. Oslo was their last hope and watching him deny, she couldn''t help but cry. She said with tears,


    "It won''t be for free, we''ll pay you."


    "Pay me? pay me what?" Oslo said as he thought he could reject anything she offered.


    "We''ll reward you with a magical artifact that will amplify your magic and help you while hunting."


    "I don''t want it." Oslo shook his head and said.


    He then started leaving when he heard her laugh.


    "Hehehehehahahahahahaha, even if you leave right now, you''re going to die anyway."


    "Hm?" Oslo turned back in surprise.


    "That rice you ate...it was cursed!"

 The Magician: William

    When she said that Oslo was flabbergasted. Since when had the curse been so easy to use that even food was cursed. But hearing he was going to die, he couldn''t help but stop.


    The girl gestured him to sit beside her. Oslo sat and asked,


    "What do you mean by the ''rice was cursed''?"


    "That is...the food you ate was given to me by the Magician. He had asked me to provide you with the rice so that you too will be cursed." She said.


    "But wasn''t I the one you people were relying on. Why would you go and curse me as well?"


    "Yes, you are indeed the one we''re relying on but there was also the possibility of you just walking away. So we had to curse you as well, so if you want your curse to lift up, you need to defeat the Magician as well.


    "Tsk. Okay, I''ll help you. But tell me more about the Magician." Oslo said as he felt something was wrong with the situation but unable to point out just what it was.


    The girl was happy because of the decision he made. Although she had to blackmail him, she was happy that he would help them nonetheless.


    Because there were also magicians who could lift the curse cast upon them by asking the magicians excelling on the knowledge related to curse by just charging them some money, she was worried that he wouldn''t help them. But what she didn''t know was he was poor as hell and if he wanted to lift the curse, he had to defeat the Magician himself.


    According to her, the village had no magicians to protect them. Their village was surrounded by hills in all directions and with horrible beasts lurking at every corner of the hill, what separated their village and the hill was the wall which was a meter thick and fifteen meters tall.


    Unless it was the middle of the day, their village wouldn''t receive any sunlight because of the wall.


    Although it was the world where weak were dominated by the strong, the had done very well surviving till date though being a small village.


    They were surviving by selling arms and armors to the bigger clans for which they got their foods.


    It was one day when an injured man knocked on the door of their village. He was a bloody mess and blood covering him from head to toe, he couldn''t even walk and was barely standing with the support of the gate when they looked at him.


    He was William, an outsider. Out of Goodwill, the villagers took in the man and healed him. But little did they know that the frail puppy they were helping would turn out to be a mad wolf.


    After he was healed, he left the village and came again another day. But he that day brought a cart full of foods. He said that the food was to thank them for all they did for him for he was about to die.


    That night every villager filled their belly to the brim with the food William provided as per his wish to watch them finish the thank you gift. But the next day when he gathered the villagers he showed his true colors. He bared his fangs which he was hiding in the dark for a long time.


    Then the next day announced that the food they ate was cursed by him. He had waited to announce it because it was night time and he couldn''t watch them feel hopeless as he could in broad daylight.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    He then that day announced his control over the village and villagers had to comply with what he said just looking at their cursed faces. Even if they killed themselves, their children wouldn''t be as strong-minded to kill themselves and they cannot find peace knowing that their children were suffering.


    For he could kill them on a whim they had to fear what mood he was in, they had to fear if their words triggered his anger, they had to fear his existence.


    They had to live in a fear of dying at any moment, even while they were sound asleep.


    They knew the walls surrounding the village now couldn''t protect from the beast that was already inside. His greed only grew fiercer and the villagers had to pay taxes to him every month for breathing.


    "Then why didn''t you retaliate? Even if the Magician was strong he couldn''t have been strong enough to deal with all the villagers at the same time." Oslo said.


    "That is because of the monster dog he has by his side." She replied looking at her pet,


    "In fact, Jack is the child of the same monster dog William raised. We stole it just after it was born. But what can match our unluckiness as it grew very slow to match its mother''s strength."


    Oslo wasn''t too shocked hearing about the Magician named William.


    In his life as a sellsword, he had come across many people with the same state of mind as that man''s and some were even worse. As compared to them this man named William was but a cute little pup in terms of cruelty.


    He also had his suspicion about the curse that William had put on the whole village but after hearing the story, he knew whatever William used wasn''t curse.


    As per his knowledge, a curse couldn''t be put on food and hearing her description, the food wasn''t poisoned as well. But what was the power that William used was eating him? A thought suddenly crossed his mind,


    ''Can it be Illusion magic?''


    If it was indeed illusion magic then it would make a lot of sense. Maybe they were inside an illusion that they had rotten faces and Oslo who wasn''t affected by the magic right now could see their original faces.


    ''If what I think is true then this man named William isn''t scary at all. If I somehow manage to defeat the mommy dog she talked about then I could have chances of defeating him.'' Oslo grinned at the thought.


    "I guess I''ll fight him but..."


    "But what?" Marie asked anxiously.


    "I need the payment you talked about beforehand!" Oslo said.


    "Only that?" She smiled and said, "Ok then. wait for him for a moment. I''ll bring the pendant."


    She left and after a while, she arrived with a wooden box in her hand.


    It was only her that Oslo had met as the representative of villagers and no villagers had followed her to talk with Oslo. Oslo was an outsider and with the backstabbing performance, William had shown them Oslo didn''t mind much.


    She carefully opened the box revealing the treasure she talked about. It was a pendant that had a small green crystal when Oslo looked at it and it seemed nothing special.


    The green pearl was beautiful, yes, but if it was only that then Oslo didn''t want it. But when Marie described it, he was foaming with his mouth just to get it.


    It was a magic amplifier!


    If a magician wore it then spell they cast and magic they would be twice as strong. It basically followed one principle i.e,


    Spend low, Get high!


    It was a treasure that many adventurers desired. If it was shown to them then there would be many lining their briefcases stacked with money just to get it.


    Although there were treasures that could amplify the magic power by five times, heck! even ten times but they were seldom seen. And some weren''t even as portable as the pendant he was shown.


    And to get something like that just to help the village, he felt himself as a lucky person. If other A-rank adventurers were given such offers then they wouldn''t only help the village, they would utterly destroy the magician.


    "Can I take it?" Oslo asked with the eyes brimming with excitement.


    Old habits die hard and because of that, he asked for her permission.


    "Haha, of course, you can take it." She said as he handed over the pendant.


    Merrily, he wore it. Now that he had the pendant he thought he stood a better chance against William.


    "Ah, cool. Do you perhaps belong to a clan that uses the dragon as its emblem?" Marie asked.


    "No. What are you even saying? I don''t belong to any clan such as that." Oslo said, denying her words.


    For him who had spent most of the time as sellsword had not even considered joining any Guild.


    "Then..." She gazed at his right hand and said, " Then, why do you have a tattoo of a dragon in your hand?"

 Two-Headed Dog Monster

    "You must have imagined it," He said glancing at his right hand and said, "How can I...


    F*ck!


    He was flabbergasted upon seeing a tattoo of a dragon at the back of his right hand. He then realized that the hot sensation his stomach felt had vanished completely.


    When he looked at it, it felt as if the dragon was alive and it grew darker and darker upon a time. After some time it no longer grew darker once it became black as the black could be.


    "W-What is this?" Oslo frowned on his condition. He knew it must be related to the core he had eaten but from what he knew there was no such thing as a tattoo of monster appearing in the body when you consumed the core.


    ''Was it not a core that I ate but something entirely different?''


    There were many questions running wild in his mind with no answers. Be didn''t even know what it does because of its being the first time had him seeing it.


    It was a gamble which needed for him to risk his life. There was a 50-50 chance of being beneficial but knew he could also die if things were to go south. And it was an entirely new concept and tattoos like this weren''t seen before.


    If he died, who was going to take care of his brother? He opened his mouth but remained silent watching the figure in his hand.


    But right now he had no idea as to what it was, so he decided to investigate it upon his return to Earth. Even if there were no leads investigating a bit wouldn''t hurt.


    He let it be and asked the whereabouts of the magician.


    It wasn''t far from the village but was outside the wall. Inside the forest of West hill where the dense trees grew stood a castle.


    Although it was a normal house built from the rock for villagers, it was a castle where the demon resided. Marie told him that she could accompany him for he didn''t know the way.


    Getting ready his hands touched his waist.


    "Dagger, where is my dagger?" Oslo asked looking at Marie.


    "You didn''t have any weapon on you when we saw your body lying unconscious."She said shrugging her shoulder.


    ''That was the only weapon I had.'' He gritted his teeth upon the possibility that he had forgotten his dagger inside the wretched dungeon.


    Weapons were highly needed for adventurers for them to survive the ventures whey went off on. But it was pricy as well. Normal ammunition could also harm magic beasts but not by much because of their tough skin.


    To damage them, a weapon forged from bones, horns, and scales of monsters were used which had mana infused with them. Oslo only had one dagger which he had accidentally found inside the dungeon but now it was gone and there was no way of retrieving it again.


    " Are you backing off then?" Marie asked.


    "No," Since he had already taken the reward there was no going back on his words, "I''ll fight barehanded. I may not look like it but I have some skill in hand to hand combat as well."The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Oh, then that means you are some kind of fighting genius right?"


    "Of course, no one can match the secret skill I have been honing to date."


    Although he said that, he only knew ''Mana punch'' and ''Mana kick'' which was not even a basic skill. By covering your fist and leg in mana, you punch and kick. It was simple to use and needed no training to master.


    Even after they exited the house they saw no villager. It was as if the village was some kind of Ghost town. If a pin was dropped it would make a noise like drums in that silent village.


    Creak~


    The door which seemed to be made up of metal and was three meters tall was opened smoothly when Oslo just gave it a slight push.


    Creak~


    The door then closed automatically upon their exit. With the leaves swaying away from the trees in their way they headed towards the castle. Oslo hid behind a tree when the castle was in his field of view. He slowly peeked at the castle.


    As Marie had explained there was a two-headed dog guarding the entrance of the house and there were four puppies behind it. With each of them having two heads it was like ten magic beasts guarding the house.


    Marie being an ordinary girl without magical power whispered,


    "I don''t think I can take you any further. That house in front is the magician''s castle."


    "It''s fine." Oslo nodded understanding the situation. He knew he couldn''t deal with all the annoyance at the same time, so he had a plan.


    Divide and rule!


    Suddenly, Oslo jumped in front of dogs leaving Marie dumbfounded. Showing his middle finger he grinned and again jumped back to the forest.


    But the dogs didn''t show the reaction he was hoping for. No, they didn''t show any reaction at all but just stood still. When Oslo again came into their line of sight the dogs did nothing,


    "Are they dead or something?"


    He walked closer and closer and seeing no reaction coming from the dogs his confidence was renewed.


    Tat- Tat- Tat- Tat-


    "Come and get me fools." Oslo said as he walked closer, "You can''t? hahaha."


    Lala~ lala~ lalala~


    Grrr~


    When he was five meters away from them, they finally showed signs of being alive. Gnashing their teeth, they looked at him with eyes filled with murder and looked like they were about to chomp on him limb from limb.


    Oslo subconsciously took a step back and again he ran to the forest. But as before no dogs followed.


    "Are they illusions and cannot leave certain proximity only occasionally barking to scare people walking in?"


    But he wasn''t so sure about that because of the dog that was owned by the girl was actually born from the mother dog in front of him. To confirm whether he hit the mark he took a step forward.


    When he was again five meters close, they again greed and gnashed their teeth but surprisingly when he stepped closer they again remained still showing no reaction.


    Even though he was just a foot away from the dogs, it didn''t incite their ire and the dogs as before stood still. Patting the mother dog, he looked at the forest in the direction of Marie.


    "What, Are they just an illusion?"


    "No, you fool, watch out!" Marie yelled from her position.


    With the corner of his eyes, he saw two heads coming at him at an alarming speed. He jumped sideways and barely dodged the attack by the hair.


    When the dog''s teeth sank in the ground, cracks began to form like a web of a spider. When it again raised its head, a piece of land rose with it. With its hard jaw, it bit the piece destroying it and covering the surrounding in the dust.


    "Whew~ Thank god it wasn''t me who got chomped. If it was, I would have died in a single bite."


    He stood up and leaped off punching the face of the beast. Even though he didn''t use any mana, because of his physique of a D-rank adventurer, the dog was pushed back.


    "What? Is your body just for show?" Hitting his palm with a clenched fist Oslo said gazing at the six meters tall monster which was also big-headed,


    "If your body is just for show then, I can kick your ass just fine."


    The monster seemed as if it understood what Oslo said. Its children were about to aid it when it barked and ordered them to stand still.


    Now, It wanted to kill Oslo single toothly.


    Oslo knew that if things kept going like this, he stood a chance against the monster even without using his mana. He was saving his mana for the fight to come and didn''t wanted to waste on the monster beast such as this.


    After all, his body didn''t have the supply of infinite amounts of magical energy.


    The dog then shook its head hinting that it didn''t damage it in the slightest. With drool falling down his big mouths it rushed towards Oslo with a single purpose of killing him.


    Bam!

 Heaven Defying Fist

    No matter how much the dog tried, it couldn''t bite Oslo for he was a bit faster than the dog. Seeing their mother struggling just to harm the foe before her other dogs barked wanting to help her.


    But because of their inexperience in hunting, they weren''t allowed to fight beside her. The puppies were too young to fight.


    And because the mother dog cannot protect every child at once, it shut puppies down again and again. Upon such display, Marie sighed in relief that they didn''t bring the monster dog with them.


    Even if the villagers had raised it, it would surely help its mother in need. That was one less headache for them.


    In the grassy dry field covered by forest in every direction and a stone house in the middle, no matter how much the dog tried it couldn''t catch its enemy.


    Slowly, Oslo was feeling uncomfortable with the prolonging battle. He then tried uppercutting the monster but he only hit the air and the monster did dodge it.


    He felt a chill running down his spine. The dog''s speed was increasing with its reaction time decreasing. Its movement was getting sharper than before as the battle continued.


    Bam!


    Oslo again punched its head but it didn''t do much damage as he had expected. The pups who were crying to aid before didn''t make a pinch of noise only stared at the unfolding battle.


    Swisss~


    Oslo barely dodged the nail and was shocked by how fast it had become. There was also one thing Oslo took notice of.


    As the battle continued the body of the monster was changing as well. Not that its size was changing but its skin color which was deep green was slowly becoming red and red with every passing moment.


    After some time the dog had become completely red, a massacring maniac. With all of its body part dyed read including its eyes, it charged.


    Boom!


    With every hit, it tore the ground which only made cracks before. It had become a scary killing machine. With its speed and strength better than before, each attack made a loud noise tearing the ground its teeth sank on.


    Oslo as before was calm as he had the way to deal with the beast but the monster''s strength was overwhelming.


    "Berserk magic beast?" Oslo mumbled looking at the dog.


    Swiss~


    With lightning speed, it was charging at him again with its head lowered front.


    Boom!


    Again Oslo dodged it and creature hit the tree. With its head, it destroyed the tree in a single headbutt and uprooting the other six trees just by the shockwave.


    Oslo couldn''t believe that a berserk creature could hold much power having never seen one. This is going to be tough, he thought. After all, a berserk creature was rarely seen even in dungeons.


    The magic beasts in Magic Land had the ability to evolve. After evolving their body structure would change making them look different or sometimes whole other creatures. Like a goblin could evolve into hobgoblin and hobgoblin as compared to a goblin would be stronger and they were much like an adult goblin.


    Besides evolution, the magic beasts also had abilities to strengthen themselves for a certain amount of time. They would gain additional strength upon becoming a berserk creature than they originally had.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Berserk magic beasts were rare because not every magic beasts could transform into one and were seldom seen making them famous because of their fearful abilities to strengthen themselves.


    The berserk magic beast Oslo was fighting would probably be a D-Rank magic beast, if not an E-Rank if it was inside the dungeon.


    But becoming a berserk magic beast gave them an upper hand in the battle as even normal D-Rank magic beasts upon becoming could possess the strength of peak D-Rank magic beasts or even C-Rank.


    "Hah...hah...If I don''t finish it sooner I''ll have to use Mana I was saving for dealing with the Magician." Gasping for his breath, Oslo dodged another body slam.


    Boom!


    A small crater was created upon the dog''s fall.


    "Barely dodged that...hah... it''s very much faster than before."


    The fight was heating on as no one had gained the upper hand. No matter how fast dog had gotten, Oslo was still dodging the attack, barely. All those repeated dodgings were taking its toll as he was sweating from his forehead.


    Ka-cha! Thut! Crack!


    With each attack trees fell, with each attack ground was tearing and cracks were made but it''s foe was still alive, dodging its attacks and breathing.


    The dog even at its berserk form couldn''t kill the foe...not even wound the foe before it. It was getting impatient seeing the foe which was slower than it but still dodging.


    Again and again, it was attacking in a mad rage.


    There was a person sitting by the window and with a glass of wine, he was enjoying the show before his malicious eyes. He took a sip of his blood-red wine and mumbled,


    "Even a berserk magic beast can''t take this kid down, huh? Interesting. Where did this kid come from? And why is he attacking my palace, I wonder?"


    The monster dog then stopped its vicious attack and stood still as if trying to remember something. Oslo was confused as to why had it stopped.


    Sniff! Sniff!


    The dog sniffed around with the keen nose it had and suddenly jumped inside the forest.


    "Why is it entering the forest?" Oslo wondered.


    But the mystery no longer remained when a girl was running towards the house with the dog at her tail.


    "Girl? That cunning bastard!" He cursed the beast which was intelligent and was plotting something against him. Something evil!


    The mask on her face dropped as so did her tripping on the cracked ground. She was barely outrunning the beast but now she had fallen, it was all over for her.


    Actually, the beast was letting her run forward as to bait Oslo and it worked. Seeing Oslo running to save the girl, the dog opened its mouth to chomp her in one fell swoop.


    "Hey, watch out" Oslo barely pushed the shivering girl away from the mouth. She was lucky enough to get away but Oslo wasn''t as lucky.


    Dog''s teeth were sunk on his shoulder and leg as blood flowed out. It shook its head madly making the wound even deeper ultimately throwing Oslo''s body against the tree.


    Boom!


    The tree broke upon the impact as his wound bled. His shoulder was gravely wounded and watching it, the dog gave a satisfied expression as it again turned towards the girl who was in the ground.


    "Ahhhh, go away...go away." The girl pitifully cried as she tried her best to get back. Throwing dust in the dog''s eyes, she was slowly moving back.


    Oslo who was watching the scene with his obscured vision slowly stood up with the support of his unwounded hand. Gritting his teeth he acknowledged the fact that it was not a time to save mana anymore.


    The dog was just toying with the girl. If it had wanted to the girl would have died when it first jumped in the forest. It wanted to see Oslo sink in hopelessness as he died.


    "Dumb dog, I was giving you a chance but you just had to go and do it."Standing using his unbalanced leg, he went on saying,"I went easy on you and you got cocky. But now it won''t be the same as before. I will let you witness the killer move I have been honing day in and day out. Prepare yourself!"


    William who was watching the entire battle had his interest piqued hearing the word ''Killer move ''. He wondered what type of move it will be? He seeing the girl already knew the motive of the boy for attacking his place.


    With his clenched fist, he ran toward the dog. Greenlight covered his fist as he raised his hand to punch.


    "Heaven Defying Fist!" Oslo shouted.


    William looked at it even more closely with his eyes not missing a single moment. The name was too cool and if the name was cool, then how badass the move would be? He was immersed in anticipation.


    The dog knowing the attack was coming dodged it with ease as its speed was greater than Oslo''s. Its body was away from the fist but its head which had already dodged the attack was drawing near it. It felt as if it didn''t have any control over its body for it was moving of its own violation towards the fist.


    Bam!


    Fully covered in the green light, the fist punched its head slamming it to the ground. The monster dog was knocked out in a single punch and its unconscious body laid unmoving in the ground it fell on.


    William, however, was disappointed seeing that the so-called killer move was just an old-fashioned Mana punch.


    "If he is only worth that much then I can kill him a thousand times." William proclaimed.


    He then focused his gaze at Oslo intently when his eyes suddenly widened.


    "Mystic Clan?!" He couldn''t help but speak in surprise, "Why is the member of the Mystic Clan which has such high status helping these low lives?"

 Thousand Lake Guilds Loss

    "Is this really the place?" The man said gazing at the surrounding.


    "Yes, it is," Chris replied.


    "Then where the hell is the entrance of the dungeon?" David roared in anger.


    He was an SS-rank adventurer and upon hearing the news about the dungeon which was possibly also an SS-rank, he had come to clear it himself.


    "But It was right here. If you don''t believe me then ask Kevin who is by your side. He was the one who had located and ranked the dungeon after all." Chris said.


    "Was the dungeon right here when you had found it?" David asked looking at Kevin.


    "Y-Yes, it was right here," Kevin replied shuddering.


    David punched the tree behind him to vent out his anger utterly destroying it and showering the surrounding in something that resembled sawdust.


    "Where the heck did the entrance go?"


    "Did other Guilds beat us to it?" David greeted his teeth, "If only I was a bit faster..."


    David was the Guild leader of ''Thousand Lakes'' and rarely had some free time because of his busy schedule. If not for the news of the appearance of SS-Rank dungeon, he would not have come to raid himself.


    After the news, it took him an entire day to gather as many adventurers of the Guild as he could. But upon realizing that all he did after coming here was waste his time and he was furious because of it.


    "Maybe other Guilds didn''t beat us to it but the boss left the dungeon," Chris said trying to relieve David''s anger.


    Boss leaving the dungeon wasn''t unheard of and it common in dungeons. But Chris had told him that it had an egg that the boss was protecting and warming. Laying an egg would weaken the magic beast by more than half and it was a perfect opportunity for them to score some golds.


    But...


    Gazing at the dungeon... where dungeon once was, David finally calmed his nerves,


    "Didn''t you say that the dragon was warming its egg, and magic beasts mostly don''t migrate for the safety of their egg, so how could it have left?"


    "Well, there were sellswords and maybe dragon noticed their presence and felt that it wasn''t safe there anymore, hence migrating somewhere else," Ray said.


    "Or it was just an E-Rank dungeon and clearing it you''re just making it up to get more attention," Kevin said looking at Chris.


    "What are you trying to imply? Are you saying that I''m making up Ben''s death just to receive some measly attention? Are you saying that Raiha died because I wanted your attention?" Chris said angrily in a cold tone.


    "What? There is always a possibility. And who was Ben? That low-class healer was better of dead anyway. I cannot care less about him and I wouldn''t be surprised about the fact that you sacrificed that low class just to receive extra attention." Kevin said loudly.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Grabbing Kevin''s collar, Chris roared,


    "Don''t go too far as to insult the one you haven''t even laid your eyes on."


    "Oh?" Kevin raised his brows, " What evidence do you have to support that claim of yours that what I had said was wrong, And..."


    Chris gritted his teeth having no evidence for him to support his words and what he said was the truth. Kevin had already ranked the dungeon as an E-rank and many adventurers thought that Chris was just lying to receive extra attention.


    Slap!


    "Get off your high horse kid!" Kevin said slapping Chris. Patting his collar he continued, "Next time you touch my collar, I''ll slice your hands off and feed them to the dogs."


    Chris was powerless against Kevin for he was an A-rank adventurer and in terms of strength, knowledge, and everything, Kevin was superior to Chris. Because of that Chris always had to suck up to him.


    "And about the money you asked of us to pay to the family of the sellswords... they ain''t getting a single penny. Worthless commoners don''t deserve to be paid if they can''t even do their job right." Kevin said.


    "What did you say? They may have lost their lives inside the dungeon but you aren''t going to pay them? You''re now being heartless." Chris said.


    "Heartless? Hahahahaha, you may be right. I am heartless but the crap you pulled by wasting our time here, what about that?" Kevin looking at the Chris lying in the ground with red cheek having hand mark said,


    "You don''t call shots here. So, behave yourself."


    David didn''t say anything as they quarreled, but now much of the time had been wasted, he opened his mouth,


    "Let''s go back!"


    With a disappointed look on their faces, all the adventurers headed back as Kevin shot a last glance at the Chris and said,


    "Well then, don''t waste our time ever again...liar!"


    Chris stood up patting his new armor, looked at David,


    "Father, about the money..."


    "As Kevin said, you don''t call the shots here. So behave yourself...pathetic liar." David said with a glint of rage in his eyes. He then left with others.


    Chris gritted his teeth as he looked at Ray who was standing in front of the place where the entrance of the dungeon once was, crying. He couldn''t give his big sister a proper burial she deserved because of the entrance which was now lost.


    Swipinghis tears, he turned and said, "Let''s go back, Mr. Chris."


    Seeing Ray acting like a strong boy, Chris smiled,


    "Yeah, Let''s go!"


    Thousand Lake Guild suffered a huge loss this time. Not only some of the members died but also they missed out on the treasure that the dungeon could have provided them.


    It was really a huge loss.


    ***


    Clap! Clap! Clap!


    In the hill, west of Village Kush, a man clapped as he walked out of his stony castle.


    "That was a good show. But...because of your idiotic thinking, you ended up getting hurt."


    "I hadn''t expected this creature to hold this long but it seems I had anticipated wrong."


    The puppies were licking their mother''s face for the hope that she would stand again. Not one pup tried attacking Oslo who was able to defeat their mother in her berserk form. They just shivered and kept licking.


    With his eyes closed and a face that had a fake smile pasted on it, he said clapping,


    "Kid, tell me then, why are you, the member of Mystic Clan helping these low lives?"


    "Mystic Clan?!" Oslo tilted his head in confusion, "I don''t belong to any clan with a name such as that."


    "Don''t play dumb kid!" William said glancing coldly at Oslo, "What is the relation between the Mystic Clan and Kush village?"


    "Is there some sort of treasure Mystic Clan wants from these low lives?"


    "As I said, I don''t know who the member of Mystic clan is?" Oslo said dashing at William with his fist covered in mana.


    "Denying your existence, are you?" William sighed, "Not that I had really expected you to spill the beans."


    Oslo''s punch hit William''s face but William''s body turned into smoke and disappeared.


    "Huh?"


    Looking around he found William, who was in front of the girl. Grabbing her by the neck, William asked,


    "Hey low life, now tell me what exactly is the relation between your village and Mystic Clan?"

 Tainted White Crane

    "I...Cough~Cough~...I don''t know."


    Marie said trying to struggle out of his big hands.


    But his grip became even tighter when he mercilessly threw her down making her spit a mouthful of blood. Having received the smack she lost consciousness.


    "That''s why they are worthless low lives. They are simply too weak." William said as he turned toward Oslo whose fist was upon his face again.


    Poof!


    William vanished becoming smoke again, and when he appeared he was behind Oslo. Grabbing Oslo''s right hand he twisted it behind his back. Gritting the pain Oslo tried countering him with his elbow.


    William slammed his body in the ground simply dodging the attack as if it was nothing.


    "Ah~" Oslo screamed in pain as his arm was about to break.


    "As I said, don''t fool me and say as to why Mystic clan is helping them?"


    "How... many...times do I have to tell you," Like a dolphin, he curved his back like a bow again elbowing him,


    "That I don''t belong to any clan such as that."


    William grinned taking the elbow right at his face again disappearing. A kick was approaching him by his side.


    Bang!


    This time he successfully dodged that hammer kick, standing up, he covered his fist in mana as he tried to hook him down.


    "That move won''t work. Your attacks are just slow just so you know." William said again simply dodging the punch.


    BAM!


    But his cool form disappeared when William was suddenly greeted with a round kick right at his gut covered in Mana.


    Cough~


    Bang!


    The kick was powerful enough to knock him against the wall of his own stone house, making it shake a bit.


    Drip!


    A droplet of blood dripped from his mouth which got absorbed by the hungry dry ground. Wiping the trace of blood away from his mouth he stood up.


    "Using the turning effect of punch to deliver a round kick from the back. Not bad."


    "Not bad, not bad, that mana kick was something I didn''t expect but you''re still too young to challenge me, kid. Go drink some milk before you get hungry again." William said as he patted the dust away from his clothes.


    With a white shirt with black lines and black pants matching with his black shoes and black coat, William was like a waiter without a bow tie.


    "Milk? I don''t want that, your blood will just suffice." Oslo said gasping for his breath.


    "Your arrogance comes from your clan. You members of Mystic clan always think very highly of yourselves, don''t you? But today I will put you in your place." William said.


    No matter how many times Oslo denied it, William seemed to be hell-bent on making him a member of Mystic Clan. Oslo was getting annoyed by William''s words which only stated that he belonged to Mystic Clan which he didn''t even know.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "I am not the member of the whatever clan you''re speaking of," His patience had its limits as well, "What makes you so sure that I indeed belong to the clan you speak of?"


    "Still denying eh?" William shouted in anger, "You can''t deny when I can already see that you''re from that clan. Even though its black instead of purple, that dragon tattoo on your hand is the emblem of Mystic Clan! You can''t hide it, kid."


    "This dragon tattoo is the emblem of Mystic Clan?" He was dazed by the fact. He knew the tattoo could attract unwanted danger but he didn''t know it would so soon which rendered him speechless.


    "You shouldn''t daze while you''re in a battle boy."


    Swiss~


    Boom! Pat! Pat!


    His face was greeted by a kick followed by few jabs making him drop in the ground for few times before he finally stopped.


    His poker face finally revealed his true face. With blue veins bulging in his forehead he cracked his fingers slowly moving toward Oslo,


    "Today I will exact my revenge for Mystic Clan by killing you."


    "I will let them know that they shouldn''t have messed with me."


    "Today I will cut your hand and send it to them as a gift which will warn them. But don''t you worry kid, for you will die a slow death before that." William said as he grabbed Oslo by his hair.


    Bang ~ Bang~ Bang~


    Slamming Oslo''s face against the ground again and again till blood dripped from his face which had become a bloody mess, he lifted Oslo''s body slamming it again.


    BOOM!


    A small hole was created upon his fall.


    Cough ~


    William coughed a mouthful of blood in his palms.


    ''Have my wounds opened again?''


    With a bloody face, Oslo slowly raised his head which again got slammed down with William''s fist.


    Pow! Pow! Pow!


    "It''s because of you guys I lost everything. If you guys hadn''t come back then, I would be living a peaceful life somewhere away from this low-class village. What gave you the right to decide what we did? Just because you guys were strong, you slaughtered us like insects. Do you think of yourselves as a god or something? What makes you decide on our life? Because of you guys I lost the leadership of my clan...hah...hah...its all because of you!"


    His fist was covered in Oslo''s blood and Oslo''s face...


    William swung down his fist again but this time using all his strength.


    Bam!


    Barely moving the body, he dodged the horrible punch escaping death by a hair.


    If he had not dodged, his skull would''ve shattered into pieces.


    "Cough... cough....cough" Without moving from his position he threw a punch.


    William not expecting retaliation got hit, making him push back a little. With the remnant of green mana on his face, he spat out bad blood,


    "This low-quality mana cannot hurt me, boy"


    Standing up William thought,


    ''If I was who I was from before I would have killed this kid with a flick of my pinkie. Damn it! It is getting worse by the minute. Curse you, Mystic Clan!''


    William gritted his death as the boy was no more than an insect which was running away from his fate in front of him.


    With his noodly legs, Oslo was barely standing on his feet. William leaped with his hands straight like a spear to pierce through Oslo''s body.


    Oslo swung his fist but it wasn''t towards the direction William was approaching from. With Oslo''s fist punching away from him, William snorted,


    "What are you trying to hit? Air?"


    "Hah...that''s...cough...not your problem." His fist gleaming with green light didn''t stop though, punching in the wrong direction.


    But suddenly William found himself being pulled by an unknown force. His face was moving towards the direction where Oslo''s fist was heading.


    Finally, he opposed the unknown force using his own strength but it was a bit late as the punch was already upon him.


    BAM!


    William''s face caved in a little with the punch. He was about to crash at the ground when again the unknown force pulled him towards Oslo.Grabbing his white shirt, Oslo kneed William and brutally punched him again which made his shirt to give up.


    Rip~


    The well-refined cloth William was wearing got torn as he crashed at the ground. His bareback was visible and when Oslo glanced at it, he saw a beautiful tattoo of a white crane.


    It seemed like it was exuding a holy aura and as compared to the black tattoo on Oslo''s hand, it was much better. The image was simply breathtaking but there was also a purple mark on Crane''s body.


    The picture of the crane was tainted by a tattoo of a purple dragon. But it wasn''t time to enjoy its beauty and having realized that, he remorselessly punched William''s back which then turned into white smoke and disappeared with the punch only cracking the ground.


    The crane shone on William''s back enveloping his whole body in blinding light.


    "I lost my cool back then when I saw that emblem but now I will show you the difference between us. I will show you what power really means."William said as he thought,


    ''I was saving this for my revenge against the Mystic Clan but I think this kid will do as well. Mystic Clan, I will get you back for what you did to my clan.''


    The white light enveloped everything in five hundred meter radius making one blind.


    "Illusion World!"

 I Wont Miss From This Distance

    Energy. The only matter in the universe that can neither be created nor be destroyed but can change into different forms.


    Mana which magicians circulate throughout their body which allows them to use magic is also an energy present in Magic Land. It can change into different other energies giving birth to different types of Magic.


    Elemental magic is the best example that uses Mana to change into different elements such as fire, water, lightning, etc. Every magic depends on Mana as a base and allows the wielder to perform what they couldn''t even dream of unlike some which are rather different.


    And in this land where only strong survived to step above weak, Magic was life.


    "ILLUSION WORLD!"


    Only bright light covered his eyes and he could only see white no matter in which direction he looked.


    "What''s happening?"


    Slowly the bright light dissipated, and with a clear vision, he could now see the surrounding.


    "What the hell is happening?"


    Oslo was confused as to what had occurred but it seemed like the area they had previously battled on had been fixed. There were no tears in the ground nor any cracks, what he could now see was the place before the battle. The hole in the stone house had also disappeared along with the trees that were uprooted and utterly destroyed.


    He with his leg shaking walked a bit forward with next to no sign of magician when he fell in the ground again.


    "Damn! The cracks are still there, is this whole place an illusion created by him?"


    Suddenly William appeared a little far from him near the house.


    "He''s far...with my legs down I can''t go there and smack him down." He mumbled glancing at his legs.


    But the legs were totally fine.


    "My legs are fine? Is this an illusion as well?"


    He tried moving it and felt a slight pain as compared to before. He then glanced at his shoulder, which had also healed.


    "What the...? How did they heal? Come to think of it, I have been speaking for a while with ease. Has my face healed as well?"


    Touching his face, he was flabbergasted.


    "Has my healing ability gone off the charts?"


    Although he said that, he knew it wasn''t the reason and he was simply too weak. It must be the deed done by something else but he couldn''t say what.


    Jumping slightly, he warmed up before again dashing towards William. He again tried punching him but again the image turned into smoke then disappeared.


    "So your fist has something like magnetic property. No wonder I got drawn in, but your trump card has been exposed. You shouldn''t have revealed it too early, you have a lot to learn." The voice echoed all around him.


    Then in only a moment of time, hundreds of Williams appeared out of nowhere surrounding him.


    "Unlike you, I have my trump card which will be the cause of your death."


    Hundreds of Williams said as they walked towards him with their hand straight like knives ready to kill everything in its path.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Oslo didn''t wait for them to make their move though. With each punch, one image disappeared which got replaced by another image. There was simply no end as they continuously spawned.


    "DIE KID!"


    East. West. North. South.


    With every direction occupied by Williams, there was nowhere to run. Oslo''s killing of them was simply a massacre but what was it to the illusions that could respawn themselves.


    Slash~


    One of William finally managed to hurt Oslo. Illusion couldn''t hurt others so he knew that was the real one for sure. He then mercilessly kicked the William that slashed him which also turned into smoke and disappeared.


    "How? Was my thinking wrong and they can hurt others?"


    "Haha, having trouble finding the real me?" Hundreds of Williams said in unison.


    If the illusion could really hurt him then it was the worst scenario possible. Oslo looked at the Williams surrounding him which was even more than before.


    "Just give up, you cannot find the real me. Obey and die an instant death."


    Cough~


    William had now given up on killing Oslo slowly for he knew his time was limited and the wounds he had suffered against the battle with Mystic Clan were opening up and making him suffer internally. Clutching his chest he spat out a mouthful of blood.


    "With every passing moment, it''s getting worse. I must kill the boy, the next chance I have."


    Wiping the blood from his mouth, William glanced on his back. The image of the white crane had almost turned purple.


    "It''s bad. It''s really getting bad. I have to hurry."


    Oslo was getting impatient as he couldn''t find the real William. He roared looking at the illusion before him.


    "If I can''t finish you one by one then I''ll finish you all at once."


    His fist gleamed in green light brightly.


    "Come here, babies!"


    "If all of them get hit at the same time, your real body will get hit too."


    Every William at the surrounding started gathering towards the fist which was gleaming with a green light. The newly formed wound that was given to him by William had also healed as the wounds he had suffered from before.


    But his mana which was spent hadn''t returned. It seemed as if only his body could recover, not his magical prowess.


    In a single lone line, every Williams was cramped up and heading towards Oslo.


    BEAM~!


    "Since you wanted to kill me, you don''t mind me killing you, do you?" Oslo said with a grin.


    The mana on his punch shot out like a beam upon contact with the body of a William, piercing through every William there was.


    Boom!


    Every illusion turned to smoke and disappeared from sight. Though the mana he used was too much, no trees were harmed. Maybe it was because the trees were illusions as well, he guessed.


    "Yeah, I don''t mind!"


    Stab!


    A hand appeared out of his stomach. With a shocked expression, glancing back he saw William''s face, cold as ever pasted with a grin of triumph and his hands which had skewered him from the back.


    Drip!


    Drip!


    Drip!


    Blood dripped from his hand as William twisted it.


    "Aaaargh~" Oslo couldn''t speak as he was in that position.


    "It''s game over, kid."


    Cough~


    With a cough filled with blood, Oslo tried punching at William. William knew that the punch didn''t have any strength behind it didn''t even bother dodging, looking at Oslo''s pathetic try with pity. He said,


    "Just give up! One should know when to give up."


    Oslo knew any further movement would only result in faster death... but there was a chance that he could avoid it because of the unknown reason that healed his previous wounds. He needed to get out of the position he was in to survive.


    The fist opened and hit William''s chest with a palm.


    "Like I said..." William was speaking when Oslo''s voice interrupted him.


    "Cough...Re...pel!"


    Suddenly, William was pushed back and with his hands out, Oslo dropped in the ground facing the sky. Blood was gushing out of his body as he laid down.


    Cough~ Cough~


    Slowly, his eyes closed.


    Standing up William looked at Oslo''s body lying in the ground with a pool of blood around it.


    "All that talk and nothing. My blood would suffice? Not minding killing me? Why don''t you try and kill me now, huh?"


    Repeatedly kicking Oslo like a mad man, he finally calmed his nerves and squatted down to affirm that the kid was indeed dead.


    "No heartbeat!" William sighed in relief, "Cough~ Cough~ Cough~"


    ''It''s getting worse.''


    While engaged with his thought, William felt something wrapping around him. His eyes widened upon the sight,


    "How could it be? You should be dead."


    He straightened his back in lightning speed as the blood was still flowing out of the hole William had created on his stomach. With his eyes, he looked at William struggling to get out of his hold,


    "Hah...hah...I won''t miss from this distance."

 A Magicians Secret

    "Hey," A man elbowed the man beside him.


    "What?"


    "Do you think he''ll survive?" He asked looking at the man.


    "What? Are you worried about an outsider?"


    "But, isn''t it our problem? Even though William was a bad Magician that doesn''t make him a bad person as well. Not all people are like William. The kid didn''t even know a thing for it was us who dragged him into this mess."


    "I think he is right." A woman said, "But can we really trust him? He is an outsider."


    "Only with small treasure as compensation he''s helping our village," The man replied, "He must really be a good lad."


    "But..." Everybody''s gaze turned towards an old with his white hair reaching the end of his neck. With a stick on his hand to support his old body and the skin of a tiger on his shoulder, he was like a barbarian.


    Chief Yuan frowned at their gazes. He didn''t want an innocent kid to die for the mess they had created for themselves. But he also didn''t want to go against the words of villagers who didn''t trust him because of him being an outsider.


    "Chief, let''s help him." The man said.


    "Help him?" The man with muscles said, "Do you want to help an outsider again? Have you forgotten when we helped that treacherous William last time?"


    "Yeah, we won''t help him, if he turned out to be like that wretched William, we''ll all be doomed."


    Everybody''s gaze was now fixed on the Chief with anticipation in their eyes. Chief, if he spoke in boy''s favor, had the risk of villagers turning against him but also Chief''s words were law in the village which every villager had to obey.


    "Then be it, we''ll go!" Chief said.


    "Chief, you too want to help an outsider?"


    "...Yeah, let''s not do it."


    "We don''t know anything about him, for he could turn against us."


    ...


    Many showed their views for not helping an outsider, for all they knew that could be the end of their life.


    "Its because he''s an outsider, we can''t trust him," Chief shouted, "We must solve the problem ourselves. We can''t trust him."


    Chief words made a lot of sense since they cannot trust an outsider.


    "Yeah, we cannot trust him. Grab a weapon for yourselves. We''ll solve the problem ourselves." The muscular man said.


    "Yeah we cannot trust him"


    We cannot trust him!


    Many emotions were mixed when they said the same sentence. Some were happy, some were sad and some were even angry. The man who wanted to help Oslo happily joined ''We can''t trust him'' gang. He picked an ax for his weapon.


    Everybody had a weapon in their hands. From stick to kitchen knives to sickle, they carried every weapon village had to offer.


    "Let''s make him pay with his life and show him how powerful we really are. Let''s lift the curse he has cast upon us."


    "Yeahhhhhhhhh!"


    Everybody shouted in unison, raising the weapons in their hands.


    BOOM!


    A loud explosion rang throughout the village when they reached the village gate.


    "What was that?"


    "It came from the west hill."


    "Are they still battling?"


    "But can''t trust him, can we? Let''s go everyone and bust him down."


    "Yeah!"


    ...


    In haste, they headed towards the west hill where the castle was located. When they were about ten meters away from the castle they saw trees that were robbed of their colors and were charred black. It was a sight of destruction for the villagers.


    "My God, what happened here?"


    "Look. There''s Marie unconscious at the ground." One man said pointing out at Marie.


    Some of the villagers immediately ran towards Marie trying to wake her up. Other kept looking at the surrounding trying to deduce what happened there.


    "Wait! Isn''t that the monster dog? But why is it licking the outsider like he is its master?" Everyone was dumbfounded. They knew how hostile the creature could be having experienced that first hand. Not trusting the words of the man they turned to see it for themselves.


    Their jaw kissed the ground when they saw mother dog licking Oslo and other pups merrily circling around him as if they were playing.


    "What did the kid do to them?," The chief frowned.


    Even though Oslo''s clothes had many holes and was tattered, the scene looked beautiful nonetheless.


    Slowly their eyes reached the house which had a hole in its wall. They really wanted to know what had occurred but they only guess without seeing it for themselves. Was the kid really strong? They thought.


    Neither fast nor slow, they walked towards Oslo when one of the villager''s feet hit something in the ground. The man who wanted to help Oslo glanced down as to what had hit his feet.


    It was a corpse whose upper body was burned black. Above the waist, every little area was burned. The mouth of the body was wide open and he could only guess what a painful death it had been. Even though the corpse''s face was charred black, he knew to whom the body belonged before.


    "He killed William as well?!" The man couldn''t help but shout it out loud because of his surprise.


    He now looked at Oslo doubting his own words.


    ''Maybe he didn''t need our help at all.'' He sighed in relief that Oslo wasn''t hurt because of their shameless act of cowardice.


    "What? William is dead?"


    "Did the kid killed William as well?" Many started viewing Oslo in a different light from what they had viewed him before.


    "W-Wait, does that mean..." The woman took the mask off her face and used the well forged new dagger in her hand as a mirror, and with the other hand which was shaking, she embraced her face. Tflowed out of her eyes when she saw her own face,


    "The curse..."


    "H-Has been lifted!" Chief finished the sentence for her using his shaking voice.


    When villagers heard the chief and realized what had happened, they burst out in tears. Throwing the mask off their faces, they used every reflecting object they could to look at the image of their faces.


    ***


    -Five minutes earlier


    "Let go, you bastard!" Struggling to free out of his grasp, William yelled.


    "You wish." Slowly Oslo opened his mouth. With blood still gushing out of his body, he could barely hold on to William if not for the skill he had accidentally obtained from the runestone. And if not for that, William would have already struggled out.


    Inside his mouth, a yellowish flame was roaring to come out.Concentrating most of his mana on that attack, he wanted to end the battle with this final move.


    Greenlight gleaned from the crystal in the pendant making his chest covered in it and strengthening the last attack even further. The flame inside his mouth was raging upon every passing second as if it couldn''t bear to stay in the mouth for any longer.


    The tattoo in his hand also glowed. But surprisingly through the tattoo which was blacker than black was glowing with bright white light making the mana enter his body at an even faster pace.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Oslo couldn''t hold it in for much longer as his body wasn''t a bottomless pit. If mana exceeded the capacity that his body could hold on than he was sure that he would blast into smithereens.


    Taking a deep breath and inhaling as much as air as his lungs could hold, he spat out the flame like a tornado of fire from his mouth.


    "Dragon breath!"


    The hellish fire covered the upper torso of William and burning it along with everything in its path. It wasn''t as strong as when the dragon of the dungeon made use of it but it was strong nonetheless.


    "Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh~" William cried in pain for he couldn''t bear it anymore.


    BOOM!


    Hearing his cry Oslo could only watch it with unfathomable sadness dwelling in his heart. Even if he was a bad person as villagers claimed him to be, he didn''t deserve to be burned alive... nobody deserved such painful death, but it was life... If he hadn''t done it, he would have been dead.


    Seeing the destruction his flame carved, he sighed. The flames didn''t reach more than ten meters but everything in the vicinity that touched the raging flame was set ablaze turning charred black.


    Burning trees black...Hell! some trees turned into ashes upon contact, the flame stopped and disappeared. Oslo was relieved that his attack didn''t result in a wildfire that would have most likely destroyed the whole forest.


    He felt he could control the flames and choose what he wanted to harm and what he didn''t. But his control was pathetic as Oslo only wanted to harm the foe his hands were wrapped around but his attack ended up burning trees in the vicinity as well.


    Analyzing his surroundings with his obscured vision he saw Marie who was lying unconscious. The illusion William had trapped Oslo in was broken.


    Thud-


    Letting go of the body, Oslo tried standing in his bloodied state as there were still problems that needed to be dealt with. The berserk magic beast which he had knocked unconscious was awake and standing.


    Making a fist Oslo wanted to stand up when he again found himself in the ground. The wound on his stomach hadn''t healed opposite to his guess. The pain and wound were still there making him realized he couldn''t even stand upright.


    "Crap!"


    But suddenly William''s body which was charred black started glowing in white light. Oslo who was startled upon the view bit his lips,


    "Is he resurrecting himself?"


    If he really was then it was all over, Oslo thought. Because of that fight, his body had only a bit, which can barely be called mana left in it. He knew if William was to open his eyes again, his breath wouldn''t last a minute.


    "Don''t wake up...lie there...lie down there," Oslo mumbled repeatedly.


    But William didn''t wake up and something entirely different happened. Oslo wanted to gouge his eyes out and clean it himself using holy water upon witnessing the scene which was unreal.


    The tattoos in William''s back had suddenly come to life. He wanted to cough blood in such a situation... but he was already coughing.


    The white crane upon emerging from his back fled around in fear. It was being chased by the purple dragon which had tainted the image of the white crane in William''s back.


    "What the heck is happening?"


    The two creatures...or what they seemed to be were flying around continuously with a purple dragon chasing White crane with drool dripping down its mouth. It was acting like the white crane was its food which he planned to eat as lunch. But what made him speechless wasn''t them but the scene unfolding before his own eyes.


    A dragon emerged from his hand, and with lava flowing down his scales, Oslo had no doubt that it was the dragon from the dungeon. Oslo was dumbfounded as to how his hand contained such a snake-like fire breathing monster of destruction which was about a hundred meters in length.


    The dragon covered in lava flew in the speed of light with its mouth wide open.


    Chomp!


    Munch! Munch! Munch!


    Gulp!


    The purple dragon that was chasing against the white crane with such ferocity was eaten in a single bite. The dragon showing a satisfied expression after its meal shot out a stream of smoke from its nose before shooting a last glance at the white crane and returning to Oslo''s hand again.


    The monster that was a hundred meters in length which had to wrap its body like spring just to fit in such small ground disappeared in Oslo''s hand without a trace.


    "Haha...Haha..." He didn''t even know what to think anymore as it was more like a dream with a punch of reality.


    The White crane circled around as if it was searching for something but upon finding what it desired, it shot itself in Oslo''s chest who then stopped laughing and started crying in pain.


    "Ahhh~"


    The wound on his already too much to bear and now the pain in his chest made him feel he was losing a life. It was like thousands of knives stabbing and ripping his heart apart all at once. The pain was simply unbearable.


    But it soon came to end with a tattoo of a crane appearing on his chest which was white in color and more eye relieving to look at rather than black dragon in his hand. On his chest where the heart was located, the crane glowed in holy light making coolness spread all across his body. The wounds on his stomach were disappearing and it suddenly rung the bell.


    "So it was because of this that my wound ended up healing in the midst of battle. No wonder I wasn''t recovering when William died." Oslo muttered as he caressed his chest where tattoo had appeared. "But only disappointment is that it doesn''t discriminate...wait a minute, I can control whom I want to heal? Does that mean that William''s control over it was as pathetic as my control of the dragon breath?"


    He laughed at his own thought as he wasn''t the only one the battle who couldn''t control his attacks.


    "It glowed when William used magic as well. No wonder."


    With his whole body wrapped in refreshing coolness, he was healed perfectly in no time at all. Patting his chest in merry, he blurted,


    "It sure is helpful but...the crane in my chest is so ladylike."


    As if understanding what was in Oslo''s mind, the crane disappeared from his chest and he couldn''t find it in his whole body.


    "Can I control it as well?" He then ordered the tattoo to reappear and aligning much to his guess, the tattoo reappeared in his chest again.


    "This sure is handy." Saying that he ordered the crane to turn invisible again.


    It was like magic as to how the crane could disappear and reappear. Oslo then glanced at the tattoo of the dragon on his hand and ordered,


    "You become invisible as well."


    He knew it was because of the dragon, William was so furious and wanted to trample him dead. He didn''t know what was the relationship between the tattoo and William''s rage but he had theorized that it was related to the downfall of William''s clan of which he was shouting in battle. He now knew that this tattoo of his was related to some troublesome fellas and it was the emblem used by Mystic Clan.


    And to show the trouble magnet to the whole world was a big no.


    In the battle with William, Oslo realized many of his shortcomings. He felt that he was simply too weak as compared to the monsters like people inhabiting this wildland...and William, Oslo somehow felt that William wasn''t in his prime condition and imagining what a monster he would have been, he couldn''t help but sweat cold.


    He thought himself to be a bit powerful but battling against William proved it wrong. He realized that he was but a frog in a well who didn''t know how vast the ocean really is and thought that there were many strong people in Magic Land.


    He had seen the dragon tattoo on his hand glowing when he made his last attack and realized that the tattoo could help him strengthen his magic because of its natural affinity for mana.


    With the dragon tattoo in his hand, he thought that he could also become strong as the monsters ruling the land. Aside from leading his brother to a bright future and he now had another goal to strive for.


    The goal to become strong!


    He needed to become strong if he didn''t want his close ones to suffer. He needed to become strong if he wanted to protect the ones he cared for. He needed to become strong if he wanted to be respected in the land where only strong were given such pleasure.


    And with that tattoo on his hand, he felt he too had the key to being strong and what he needed was diligent practice and skills to cover up for his shortcoming. Now, he no longer viewed the world the same easily as he had been viewing it before.


    As he was right now, he couldn''t help but compare himself with a falling petal. With a gust of wind, it would soar across the sky, traveling a long distance before it met with the ground. As for him, the tattoo of the dragon was the gust of wind he was waiting for it to blow and make him fly in the sky, but it was up to him for how much distance he floated.


    But the dragon in his hand said otherwise. It didn''t disappear when Oslo ordered it to. It seemed as if the tattoo was moody and arrogant and it didn''t want to disappear. Not wanting to bother with the moody dragon anymore, he walked towards the mother dog with a fist covered in mana as his tattered clothes fluttered with a gust of wind.


    Unlike before, the dog seemed tame and wasn''t aggressive. It sat still and when Oslo finally arrived before the mother dog, she bowed down.


    Woof! Woof! Woof!


    Although Oslo wasn''t a professor what had attained a degree in language of dogs, even he could tell from the dog''s action that it was pleading for mercy. It didn''t want its children to die because it was she who had triggered Oslo''s anger.


    With a domineering voice, he said,


    "Are you going to go after the villagers again?"


    The mother dog shook her head vigorously and then looked at Oslo with a cute puppy face, although it didn''t look cute in the slightest.


    "Then what are you going to do? Protect them?"


    The nodded in agreement. Oslo was happy that the dog could understand what he was saying, if not he would have looked like a mad man trying to talk to stones.


    "Then I guess I''ll let you slide." Fighting an enemy less was a good thing but the dog agreeing to protect the Village was super good, so why harm it? he thought.


    The dog then merrily licked Oslo while other pups circled around him happily.


    Not that they look like pups with a body of two meters but they were pups alright.


    ***


    At the current time, the whole village was lighted as if it was a festival. They were celebrating the happily for the curse that had haunted them for months had finally been lifted. With a bonfire at the center of the village, villagers were partying in the night time.


    The happiest one in the village was the mother dog which met with its lost child again. With its children by its side, the dog was happily chewing on the bone it had been given.


    A wooden mug hit his rib when a man happily sat beside Oslo,


    "Drink it."


    "Sorry but I don''t drink. I''m still underage." Oslo refused.


    "That''s a bummer," The man was who wanted to help Oslo when he was fighting against William. He said, " But kid, thank you. I mean it."


    It was the most heard word for him on that day. Everybody thanked him for lifting their curse and eradicating their nightmare.


    "Its nothing and," Oslo replied, "I mean it."


    "Hahahahaha, you''re a funny kid." Saying that the man stood up and joined others dancing with a smile.


    Oslo who was watching them dance couldn''t help but laugh, "Can that even be called dance?"


    Marie who was watching him laugh waved at Oslo from afar.


    With a peace sign and a toothy smile pasted on his face, he laughed looking at her.


    She slowly walked towards the savior of the village or what the villagers called him. She then looked at his body and said,


    "Can I ask you something?"


    "What do you want to know?" Oslo asked.


    "Umm... it''s just that," Playing with her thumbs, she blushed upon recalling the scene, "I was wondering how did your body heal so fast. When you pushed me away, I saw you suffer from a horrible wound but now you seemed totally fine. How did it heal so fast?"


    The question was eating her as she was the one responsible for the wound and if because of that he were to suffer consequences in the future, she would feel bad.


    "What? You want to know?" Oslo said.


    Marie nodded.


    "Alright, I''ll tell you. Its..."


    "A Magician''s Secret!"


    Volume 1: Falling Petal


    -----END-----

 Anna Raygal

    With the moon lighting up the dark, villagers were sound asleep after the party.


    "Hicc~"


    Because of his hiccups, Louis couldn''t sleep at all. Turning his body right and left for the hope of sleeping, he finally gave up.


    "Hicc~, Kid, you awake?"


    Not listening to any answer, he said,


    "I know you''re awake as well. Don''t pretend that you''re asleep."


    "Don''t disturb me." Oslo said covering himself entirely in the blanket, "Let me sleep in peace."


    Louis who couldn''t get even a wink got jealous of Oslo. He then pulled the blanket to his side making Oslo shudder in pain without any cover.


    "Seriously, what were they even thinking while letting me sleep in your house?"


    Seeing Oslo finally saying something, Louis laughed, "Hahaha, were you expecting pretty girls to accompany you?"


    "Yeah!"


    "But how unlucky you''re to be paired with a man like me."


    "Well that''s that but..." Oslo sighed, " Why doesn''t your house have a roof? It''s chilly out there and these winds are freezing me to death, do you want me to die from catching a cold? Give the blanket back."


    "Huh, isn''t Magician immune to disease?" Louis asked.


    "Yeah they are but," Snatching the blanket and covering himself again he said, "Only powerful magicians don''t suffer, heck... I have even seen magician as weak as me dying from sneezing again and again."


    "Haha, you magicians sure have a rough life than us villagers who are safe because of the wall. Unless the wall crumbles, we smile and live happily but you guys challenging opponents stronger than you, struggling to survive on a daily basis are really incredible."


    "Unlike us, your life is full of ridicule and seeing you guys fills me with admiration. Kid, do you want to know why my house is the only one in the village which has no roof?"Louis said looking up.


    "You aren''t going to let me sleep anyway. Let''s hear it then." Listening to him rambling again and again Oslo had given up on the thought of sleeping.


    "Take out your head from the blanket and open your eyes. You''ll see." Louis said.


    "Stars?," Opening his eyes he saw the black sky filled with thousands of white dots. The thousands of limelights covering the black sky was very eye-catching, to say the least. "It is pretty, yes, but even I would get bored of it when I see it on a daily basis."


    Hearing Oslo speak his mind, Louis said,


    "It isn''t like that...you may laugh hearing it but our village believes that shooting stars can grant wishes. I always waited lying in this bed for a star to shoot down creating a tail so that I could ask of it to save the village from the curse."


    "Then it seems your wish has been granted by the power of the stars." Oslo chuckled.


    "Haha, not quite, whenever shooting star was seen, I was in the bathroom." Louis laughed, "I was quite unlucky, you know."


    He then looked at Oslo and said, "Hey, why don''t you marry Marie?"


    Not expecting the conversation to change suddenly, he laughed, " Haha, I don''t want to, and who is that girl?"


    "You don''t even know the name of the girl that saved you?" Oslo seemed genuinely surprised by his answer, "You''re quite an odd lad."


    "Its a shame." Louis only sighed and didn''t push the matter any further, "My name is Louis Heckermann and what might your name be?"


    "Its Oslo Marvik!"


    "Quite an odd name for an odd lad. Who gave you name such as that?"


    "My gramps," Oslo replied.


    "Your gramps must have drunk till he fainted to give you such name, huh?"


    "Not only alcohols, but he may also have been high with drugs," Oslo added.


    With a confused expression on his face, Louis asked, "What are drugs?"


    ...


    Their conversation lasted the whole night and until the sun burnt their eyes, they were on the bed. Not even getting a wink of sleep, he was ready to leave the village with a dark circle under his eyes for good.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    When he was right before the exit,  every villager was there to bid him farewell, even the mother dog was there.


    "Thank you!" They expressed their gratitude in unison with a bow.


    The mother patting its chest said,


    "Woof!"


    He as always had to make sense with such language. Maybe it is saying that leave the village for me to protect, Oslo thought.


    Wearing the clothes villagers had provided him, he bid them farewell and dashed into the wilderness.With the map Louis provided the day before as a guide, he had avoided many possible dangerous areas, but the map wasn''t too detailed and only led to the place where human life was, and it was only a possibility as well.


    Growl~


    With no food in his belly, his stomach was roaring like a hungry lion.Traveling for seventeen hours straight into the wilderness was a difficult job, to say the least, and with no food as well as painful.


    If his stomach could speak, it would have cursed him thousand times;


    "I''m ashamed to have been born as your belly. When are you even going to feed me? You don''t feed me and expect to get energy? Dream on..."


    If he was his previous self, he would have fainted with only traveling for seven hours but now he could tread seventeen hours straight with his body which hinted that he had grown a bit stronger at least.


    A day was already over and with no food and going in the straight path he doubted if there was indeed human settlement where the map led him.


    When he was about to lost hope, he smelled smoke coming for afar inside the forest.


    "Am I near the human settlement now?"


    If it was indeed true then he was relieved that he traveled this far. With his recharged motivation he trod towards the direction of the smoke at full speed.


    It wasn''t much but with such speed, the tall trees seemed just like shadows that came and disappeared in seconds.


    It must really be human because no magic beasts needed to light the fire to eat and from the smoke he had smelt a slight fragrance of meat so he was sure. Whenhe got closer though, he didn''t directly reveal himself and hid behind the tree.


    He gulped smelling food, but he couldn''t just jump in and intrude offending the party because from what he could tell with his sense was that the adventurer before him was at least a B-rank one.


    With long hair reaching her waist, she had no armor on her but the clothes she wore fitted her perfectly making her slender figure shine even more. With a glance, he could tell that the adventurer before him hailed from some rich family because the clothes she wore were tailored by a high-class tailor which made her curvy figure shine even more.


    The small meadow in the forest didn''t have any flowers but had a small fire grilling the meat slowly as the woods crackled on one of its corners. With her beautiful soft hand, she lifted one of five grilled slices of meat, slowly blowing air maintaining the temperature perfect for eating.


    Biting the meat, she stroke back her falling hair. Oslo who was hiding behind her couldn''t look at her face but knew offending her would only make the situation worse, so he didn''t want to make any sound until she had her food and left.


    But his little buddy betrayed him.


    Growl~


    Enticed by the smoke, his belly could no longer suppress its roars. Clutching his stomach, Oslo had the expression as if asking his stomach to stop. But when he did that it roared even louder.


    GROWLLLLL~


    The girl smiled hearing the roars made by Oslo''s stomach. She had already sensed his presence when he was a hundred meters away from her and now he was near, she could tell that he was a D-rank adventurer from his presence.


    "Come out! I already know you''re there." She said without turning back.


    Embarrassed, he came out of shadows of the tall trees making light shine on him again. When he got in front of her, he could finally lay his eyes upon her face which was also a beauty that matched her figure...but when he saw her face, he couldn''t help but blurt it out,


    "Anna Raygal!?"


    "You know me?" She said in a calm voice chewing on the meat all the same. "Since you already know me, I don''t have to introduce myself. What is your name?" She asked?


    With a drooling mouth, he replied, "This little me is called Jackson Morph."


    He knew to reveal his real name and getting acquainted with a person such as her would only complicate his position in the society where only strong were praised and weak were trampled upon. So he gave her an Alias.


    Scratching his head he added, "Me is an adventurer and when me was on my way to clear the quest, me got lost."


    "Hmm, you seem more like a son of a farmer than an adventurer but right now, even donkey can ascend heaven so it doesn''t matter, but..." She said, "Why is your right hand wrapped with bandages?"


    Oslo''s mouth twitched when she said that he looked like a son of a farmer but he took it as a compliment as the dress was especially gifted to him by the villagers out of love and respect. He looked at the bandages covering his right hand and said,


    "Me wrapped my hand in a bandage to look cool!"


    He had wrapped it so that no one could see the tattoo for it was very brilliant at attracting problems. He also felt that if he showed such a thing in public, it would only complicate his life filling it with other problems.


    Unless he found out the relation between the tattoo and the Mystic clan, he was determined to never let the tattoo in his hand see the light. It wasn''t like the tattoo of White crane which obeyed his orders so it was only the way for him.


    Anna had bought the words Oslo told her because she could seense that there was no danger and weapons hidden inside the bandages. She could also feel that Oslo had no malicious intent against her and confirming that there was no mana in an abnormal state in Oslo''s wrapped hand, she gestured him to sit beside her and presented a stick with a freshly grilled meat,


    "Here have some and make those roars stop."


    "Me can? Me really can?" Although he said that, his hands were already grabbing with his teeth sunk deep in the meat. Chewing the meat, he couldn''t help but enjoy it because it was the first food he had after a whole day of traveling.


    Adventurers could control their hunger to the extent that they didn''t need to eat food for the whole year. But he wasn''t at that stage and could survive only by filling his belly.


    "Delicious!"


    Hungry for more, he couldn''t maintain his composure and grabbed another stick of meat without even asking. For him who was very hungry, even grilled meat such as that tasted like an international cuisine.


    Another stick was also taken by Oslo who was eating like a barbarian, but Anna didn''t mind that because she had already reached the state that she could survive without eating for a week and without making her stomach roar as well.


    Glancing at the munching monster, she elegantly ate her part of the meat.


    "Oh yeah, When are...you going to...return to city Xean?" Oslo asked with inflated cheeks which were making him speak slow.


    "After the meal, I will head back." Anna said, "Why do you ask?"


    Gulp!


    Finally swallowing the meat, Oslo, patting his stomach said,


    "Me is lost and is hoping that me will be guided by you to the city."