ã€ŠCursed Armor Reincarnationã€‹


 Chapter 1: Death and Other Worlds

    Rune Samuv snapped to attention at the sound of the class bell. He had been daydreaming of what kind of games would come out in the future and when the dive technology would be created for video games. He was bored after he had to sit through an entire lecture during the last block. The class that was currently starting was geometry and he had no faith that it would be any fun at all.

    Similarly to his current situation, some of his other classmates were bored. In the back of the room, shrouded behind a curtain of students, they decided to either play on their phones or take pictures to post on their multiple social media accounts that Rune didn¡¯t use.

    In fact, he didn¡¯t use any type of social media for he thought it wasn¡¯t healthy for teens to be thinking almost solely on taking pictures of themselves and others and posting for everyone to see. He saw no point in it.

    Instead, he had spent most of his time in his classes daydreaming of different scenarios, like what would happen if he was robbed or what defensive maneuvers he could perform in the event of a knife fight. He did this to pass the time in half his classes which none of his friends were in.

    He was not a lonely high schooler, but he was indeed a quiet and pessimistic child whose only hopes were pinned to the idea that he had a high probability of getting into a good college. He was an A student who excelled in everything except physical activities like sports, to be specific, all sports that require moving the body.

    In no way was he weak, but he was just bored and didn¡¯t like to try hard except in combat. In fact, he liked training on the practice dummies at his home and he kept racks of weaponry in his room. He excelled most in dual wielding and long reaching weaponry.

    But, at least to him, if something didn¡¯t involve swinging a sword or murdering something in a video game, then he found that it was no fun for him and he would try to move as little as possible to complete that task. At least manga and anime was exciting, definitely more so than sports.

    He felt disdain at the mere thought of something that would likely give him bodily injuries. Nonetheless, he still liked fighting.

    During classes he would constantly space out when he wasn¡¯t listening to his teachers and would ignore his loud classmates who were conversing around him. He didn¡¯t feel left out, but was bored as he always felt. He started to stare out the windows with the light shining through.

    The sun was especially bright today and the clouds seemed to part just for it. It felt awful to some of the kids who liked to play video games. They liked air conditioned rooms and none of the teachers could understand why they would rather shoot someone in a game than step one foot outside the house.

    The classroom was on the second story and the windows were closed, but Rune felt like he could see everything from his seat and peered down at the people walking below. He wasn¡¯t gazing too intently, but he did happen to noticed a group of people who looked extremely suspicious. They hung out underneath one of the trees and were laughing with each other while displaying evil grins on their faces.

    One of them, leaning against a tree in the middle of the group, was tossing a black sphere up and down in the air. He chuckled along with his other lackeys as they thought of things that delinquents usually thought of.

    Rune looked away and looked at the road. He would definitely try not to be like those who were a menace to society or were looked down on by society. He was just a bored, tired student trying to get a decent job where he could relax for the most part.

    He still had a while to consider his career path, but he knew that he had to at least choose a general field to study in soon enough. While he liked manga and anime a lot, he didn¡¯t want to write or draw it, he wanted to read it. While he did like weapons, not many people had the opportunity to make them. The options he looked into were quite limited.

    He looked at the clock and saw that there was still thirty minutes left and he had already finished his work. He scanned the room, looking with just his eyes and not turning his head, and saw his friend who was anxiously trying to finish the large pile of homework that the teacher had given out several minutes before.

    Maybe I should help him out with some of his-

    Rune¡¯s thinking was disturbed when he heard a sound that was like a baseball flying through the air with air rushing in behind it. He turned to look out the window and saw a black ball-like object that was a bit smaller than a baseball. There was a small lever-like object on it which flew off right before it smashed through a window. Then two more came through the other windows.

    Rune knew exactly what the ball-like objects were, but he was surprised because he thought that people couldn¡¯t easily get their hands on the fragmentation grenades. Then he thought back to when he was looking outside the window.

    At first, he felt a tiny bit disappointed. It was only natural to feel disappointed or scared when you see a frag grenade breaking through a window, ready to explode. He saw three people fall out of their seats and the teacher had a surprised look on her face. A small group of the class tried to run, but, by then, it was too late.

    Rune could only say a small phrase or word before he was sent off to his death and he decided to go with ¡°F**k¡±. Then the grenades exploded and he felt heat all over his body and he felt sharp objects embed themselves inside of him. He knew that he was dead, but the question now was what will happen after death?

    <hr>

    His vision went black and he felt like he was floating. This sensation continued for a long time before he felt a tugging sensation and a feeling like he was being shoved inside a coffin or a box. The next moment, he was blinded by a light and he could see trees and a river. He saw a large waterfall and rocks and fish swimming through the current.

    The trees seemed unusual to the ones that he had seen before, but he wasn¡¯t able to properly look at it. He tried to squint to get the light out of his eyes, but couldn¡¯t.

    He tried to speak, but he found that he couldn¡¯t and he gave up trying immediately. Instead, he looked down to find that he had no lower body. He tried lifting an arm, but he couldn¡¯t feel anything from where his arms used to be. He could only think of two possibilities: One, that he was a spirit whose soul was bodiless or, two, he was wearing a vr headset.

    He ignored the latter and focused on the former. It would be better to prepare to be in a dangerous situation than not doing anything and thinking that the situation was fine. He tried to move and found that he could move in any direction that he looked at, but only if he thought of occupying that space.

    However, the moment he started to move, he heard a voice that sounded male and monotone.

    ¡°You all must be wondering what you are and where you are. Allow me to explain. You 21 people, 20 students and 1 teacher, have died to a group of delinquents who have deemed it fun to blow the hell out of a classroom while people were in it. Kelemvor will personally hand out their punishments when they die.¡±

    The voice paused to let that sink in. They were actually dead. And it was all because of a group of delinquents who wanted to play with grenades.

    ¡°As for you all, it seems that many of you noticed that you now lack a physical body, but do not fear. I have given you each an ability to survive in this new world. The special skills and magics you have received are based on your personality and what skill would help you thrive. This world is one of fantasy and magic, it is called Arborea.And I, Lathander, was given the responsibility of looking after your souls after Kelemvor and some other gods from your original world, Earth, decided to push you into this world. We gods are bored after all.¡±

    It seemed that Lathander paused to let that sink into their minds and then continued after a moment. He only paused to see if any of them freaked out, which, unknowing to Rune, three people did while the rest were in shock. However, due to the fact that they couldn¡¯t speak, they all yelled in their minds. The gods heard their inner cries and, most of them, smirked at how fun it was for them.

    They hadn¡¯t had any other worlders for about thirty years. Even then, the last one that came died in his first day of transferring. He was quickly killed by a simple Goblin that smashed in his head with a rock. How sad it was when their amusement ended so suddenly.

    This time, the gods decided that it was high time they summoned another group of people from other worlds. They saw that some other gods had and they asked Odin and God for some souls. In return, they gave them some more miracles for them to use.

    ¡°You can all move in the direction you are looking at and you can possess monsters and non-living objects by going into them. After you go into them, you can check your status by tapping in the strange square icon in the bottom right corner of your vision. Next to that is an information icon that lists what each of you are and knowledge of skills and a journal of all the things you have been told or read along your journey.

    For fun, I¡¯ve given you each a map icon in the bottom left corner to see where each of you are and the landscape, but nothing more. Although, you might find that some parts are blurry and you can¡¯t scroll all around. You are just going to have to deal with that. I hope that your lives become interesting after this moment. Good luck.¡±

    He stopped talking and Rune started to move. He wanted to find a suitable vessel to go inside and also to quickly find out who is what. He also desperately wanted to get started as soon as he knew that this was another world. In fact, he had tried to move while Lathander was talking, but it seemed like he couldn¡¯t, as if a force held him in place.

    However, the second, no, the beat right after Lathander stopped speaking, he started to rush. He wanted to hurry as he saw nothing of use or value nearby.

    He floated past trees and looked around. No doubt someone already found a body to inhabit. He saw a strange wolf with white spikes sticking out of its spine and it had pure red eyes. He tried to go into it, but he was repelled and he kept moving.

    He saw several Goblins and regular wolves, but they all seemed weak. Too weak for his purposes. He wanted to obtain a body that could withstand heavy attacks as well as deal them out. He wanted something that could fight well, but could still dodge devastating blows.

    After a minute of searching, he saw a sliver of something shiny and grey in the ground. He went to it and saw that it was a hand. To be more precise, it was a gauntlet. It seemed that it was connected to an entire suit of armor.

    Without even the slightest hint of hesitation, he went inside of it. He floated through the gauntlet and right into the middle of it.

    Suddenly, it felt as if his vision narrowed and he felt heavy. He slowly got up, dirt sliding off his metal vessel. His legs were shaking as he struggled to move in this heavy body of his. He moved over to a tree trunk and leaned next to it.

    He wasn¡¯t used to his currant body as it was severely different than his original one and was made out of metal. He suddenly felt the need to crack his neck and knuckles, but knew that he couldn¡¯t. Then he slowly moved his arms up to his status icon.

    Rune Samuv: Level 1 Class: none

    Endurance: 10 Mobility: 10 Strength: 10

    Magic: 50 mp

    Magic Gain Per Second: 5 mp/s

    Skills:

    SSS -Lv 5 [Absorb]: Can take in non-living objects and use their properties.

    B -Lv 2 [Frozen Touch]: An effect from the armor allows user to freeze what is grabbed.

    Magic:

    none

    Titles:

    none

    Rune looked over his stats and noticed that he didn¡¯t seem to have Dex, Con, Int, Wis, or Cha, but instead had Endurance, Mobility, and Strength. He had to level up quickly if he didn¡¯t want to die quickly. Then he saw a 3D model next to the stats and looked at it.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    He saw that the armor had no openings to see inside of it and it looked much different than European medieval armor. The fingers were sharp and were thin, but the same length as a human¡¯s hand. His feet were pointed and not round. He had pauldrons on his shoulders had two spikes protruding from the left one and the right one had three. He had a waist guard that looked like two small shields placed on his waist that were composed of three pieces. His chestplate was protruding outward towards the top. He seemed to have loose guards on his elbows and knees. His helmet had four horns extending from it, two on each side, with one pair looking like ram horns and the other was a pair of horns curving backwards. It had only two spaces for his eyes which shone a brightly burning orange. In between all his armor was chain mail and he saw what the armor was made of. It was made of Cold Steel and it gave off a creepy, scary aura around it.

    Turning away from the 3D model of what was likely himself, he looked in the journal and saw what his classmates and teacher had become:

    -Ari became a Roc

    -Brian became a Demonic Bear

    -Brittany became a Dryad

    -Ed became a Earth Elemental

    -Erryn became a Banshee

    -Gerald became a Hellhound

    -Ian became an Basilisk

    -Jared became a Draegloth

    -Kelly became a Lamia

    -Lisbeth became a Fenrir

    -Monty became a Death Kiss

    -Neil became a Cyclops

    -Orion became a Displacer Beast

    -Rick became a Pit Fiend

    -Riley became a Couatl

    -Rune became Cursed Armor

    -Stacy became a Fallen Angel

    -Stella became a Succubus

    -Tio became a Gorgon

    -Tyler became a Bone Devil

    -Will became a Goristo

    His friend in the class, Tyler the Bone Devil, and the teacher, Erryn, became a Banshee. He looked on the map and saw that he could zoom in and out with it. When he zoomed out, he could see green dots and names next to the dots. It seemed that Brittany, Ian, Lisbeth, and Riley were near him.

    The map showed Rune that there were five continents and they were separated by large bodies of water. He saw that everyone was on the same continent he was on, but only four other were in the same large forest.

    It seems that Brian, Gerald, Rick, Stella, Tyler, and Will were in a desert-like area with several volcanoes surrounding it. In the mountains, Ari, Ed, Jared, Kelly, Neil, and Tio were there, but only Kelly and Tio were together. Lastly, there was a dark territory on the continent where Erryn, Monty, Orion, and Stacy were, but they all seemed to be spread out from each other.

    He started to walk through the forest sluggishly as he was not accustomed to feeling this much weight on his legs. As he kept walking, he felt more and more confident about his moving and he decided to run. Then he stopped.

    In front of him was a green skinned small figure with a club. It had a pouch and a loincloth and was facing the other direction. It looked left and right and then sat down.

    Rune approached it and knew, from the skin color and the lack of good weaponry, that this creature was likely a Goblin which he read about a lot in light novels and his Dungeon and Dragons books which contradicted each other. The only similarity was that they were both weak and idiotic creatures.

    Also, from what he had read from his books, he knew that Goblins were but a minor threat to humanity, but were huge pests that plagued the lands. He moved his arms up slowly and carefully approached it.

    He had to make sure his arms would hit his legs or body at all and that the material linking all his body parts stayed silent.

    Careful not to step on anything that would give his position away, he stealthily sneaked up to it and his hands closed in on its neck. He absolutely was not afraid of killing it and would likely have zero guilt for doing so. After all, he believed in two major sayings: one, kill or be killed, and two, an eye for an eye.

    Also, the idea that Goblins were a species that stole resources and reproduced using kidnapped women made him think that it would be better to dispose of a pest before they caused any more problems.

    With those thoughts in mind he swiftly moved his hands towards its neck and turned its head 180 degrees. A loud, audible snap could be heard as its eyes rolled up into its head and it collapsed.

    It had a slight spasm for a few moments due to him not snapping its neck as easily and fluidly as he could have. Its grip tightened on the club, and then it let it go.

    Rune could see that it was leaking drool from its mouth with some bones sticking out from its neck.

    Easy pickings. I hope that I can kill other Goblins as easily as I did this one, but it''s obvious that I need to be careful of other things. In the Dungeon and Dragons book, Goblins are only ? challenge. They are extremely weak.

    He looked down at the deceased Goblin while thinking this and felt absolutely zero remorse for killing the green skinned fiend. Then he grabbed its pouch and opened it without any feelings of guilt from looting a dead body.

    To be honest, he trained himself to feel no remorse in killing because, if you hesitate to kill, you would likely die due to the opponent killing you instead. You had to finish something off, and make sure it was finished, before you could feel anything, which Rune did not.

    He found a copper coin, some strange pieces of meat, and a nugget of some iron. This brought him an idea. He concentrated on absorbing the iron nugget, but did not prevail. Then he decided to put it in his hollow body.

    He took off his helmet and noticed that he could now see in all directions, except below, and that the orange glow in the helmet was still there. It seemed that his soul was a part of every inch of this Cold Steel armor. Then he plopped the iron nugget into the opening of the suit that was created when he removed his head.

    He put his head under his arm and checked his status. He had gained the skill [Harden] as a passive skill. Then he took out the strange meat/jerky thing and the coin out of the pouch and, again, plopped it into the suit. He gained [Storage Small] as an active skill.

    He used [Storage Small] and dropped the coin and meat into it and donned his head. Then he moved forward, stepping over the ugly corpse. He moved over tree roots and small streams of water until he saw smoke in the sky.

    He looked around, beyond the trees and brush, before taking a quick pause to look at the surrounding area from a bird¡¯s eye view.

    He checked his map and saw that none of the others were there, but Lisbeth seemed to be in the same direction as the smoke. He trudged on to find his classmate and was practically running there.

    He wanted to meet up with a classmate because they might have a useful ability or could be one of his adventuring partners. As soon as he neared the smoke, he started walking slowly and saw a campfire.

    He carefully pushed a branch out of his way and looked at the clearing. It was already night as it seemed that he was sent to Arborea around late noon.

    There were twelve Goblins there and they were all surrounding something on the ground. They did not seem to notice Rune as he neared them and was behind them. His dark armor blending into the shadows created by the night. Then he struck.

    He stuck his hand into the head of the nearest one, his matter flooding out of the now open hole in his head, and, at the same time, Rune squeezed the head of another.

    Using his fingers that seemed to be the sharpest part of his body, he slashed at three of the goblins¡¯ throats. Blood guzzled down as they choked on their own blood that was entering their lungs. He swung his claw-like hands towards the ground, like someone would a sword to remove the blood and flesh.

    The seven remaining Goblins appeared in front of him with six of them holding wooden clubs and, what would likely be the leader, holding a dull sword. They tried to rush him, but he was far faster than them and he beheaded three of the club holding Goblins. It didn¡¯t take long for their three heads to fall as they were moving.

    What had happened was that they ran at Rune and were stopped when he attacked. The heads kept going and moving while the bodies stopped in place. Then, once all three head fell to the ground, the bodies followed suit.

    Then he took a Goblin by the head and smashed him against another, ending their lives in the exact same moment. Brain matter spewed forth and mingled with one another as they fell into a mushy pile on the ground, the leaves being soaked in blood.

    With a single ax kick, he mashed the last goblin with a club into the ground, ending its pitiful life. His foot easily went and hit it and kept going until it was just a puddle of nasty, smelly, red goop.

    Then he wheeled around to face the Goblin holding the dull sword. He was most obviously their leader as he had a small leather chest piece on, but still had a loincloth. The Goblin boss lunged at Rune in vain.

    Due to his advanced amount of experience dodging attacks, Rune dodged him and, when the Goblin lunged at the spot he used to be at, Rune grabbed its head and turned it to looked at his eyes.

    At this point, he used the skill that came from the armor, [Frozen Touch], and froze its head before throwing it at a tree, ending its life. Then he turned towards the thing the group was crowding.

    He stormed over, ready to murder the being if it was going to attack him. When he looked at it however, it made him stop and think.

    What he saw was a little puppy-like creature that was cowering on the ground with its eyes closed. It had silver fur, but its paws were a light red. It opened its eyes and he could see a yellow glow. It was obvious that this was Lisbeth who became a Fenrir, but Rune imagined that she would be more like a ferocious or elegant creature that was large and proud and not some small puppers that was shivering in fear.

    Rune tried to speak, but all that came out was a scraping noise that sounded like a metal on metal. Lisbeth started to get more scared and Rune just sighed in his mind. Turning away from her, he started looting the corpses and absorbed several more items which gave him [Sharp] and [Protection] which came from the sword and armor.

    Now he had more skills and had even gained a title:

    SSS -Lv 5 [Absorb]: Can take in non-living objects and use their properties.

    B -Lv 3 [Frozen Touch]: An effect from the armor allows user to freeze what is grabbed.

    F -Lv 3 [Harden]: Hardens the owner¡¯s skin or armor.

    D -Lv 1 [Protection]: Protects owner from weaker status affects.

    F -Lv 1 [Sharp]: Easier to cut things.

    A -Lv 2 [Storage Small]: Can carry small items.

    Title:

    Goblin Slayer: Knows attack patterns of Goblins and knows their strength and weaknesses.

    He started to put several torches from the campfire into himself after he saw Lisbeth still cowering. He gained [Light] for a spell and started to cast it. It gave off a dim light that lit up several feet around him.

    Soon, he had nothing to do but walk over to Lisbeth. He was much, much taller than her and he crouched down in front of her. He reached out and put his hand on her head. Then he jerked her head up to look at him, however, he didn¡¯t do it with too much force for fear of accidentally beheading her.

    He started to write in the dirt in front of her and cast the spell [Light] at the same time. He had written ¡°It¡¯s me, Rune. The quiet kid always staring off in the class. You are Lisbeth, correct?¡± and she started to read. Then she shakily looked at him and nodded slowly.

    Then he stood up and looked into the journal icon. He found that there was a system where he and other classmates could create a party if they both agreed to it. Within the party system rules, he found that they could talk to each other telepathically as well as share the experience in a ratio the party leader sets.

    He wrote in the dirt to convey this message to her and she nodded. Then he noticed that there was a name and a species in the top left corner of his vision. Lisbeth: Fenrir. Then he changed the experience ratio from 60:40 to 50:50 and started to talk to her.

    <Can you hear me?>

    <Ah!! Um, y-yes!>

    She jumped when she heard his voice which sounded much cooler than his original voice. Recalling his memories of her before they died, he thought that she sounded more squeaky and high-pitched than before.

    <Why does a Fenrir look so small and, to be frank, kind of weak?>

    <Ah! The, uh¡­ I found a large wolfy thing and went inside. When I opened my eyes, I was much smaller and, when I checked my status, I was level one and weak with only two skills. They were [Weak Lightning Manipulation] and [Teleport], but the teleport only works in places that I can see or have been in this world.>

    She looked down as she believed she was weak. It was, however, the truth. She was weak enough to be bullied by Goblins who were going to eat her when she was a Fenrir, one of the higher and more powerful forms of regular wolves. Those regular wolves could easily take on Goblins in a one on one fight, and she was supposed to be a superior version of that.

    <I see¡­ I found a suit of armor sticking out of the ground that looked kind of shiny, but now it just looks like a dark, raven color. Maybe people change appearances based on your personality or past appearance and everyone starts at level one with only a single skill from what you took over?>

    He was asking her a question to see if she would know. Unfortunately, she was a bit too terrified and shocked to answer right away. And when she did...

    <I don¡¯t know. Sorry.>

    A small feeling of disappointment appeared in the recesses of his mind. He brushed that feeling off.

    Generally for him, he found that he was able to take some feelings and ignore them until they went away. Of course, if it hadn¡¯t gone away, it was usually in the section of his mind right between wanting to kill everything and how he liked to stay neutral in almost all subjects.

    <Hey, it¡¯s fine. There¡¯s no need to know now, but we have to find a safe place for you to sleep now. As an animated object, I don¡¯t need to eat or sleep.>

    When the conversation ended, they both looked for a small structure or cave to be in, but found nothing. In the end, they gave up searching after a few measly minutes, and decided that Lisbeth would sleep next to the campfire and Rune would guard.

    She walked over to the fire and flumped onto the ground and started to sleep. Rune sat next to her and looked up at the sky.

    I wonder what the gods are thinking¡­ Sending teenagers off without a warning. Well, at least it is better than death and I get to murder many things that cross my path without being convicted...

    He could see multiple stars covering the night sky with no recognizable constellations. He saw two moons, one yellow and one blue, and some small birds and other animals flying overhead.

    Those small animals and birds seemed to avoid the smoke, but they were actually avoiding Rune for most of them saw him easily kill twelve goblins at the same time. They hadn¡¯t seen him kill the first one due to it happening inside the forest with the canopy covering them.

    Everything seemed to go by so quickly from the grenade exploding to now. He sighed in his mind and looked around, checking to see if there were any threats, then opened his map. It seemed that only Stacy was moving and Ian and Ari were next to each other and also Rick was next to Will.

 Chapter 2: Class is in Session

    The next day was sunny, but not extremely hot. The sunlight poured onto both Lisbeth¡¯s face and Rune¡¯s raven black helm. At least for him, he didn¡¯t have to squint to see. Just another advantage of being Cursed Armor.

    Lisbeth opened her eyes to find a blindingly bright lights shining in her face. She shielded her eyes from the sun in the sky and slowly got up, yawning. She felt tired and was in a considerable amount of pain after the beating she had received from the Goblins the day before.

    She slowly looked around to find that Rune was sitting on a wooden log, scraping some bloody pieces of meat off of a bone. He was using his fingers to shred the meat and pluck it off like it was meat on a kebab.

    She started to looked away only to find that there was a large pile of bones to his right and flesh to his left. She had started to feel queasy when Rune turned to look at her. She could see blood dripping down his armor, helm, gauntlets, and all, and none of it seemed to stain him. She tried to cover her mouth as best she could with a paw, but threw up the second the smell hit her.

    She couldn¡¯t see him too well in the night before, but now she saw that the armor he had inhabited was extremely intimidating. To her, he seemed like something that would appear on the battlefield only to cut down friend and foe alike. He was like the incarnation of death.

    To Rune, however, he just thought that his armor looked cool and was glad that it was both sturdy and deadly. He wasn¡¯t naive enough to think that he was something that others could fear as there were things far more powerful than he.

    <Morning.>

    He had turned back to rending the flesh and muscles off of the bones and was focused on making sure that there was as little of the stinky meat on it as possible. While it was not widely known amongst civilians, adventurers and monsters both knew that Goblin meat was one of the nastiest, most disgusting things of all time.

    Even a wolf had second doubts about eating it because of their heightened senses of smell. But still, they ate because there was nothing less powerful than Goblins other than Giant Rats, in terms of monsters, and they could only be found in their small tunnels or in the cities.

    She was still not used to him talking to her through telepathy, but it wasn¡¯t as uncomfortable as it was when they first conversed. He was using telepathy while continuing his gruesome work.

    <Are you hungry? I¡¯m sure you could eat the Goblin meat if you cook it with your [Weak Lightning Manipulation]. Although, after you eat, we should level you up so that you don¡¯t die immediately.>

    Lisbeth gulped as she turned to look at the pile, using all her strength to not vomit. She was, however, hungry and approached the meat at a slow pace before stopping in front of it. Then she hovered her paw over the pile and started to cook it.

    The lightning started to heat it up and the red meat turned grey while making a smell like charred pork that was rotting. When it had total turned grey, she cautiously opened her maw and took a nibble. It tasted awful.

    In the meantime, Rune was working on cleaning the bones of the goblins. He found out that he absorb them and they increased his Endurance and his [Harden] skill. Once he found out, he started to absorb them one after another, but found that they worked better without the flesh on them.

    On top of this discovery, he found that they each had multiple, but not many, small crystals in each of them which contained magic with different attributes. There was red for fire, white for wind, yellow for lightning, light blue for ice, navy for water, brown for earth, black for darkness, green for healing, and a glowing, bright yellow for light. He started to absorb these to find that his magic increased and he gained what seemed like basic spells which leveled up.

    He had gained [Shocking Grasp], [Heal], [Fireball], [Ice Dagger], [Wind Strike], [Water Sphere], [Earthen Wall], and [Blindness]. He already had the spell [Light]. These seemed to be the only spell he could get from absorbing the small crystals. If he wanted to get more spells, he would likely have to absorb better things or learn them from experienced magic users.

    When he was finished absorbing the crystals and the bones, he turned towards Lisbeth. She was gagging, but she still ate the goblin meat like a ravenous, wild beast. After several more minutes, she stopped and looked back at Rune. He could see that her eyes were tearing up and that she was still on the verge of vomiting.

    <Ok. I¡¯m ready. What are we going to do now?>

    <I thought that we should level you up. Let¡¯s hunt some Goblins for now.>

    <...Ok.>

    She seemed to sniffle a bit and was holding back tears. She had still not gotten over the fact that she had died, went into a weak wolf¡¯s body, and was about to die by Goblins.

    They started to walk through the forest while Rune was looking over the map. He saw that everyone had gotten into groups of two or three already and seemed to be moving somewhat quickly towards a lake-like splotch on the map. Rune had already started walking in that direction. The lake on the map was near the center of the country they were on. It was at the intersection of the forest, mountain and desert, but the dark lands was behind the desert.

    While they were walking, they encountered 23 Goblins which they killed quickly as well as three Ogres along the way. Rune had become level 5 and Lisbeth was 4. Rune had [Absorb] rank up to [High Absorb] and Lisbeth gained [Pounce] and [Stealth].

    The Ogres proved much harder to kill than the Goblins. However, they were able to trick them into walking underneath the tree branch Rune had stood on and he pounced on them. They were slow, but powerful. A single hit would have likely either crippled Lisbeth or dented Rune.

    Rune was able to take his gauntlets and gouge out their flesh, one at a time, until he saw and pulled out their spinal columns.

    By the time they reached the lake, it was nighttime and he could only see water and the beach that he was on. He looked around, but could not find another soul other than himself and Lisbeth. He checked the map to find that three of their classmates were coming to their location quickly.

    <Three of our classmates are arriving soon. Be prepared to see a Roc, Ari, and a Dryad, Brittany, and a Basilisk, Ian. Do you know any of them?>

    She didn¡¯t have to think about it for a second. Lisbeth was actually in the same group of friends as Brittany and they were actually quite good friends themselves. She also seemed to like thinking about what happened pre death than post death.

    <Actually, I never got the chance to ask, but what did you do in high school usually?>

    She seemed taken aback by the question as she had thought that she was one of the popular kids, which she was. Barely anyone in the school didn¡¯t know who she was. However, Rune was just at school because he was forced to go so he didn¡¯t focus much on people other than teachers, occasionally, and his friends.

    <I had many friends and was really good at soccer!>

    <I see. Well, you get to meet a friend in another world. Be prepared to see how different each of you look.>

    Lisbeth took both paws and seemed to slap her cheeks to get herself psyched up. She was about to see one of her best friends since they were grenaded.

    A large shadow appeared over the two of them and it blocked out both moons. The two of them stopped staring at the lake and daydreaming and looked up. They could see a large bird in the sky. In one of its claws was a large lizard with eight legs that looked like an ant compared to the colossal bird. The Basilisk seemed to notice the two of them and started to thrash in the Roc¡¯s grasp.

    The Roc turned its head towards them and slowed down and descended towards them. It landed on the ground and covered several trees in its shadow and the Basilisk came out of its hold. A Bryad slid down the Roc¡¯s back and landed on the ground with vines sprouting from the terrain to act as her cushion.

    The Dryad approached them. She wore green and brown clothes covering her body and her hair was black with light green highlights. In every aspect was she beautiful and she started to speak in an elegant voice.

    ¡°Hello! Is that you Lisbeth? Here. I am the party leader. Let¡¯s join parties!¡±

    It seemed like she was the only one out of the five present who could speak. If there was no one who could have spoken, they could have just written in the sand, but this was far more convenient.

    She raised her hand and pressed an icon in her vision, then a notification came up to the right of Rune¡¯s vision. He clicked on it an accepted the invite.

    <Ahhh!!! Brittany!! I missed you sooooo much!!>

    Lisbeth shouted using telepathy to talk to the entire group and she bounded up to Brittany and jumped into her arms. Lisbeth was small enough to fit and be carried in another person¡¯s arms. Brittany turned to Rune and thanked him.

    ¡°Thank you for taking care of Lisbeth! I know that she needs protection most of the time. If I may ask, what is your level and special skill?¡±

    <Ah. Your welcome and my skill is now [High Absorb] and my level is 5. What are yours?>

    ¡°Mine is level 3 and I have [Automatic Regeneration]. My boyfriend, Ari, has [Carry Weight] which lets him carry ten times his weight and he is level 4. Ian is level 3 and has [Analyze] which, I assume, needs no explanation.¡±

    There was a pause as Brittany seemed to wait for Rune to say something. Realizing that she was waiting for him to talk, he hastily started to speak.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    <So, why did we choose to meet here and when are the others coming?>

    ¡°Well I don¡¯t know when the others are coming, but I know that I followed where Stella was going.¡±

    At that time, a black panther with six legs and tentacles coming from its head arrived in the shadows and a bright, red and green colored serpent with white wings appeared. Then Brittany invited them into the party.

    It was Orion, the Displacer Beast, and Riley, the Couatl. They started to talk to the others and Rune turned towards the lake. He was still waiting for his friend, Tyler, who had become a Bone Devil.

    Rune knew what he was probably going to look like due to his extensive knowledge in Dungeons and Dragons, but also because the name, Bone Devil, would likely convey the idea that he was a devil creature who is either comprised of bones or looks like bones.

    The gods who had created the world had actually transferred some information of the world, monsters and such, into the minds of a handful of Humans on Earth. Those Humans created lore and monsters and, eventually, Dungeons and Dragons was one of the final products of this information. That was why Arborea was so similar to Dungeons and Dragons, but it seemed like Rune was the only one who actually knew about D & D because he had watched some people play it on youtube.

    Getting impatient, Rune opened his map to check on how the others were doing to get to their location.

    It seemed like the others were still a bit of ways away and he still had some questions to ask the others. He looked around to see a group of monsters that had a friendly aura around them despite their scary features. If any human came across this scene, they would probably run or call for help. After all, this was a meeting for some evil looking monsters.

    <I don¡¯t think that I like the idea of being near this large body of water. Why don¡¯t we set up a camp farther inland? At least past the beach.>

    <Nah! It¡¯s fine!>

    It was Orion who spoke to him while waving a paw. It seemed that no one wanted to try and build a camp to be safe or to be warm. Actually, most of the classmates gathered didn¡¯t actually need warmth and most monsters would steer clear of some.

    To most others, it seemed that Rune was being paranoid. However, his thoughts were that, if a monster more powerful than them were to come, they would all likely die.

    After he used his telepathy, Orion turned around and Rune could see his pair of tentacles waving behind him. It was just like in class where the popular students would talk amongst each other and they would fool around without a care in the world. But this world was not Earth. It was Arborea and, unlike Earth, you had to be aware of your surroundings or you would die.

    Rune turned away and walked into the forest. He wanted to pass the time until everyone else came, or at least Tyler, by gaining experience points. He pushed past several shrubs until the group was out of his line of sight. He started to stretch out of habit and stopped.

    He looked left, then right and started to cast some magic. It was [Earthen Wall] which he cast underneath him. It was more like a column than a wall, but that was what Rune had thought of when casting the spell. It was only a meter in diameter, but he managed not to fall off.

    He rose up into the air and was suddenly higher than the trees. After regaining his balance, he squatted down and peered over the treetops. His gaze fell upon five small billows of smoke which dispersed right after they passed over the canopy.

    Must be something that I can kill...

    With a little hesitation, he jumped down and created a large impact in the ground. As soon as he touched the ground, his feet twisted and he fell on his helmet. He turned himself over and peered down at his feet while thinking to himself, I don''t want to do that again.

    After turning his feet back into position, he slowly stood up and climbed out of the small crater. Some birds and small animals had heard him crash and fled the scene. Carefully pushing past the brush and shrubs to not make a noise, the fire came into full view.

    He quickly crouched down into the bushes. Making as little sound as possible, he peeked out and watched his prey, thinking about the best way to kill them.

    He saw Goblins. Enough Gobins to be considered a small army. They were bickering amongst each other and were eating strange looking meat which seemed like the same ones that Rune had in his storage.

    He was looking at a single Goblin in particular. This Goblin was sitting on a throne made of, what looked like, animal bones. This Goblin was larger than the rest and more muscular. His body was covered in blue tattoos that seemed to move on his body. He held a staff in his hand and was ordering his Goblin subordinates around.

    The Goblins moved at his every beck and call. He seemed to be the king of these Goblins and that was what he was going to call him. This strange Goblin even carried an air about him that made the others fear him.

    Rune was watching and waiting for the perfect time to strike when his opportunity arose. The Goblin King hopped down from his throne and stumbled into a tent made of animal pelts and bones. Two Goblins followed behind him carrying shiny, sharp swords.

    Of course, Rune had no idea what the Goblin King was doing, but decided that this would be the best time to strike. After all, the big boss of these small fry had left, even if only for a moment.

    Rune scanned the area and planned his route. He saw a Goblin making his way near him and it stopped just in front of him as if it was guarding. It stood as if it was asking to be stealth killed, like all the unsuspecting enemies in stealth video games.

    As quickly as a cheetah, Rune swiftly grabbed its face and pulled it into the bushes before tearing its head free of its body. When he had grabbed its face, he held it a little too hard causing its jaws to break and its eyes to explode. Wrenching off the head was an easy task after that.

    Rune tossed most of the corpse aside, absorbing some fingers and a mashed eye, and moved around the camp. Now, he was planning on killing the entire camp and not letting a single one live.

    Along the way, he snapped the necks of Goblins left and right until the outer ring was cleared. It sounded like tough work, but, for him, it really wasn¡¯t. He was having fun murdering all the evil beings as well as taking their things and absorbing them.

    One Goblin moved towards the border of the camp, likely looking for the Goblins that disappeared. Behind him, a pair of Goblins lazily watched him as he made his way over. Unfortunately for this trio, their lives would end in the next few seconds.

    Even though he was going to the camp border, the Goblin would not find any of his friends because that was when Rune started an all out frontal assault. The Goblin heard a sound like a dart going through the air and his head came clean off in the next second followed by a shortsword embedding itself in the ground.

    Rune had thrown one of the shortswords a Goblin had wielded before. The swords were taken from killed adventurers and they were made to be held by not Goblins, but by people like Rune.

    Running past the beheaded Goblin, he could see that blood poured from its stump as it tumbled into the ground. He quickly cast [Fireball] twice and blew up the pair of goblins¡¯ heads. They couldn¡¯t react in time for they were in shock of seeing one of their own die.

    They exploded in fiery gore as they crumpled to the ground and lay still. Their features now unrecognizable to anyone who looked at them. Rune ran to the thrown shortsword and drew it from the soil. Even though he had equipped himself with multiple swords, he wanted every blade he could get as he didn¡¯t know how strong the Goblin King was.

    Several Goblins spotted him as he ran towards the tent the Goblin King was in, but only two Goblins moved from the tent to intercept him. The rest of them were scared of him as they saw three of their dead comrades behind him.

    He cast [Light] and a shining ball of light blinded the twenty or so Goblins around him. Rune pushed past them and three goblins found that their hearts had been gouged out in one fell swoop.

    They grasped their chests, now void of hearts, and their bodies started to convulse before going limp. The other Goblins were still blinded as Rune reached the tent. He was about to enter when he was hit back and was sent into a trio of Goblins.

    That trio had an unfortunate end when he landed on their necks and crushed their windpipes. Gagging on blood and bones, the Goblins let loose one last cough and died. Their spinal columns crushed and their windpipes pulverized.

    He looked up to see a green humanoid looking down on him holding two large cleavers. It grunted as it readied its dual blades and seemed about to charge at any second.

    Using [Frozen Touch], Rune quickly froze the three goblins he landed on and stood on them to face the goblin king. Even if he hadn¡¯t done that, he still would have been taller than him.

    Holding only a shortsword that was broken beyond repair and weapons that were broken in the first attack, things seemed like they would be in the goblin king''s favor, but it wasn''t. In fact, right as the goblin king charged, Rune cast blindness and the goblin king fumbled into the ground.

    The Goblin King was starting to stand when three daggers made of ice were thrust into its throat, heart, and head. He was bleeding terrible and had tried to get up again, but caused even more blood to seep into dirt and it collapsed onto the ground.

    Suddenly, rising to its feet, it roared. One last resistance. Goblins surrounding the two closed in on them and the Goblin King seemed to smile an evil smile. However, that was going to be its last smile.

    Rune plunged two bent swords into its eyes, on each, and it kneeled on the ground. Not out of choice, but because it was was dead. Removing the weapons from its face, the king fell to the ground and the rest of the Goblins took a step back.

    I would have thought that it would be harder to kill something of this magnitude, but I guess it wasn''t. How disappointing... Well, time to kill the rest.

    Rune grabbed the dual cleavers the goblin king had in its grasp and he faced the rest of the Goblins. They looked at one another before turning right around to try and avoid his wrath.

    Several of them tried to run, but he quickly caught up to them and dismembered them quickly with a single slash. Then he turned towards the rest who started to throw down their weapons and prostrated themselves on the ground.

    Instead of pity or mercy, Rune took this time to cast [Water Sphere] and engulfed them in water and started to use [Shocking Grasp]. They started to convulse in the liquid as they drowned and then stopped moving after several moments. Rune dispelled the magic and started to loot everything they had of value. Additionally, he absorbed some Goblin bones and flesh.

    To him, Rune thought that he was doing nothing except gaining loot and experience points, like other adventurers, but, to Goblins, he probably looked like an evil god of chaos and slaughter. Well, they would if there were any left to tell the tale, but he had massacred all of them. He didn''t leave a single trace of life within the camp.

    It hadn¡¯t taken too long to delete all life in the camp, but, in that time, the rest of the class may have reached the meeting point. He turned back towards the way he had come.

    He checked his map to find that everyone except three groups had gotten together on the beach. He still had some time and he started to take the undamaged swords and put them in his magic storage unit. Then he took magic crystals and shoved them in the storage for later and he took the cleavers, the bones, the blue dye, and the clothes of the goblin king and had either absorbed them or put them into his storage which became [Greater Storage] due to how much raw material was shoved into it.

    As he was finishing up, he saw that there were two groups left, but they were moving at a quick pace to reach the meeting point. Quickly, he clicked off of the map and sheathed his new cleavers.

    He looked around to check that he took everything he could or wanted to take and he raced to the beach. With one cleaver on his left waist and one on his back, he reached the group.

    He had managed to get back through the same path he had come from, but more quickly. The branches were broken and path trodden which made it much easier to walk through.

    Walking to the beach, he looked around. It was still nighttime, but it seemed like it was past midnight. Both of the moons had already reached their apex and were moving across the sky to let the sun, or whatever the star was called, move in their place.

    Looking back from the sky, he saw that everyone had now met up and a Banshee was hovering in front of the crowd. It was Miss Erryn Smithe who was the teacher of the math class. She looked anxious, but determined.

    In the crowd in front of her, monsters of all sorts stood or sat and they looked up at her. Some were talking to their friends and some were trying to not think about their deaths.

    The class awaited her words as she opened her mouth several times to speak up, but it seemed that she couldn¡¯t find the right words to speak. She remembered how everyone in the class had died due to some grenades and she herself recalled how the shrapnel felt. And so, with many thoughts in her mind, she used telepathy to speak to the class.

    <Hello, class. Um, how are you all holding up?>

 Chapter 3: Splitting Decisions

    Rune looked at the lake next to the class. He sighed as he rested his head on his hand. He noticed that he was doing basically the same thing he had been doing when he was a high schooler. He turned his head to look a large, pale creature.

    It had a long tail with a barbed stinger at the end and had spikes protruding from its back as well as three pairs of translucent insect wings that were sprouting from its back. It had red eyes and long, pure white fangs. He saw that it was humanoid in shape and had two arms and two legs, but that was where the similarities pretty much ended. He could see that it was having a hard time sitting down and listening.

    Indeed, this was his friend, Tyler, who had become a Bone Devil. His tail was thrashing back and forth as he struggled to pay attention to Ms. Flustern, Erryn the teacher who had become a Banshee. Rune turned his attention to look at her as he adjusted himself in the sand.

    <As we all know, we are on this other world where monsters are abundant throughout this continent, if not the world. We should all be on guard and try to protect each other from these dangers. Who here is the highest level?>

    Ms. Flustern continued with he speech and information collecting and now had chosen to have everyone group up in a buddy system of two or more people. The one who answered her was Will who had become a Goristo, a hulking monstrocity that looked like a biepedal boar with red fur. He spoke in a gruff and deep voice as he spoke up.

    "I am!! I am level 5!!"

    <No. Level 5 isn''t the strongest now.If anyone else is level 5 or less, then I am the strongest with a level of 6.>

    Rune used telepathy to tell the others. After the one man raid on the goblin camp, he had gottent to level 6 and had gained some moderate materials that he wanted to start using in crafting or in other works or experiments. During the speech, Rune had been using the new skill he got from the blue dye the goblin king had which gave him the [Lesser Transmutation] magic skill. He had started to infuse one cleaver with lightning and wind magic crystals to give it both of their attributes and the other with Light and Dark magic crystals.

    With all these backing his stand, he was the strongest, but he definitely looked weak compared to most of the other monsters. Thus why Will started to argue.

    OH YEAH?!?!?! Prove it! Fight me right now!"

    Will started to get up and the other classmates moved to make a circle. Even tyler who put his hand on Rune''s should and spoke to him quickly. His voice was raspy and dry, but you could still make out the words even in his soft voice.

    "My condolences..."

    Rune grasped one cleaver, the one infused with Light and Dark attributes. He pulled it free from his back and held it in his right hand, his left ready to use magic. He moved into a fighting stance and was ready to strike. Will moved to the other side of the circle and seemed ready to charge.

    Ms. Flustern tried to stop them as thingswere already out of hand, but the crowd''s cheering with telepathy and guttural noises drowned out her words. She gave up and hoped that no one would die in this fight. She stared to watch the events unfold before her eyes.

    Everyone thought that Will would win, being the large demon boar that he was, but contrary to their ideas, he lost in a moment. It seemed as if Rune had teleported to the other side of the arena.

    Rune had moved right as Will had started to charge and thrust his sword into his shoulder. The point went right through to the other side and black blood gushed out from both sides of the wound.

    The momentum from the sword made his start to spin, but Rune was already behind him and he put a hand on his back. Then he started to use [Frozen Touch]. Ice started to creep up and down Will¡¯s back as he struggled to get free, but his movement was obstructed by the spell on the sword, [Bind], from the darkness magic crystals he infused.

    Soon the pain of ice and cold became near unbearable to Will and he started to scream in agony as blood dropped from his mouth.

    ¡°Gah!! I surrender!! Uncle!! It is your win!! Just stop!!¡±

    Rune couldn¡¯t grin, but he was extremely happy to know that he was the strongest here. He removed his hand and started to drag out his serrated cleaver from his shoulder as blood poured from the wound.

    Will had started to lose consciousness when Rune starts to heal him. A green light expanded to make a large sphere which originated from his hand. The wound on Will started to close and fur grew back as he started to breath normally again.

    <There. I am the strongest here. So why did you want to know?>

    Everyone was silent as the battle ended within a minute. Only Tyler had the gall to start clapping and Ms. Flustern started to use telepathy.

    <You didn¡¯t need to go that far to prove your point, but I wanted to know who was the strongest to pair with the weakest. You are going to keep Lisbeth and Riley safe for now.>

    <So what are we going to do now? If we have already gathered, why split up. Of course the answer would likely be that we should split up to know more about the world and get stronger, yes?>

    The Banshee nodded as Lisbeth, still a small Fenrir pup, and Riley, a red and green serpent with wings known as a Couatl, moved towards him. They seemed to be afraid, but also had a look of admiration in their eyes.

    <We are splitting up from here. Get into groups of two or more and come back here together in two months. That reminds me. Monty and Kelly, please give everyone here a human form.>

    Monty had the special ability of [Shapeshift] and Kelly had [Channel] which allowed them to cast Shapeshift on everyone to give them another human form permanently. To Rune, it was quite convenient for everyone except him. It obviously wouldn¡¯t work on animated objects that were not living.

    Around him, the monsters turned into humans with animal features. It seemed like it also didn¡¯t affect Ms. Fluestern, a Banshee, and Brittany, a Dryad, and Stacy, a Fallen Angel, and Stella, a Succubus. This was because they were all humanoid to begin with.

    Lisbeth became a girl who was a bit small, but still kept the upright, white ear and fluffy, white tail. Riley turned into a girl who had a red and green serpent tail and bird like wings that could fold and unfold on her back. They seemed to be extremely cute as well as the other girls. The guys also became good looking, but nobody really paid them as much attention as they did the girls.

    Rune just shrugged because he was more interested in money and power. He still had an interest in women, but he wasn¡¯t a playboy. Thus, he started to ask the most important question that he had.

    <Where to now? I want to find a city of humans or something because of this thawing in my status that says ¡°Class: none¡±.>

    <Then let¡¯s all go to different cities and learn about their culture. Alrighty, let¡¯s go!!!>

    Everyone waved each other off as they left and Rune, with Lisbeth and Riley, headed off to seek a city

    <hr>

    By the time they had reacheda road, it was already dark and they had started a campfire in the plains next to the road. They had seen a carriage move down the road quickly, but they disregarded it.

    It seemed to them that this road would likely lead them to a city or at least a village, but they wanted to level up first.

    The reason why Lisbeth and Riley were the weakest was due to everyone at least being level 4, but these two didn¡¯t seem to have good combat or defensive skills other than Lisbeth¡¯s [Lightning Manipulation] which could only cook things for food. They had decided to fight the ogres that were on the plains.

    In the morning, Rune set the two girls against a single ogre while he set off killing the ogres surrounding the area. After a tough struggle Andy multiple hits, the ogre was defeated by them and they rejoiced.

    <Good job.>

    Rune used telepathy even though everyone else could speak. He walked up to them, a mountain of corpses behind him with a river of blood flowing down. He was putting their weapons and their bones into himself and had put the magic crystals into his storage pouch.

    His gauntlets were dripping blood. His feet had chunks of flesh covering it and his eyes had turned from orange to red as blood seeped into his armor. He felt as if he had gotten stronger from taking in blood.

    Every one of the ogre had multiple gouges in them from when he took their bones and magic crystals. He was, indeed, a ruthless monster.

    <It¡¯s good that you guys increased your levels, but we should still train a bit more, no?>

    They nodded quickly as they realized that their small achievement of getting to level six was out ranked by him becoming level 8 and building massive corpse mountains. They wanted to get strong as fast as possible to reach his strength.

    They marched onwards as they slaughtered ogres. Though they had pity and mercy of giving them quick deaths, Rune just slit their throats or pierced their hearts in such a manner that they died after bleeding too much. He was, in fact, leaving a path of bodies in his wake. His kill count was likely over a hundred in the plains alone.

    He was a person who, during his days on Earth, had played video games and practiced martial skills to use for combat. He used several different killing styles and knew how to use most of the basic weaponry as well as assassination techniques. He was a living weapon and even more so since he came to Arborea.

    His goal was power and money. Most would say that he has more than enough power, but his response would be ¡°Who knows what dangers there will be in the future¡± and he wanted to prepare for that. As for the money, he was greedy.

    During the breaks when Lisbeth and Riley would rest, he would fuse magic crystals to create different weaponry and armor. He had even created a chain that had [Bind] and [Weakness] on it. he absorbed it and then it became a part of his body that he could wield. He moved it as one would move a tail, except he had more control and his gains were faster. They were on his arms and legs and he practiced using them on ogres until they were killed in a single hit or were unable to move.

    The way he fought was like a wild beast, but he also incorporated fighting techniques among his deadly attacks. Lisbeth was using he claws and [Lightning Manipulation] to fight the ogres and Riley was shooting out fire and poison to kill the ogres.

    After the day was over, they camped again and decided to go to the city the next day. Everyone was excited by this development and they anxiously waited for the next day.

    <hr>

    In the morning, they got up and packed the camp up. Then they trudged to the road and started moving in the direction that many carriages went. Several wagons passed them and had tried to obtain the two girls for themselves, but, when they looked at Rune, they left. It was likely due to all the blood and flesh bits covering him.

    At one point, the trio was walking along the road and saw a small group in the distance. It looked like a wagon and several people in front of it. Rune ran towards them and analyzed the situation.

    A group of bandits wearing leather armor were corner a girl. She had plate mail and was holding a longsword in both hands. Her hair was a blonde color and she had her hair up in a two pigtail style. Her eyes were light blue and looked scared as she was surrounded.

    The bandits were made of 4 men and 2 women, but they all laughed at the little resistance and moved forwards. They readied their weapons as they closed in on the girl who was backed up against an overturned carriage.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    Rune just stared lazily as they didn¡¯t seem like much of a threat. Then he walked forwards, only glancing back for a moment to see what the other two were doing.

    ¡°Hey you!! Give us your stuff or we will hurt you!!!!¡±

    A bandit pointed his finger at him and yelled loudly. It was clear that these bandits were evil and they had threatened him. Then an arrow glanced off of Rune¡¯s arm and embedded itself in the ground.

    One of the bandits had shot him with a smug look. As Rune believed in the idea of ¡°An eye for an eye¡±, he picked up the arrow and chucked it at the one who shot him. It went straight through his gulley and went into the person behind him¡¯s knee.

    The man who shot Rune now had a hole in his throat as he fell and spurted blood all over his comrades. They looked in horror as he landed in a puddle of blood. And the other man who took an arrow to the knee sunk to the ground.

    Rune stepped forward once, then he moved so quickly, it seemed like he teleported behind them. In a single strike, he beheaded three of them and their heads flew into the air and tumbled to the ground. The last man tried to escape, but was met with a cleaver in his face.

    The man with an arrow in his knee started begging and crying, but it was terrifyingly obvious that Rune¡¯s intention was to kill him. And so he did with an ax kick to the neck which collapsed it.

    The girl who had backed up against the carriage was now shaking in fear as he turned towards her. She shivered at the sight of a bloody suit of armor and a being that literally murdered 6 people in a couple seconds. Although it was not illegal, the problem could be resolved peacefully.

    To Rune, it was just an act of self defense. Except this self defense had a powerful person get hit by an arrow that wouldn¡¯t hurt him and that powerful person murdering the life out of 6 bandits within an impossible time frame.

    Rune straightened up as he saw her shaking in fear and looked over to Riley and Lisbeth who were running over as fast as they could.

    <Can you tell this girl that I plan on not hurting her?>

    Rune asked them using telepathy so that only they could hear him. He wanted to get this misunderstanding out of the way as soon as possible. Another reason being that he was basically incapable of talking as he was just a suit of armor.

    When the two of them reached the area they started to explain to the girl Rune¡¯s intentions and they spoke what he told them. In the end, the girl, Charlotte, was a daughter of a noble who became a noble by working his way up the ranks as a knight. Apparently, his daughter was trying to do the same and was going to a knight and magic school in the capital.

    Luckily, the city they were heading towards was the capital and they could easily become adventurers there. This information was incredibly important to Rune who had wanted to get or find out his class from the adventurer¡¯s guild.

    ¡°T-thank you for saving me.¡±

    Charlotte curtsied to him as she thanked him. He nodded and looked at the carriage. The horses were gone, the reins were cut, and the driver had no life within him. It looked terrible, but was not as bad as the massacre near the carriage. Rune stretched his joints and started stealing the stuff from the bandit corpses.

    He motioned for her to turn around and she did so reluctantly. Then he had Riley and Lisbeth turn as well. He didn¡¯t want any of them to witness him taking out the spines and skulls from the bandits. When he did so, he could hear a sound like slurping when he slid the spine out. Then he cast fireball and burned them.

    <You can turn around now and tell Charlotte that she can as well.>

    ¡°Um, you can turn around now.¡±

    When they turned around, they saw 7 piles of ashes and one of them was larger than the rest. Rune had piled the scrapes and heads together and burned them together. Charlotte and Riley looked like they wanted to throw up, but controlled themselves.

    ¡°Are¡­ Are you three going to the capital as well?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We are planning to register as adventurers.¡±

    Charlotte asked and Lisbeth answered as they turned towards each other. It seemed like these two would become great friends.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that you three aren¡¯t adventurers. You two must be as strong as¡­ him.¡±

    ¡°He is Rune, I am Lisbeth, and she is Riley.¡±

    ¡°Ah! I see! Rune!¡±

    Her face brightened after she became a bit disappointed that she forgot to ask his name. After she learned their names, Lisbeth continued with the conversation.

    ¡°No no no. We are not as strong as him. He is waaaayyyyyy stronger than us.¡±

    ¡°Really? What level are you? I am happy to say that I am level 3!¡±

    ¡°Um¡­ I am level 6and so is Riley, but, uh, Rune is now level 9¡­¡±

    It seemed as if she had exclamation marks above her head as she wheeled around towards Rune. She was too surprised to talk for a moment and was trying to make words. Her speech came back to her after a brief moment.

    ¡°Th-that¡¯s amazing!!! Most B class adventurers are level 9!!¡±

    Rune became somewhat disappointed. Only as strong as a B class adventurer. He had more motivation to become even stronger. He thought only one thought now: Where are more monsters¡­

    Lisbeth and Charlotte started walking with Riley behind them. Charlotte and Lisbeth were becoming friends and were conversing with each other so much that they didn¡¯t realize why Riley was looking around.

    ¡°Huh? What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you see?¡±

    ¡°No?¡±

    ¡°Exactly!! Rune is missing!¡±

    Rune had taken off, but was still monitoring them on the map. He wanted to take his disappointment out on something. By taking his disappointment out, he was going to try and find at least a town sized monster camp to massacre.

    He moved directly to the right of the road and started running extremely quickly. His speed was faster than that of a horse and he was bounding through the plains in search of things to kill.

    <hr>

    He soon found smoke in the distance and he looked closely at it. It seemed like a small village. When he got closer, he saw that there were spikes driven into the ground and there demi-humans chained to them.

    Although they were still alive, they seemed starved and beaten. He could see that, in the village, there were men in metal armor joking and laughing to each other. They seemed to be enjoying themselves with feasting and the people. If Rune had a face, he would most certainly make a disgusted one that looked down upon the fools.

    He silently crept up to several of the spikes encircling the village and started to write in the dirt. Out of the four near him, only one demi-human seemed to understand what he was asking. In a weak voice, the elderly man started to speak.

    ¡°Yes. They are evil. They killed and enslaved many in the village and they must be stopped. Please! They will ravage all the women here, including my daughters. I beg of-¡±

    He was cut off by Rune holding up his hand, then nodding. The elderly man grinned wryly and sat back down in the dirt. It seemed to the others that a hero has arrived. Of course this was a misunderstanding. Rune wanted to know if the village or the attackers were evil and didn¡¯t want to mess with anything that would hurt him later. The second reason was that he wanted experience and these people in armor seemed strong.

    The people in armor each held a dagger and a halberd and had donned iron armor in which they moved easily in. They seemed to be more coordinated than the bandits and they had enough power to overtake a village, even though it was small.

    Rune stood up off the ground and walked to one of the walls. None of the armored people could see him and he wanted to assassinate most of them before heading in like how he did with the goblins.

    He cast [Water Sphere] with a hollow inside and several small holes facing towards him. Then he cast [Fireball] and burned a hole in the wall with the sound being absorbed by the water around it. Then he disabled it and quickly thrust his hand in.

    He pulled out a surprised warrior and Rune covered his head with [Water Sphere], but also dragged him towards the elderly man. Rune held the warrior in the ground who was still struggling. Then Rune grabbed a spike that no one was chained to and pierced the man¡¯s heart.

    After doing so, he stopped his magic after the man died and looked at the elderly man. Rune wrote in the ground with his finger after he crouched.He wrote: ¡°Here is what you want, right? I will kill them, no holds barred.¡±

    The demi-humans around him shrank away from him as Rune looted the man of his supplies, but left armor and weapons for the enslaved. Some of them tried to thank him in a weakened state, but he held a finger to his mouth to tell them to be quiet and he headed into the village through the hole.

    <hr>

    Billy had signed up to be a knight, but, before he knew it, he was forced to go through grueling training. Then, when he had become level 5, he was sent to an elite group where they were going to ¡°do the right thing¡±.

    The group had went around doing what they wanted, whenever the wanted and had started to deal with the slave trade. It was illegal to pillage villages and take slaves if there was no reason, but they still did so anyway. They partied and drank and had their way with the women for several days, then they sold the slaves to faraway lands and completely destroyed their villages leaving no trace behind.

    Now, however, it seemed like karma had come to bite them in the rear as Billy looked around. Everyone, the commander, the troops, his friends, they all were thrown around the room. Organs littered the grounds and chandeliers. It seemed like decor and ribbons, but with intestines and blood and bones. There was a single man standing in the center of it.

    He wore raven black colored armor and he could see eyes that were glowing red. Blood oozed into his suit as it sprayed onto him. His cleavers were dripping with blood and had intestines on one of them. The man turned his head to look at the carnage of heads on tables and dismembered limbs all around and a legless person with their head smashed into the wall. They were all dead except Billy.

    Billy was silent as he tried to feign death, but the man turned to look at him, but turned away. Then he seemed to cast a spell and fire started spreading throughout the hall. The man left and Billy started to get up. He was crying and was too afraid to stay. He ran outside and the last thing he saw was a bloody cleaver.

    <hr>

    Rune sighed as he gained three more levels. Apparently these people were great for experience points. He left the flaming hall, but heard the pitter patter of running feet. Rune turned around and swung his cleaver into a person¡¯s face, the blade sinking over halfway into it. The person stopped moving and slid off the side of his blade.

    Rune had already looted the bones, armor, and stuff from the people and headed over to the enslaved people. He saw that they were freeing themselves, but there were still hundreds left to be freed. Rune ran through the field of spike and, when he stopped, the chains were all broken.

    Character Attributes:

    Rune Samuv: Level 12 104,500/204800 Class: none

    Endurance Mobility Strength

    84 64 72

    Magic: 9500 mp

    Magic Gain Per Second: 95 mp/s

    Skills:

    A -Lv 3 [Extreme Stroke]: A single strike that uses 500% more damage for magic or weapons.

    B -Lv 9 [Frozen Touch]: An effect from the armor allows user to freeze what is grabbed.

    F -Lv 8 [Harden]: Hardens the owner¡¯s skin or armor.

    SSS -Lv 9 [High Absorb]: Can take in non-living objects and use their properties.

    D -Lv 6 [Protection]: Protects owner from weaker status affects.

    F -Lv 7 [Sharp Extremity]: Can cut through even obsidian or cold steel.

    A -Lv 8 [Storage Greater]: Can carry large items.

    Magic:

    F -Lv 5 [Blindness]: Blind an enemy temporarily.

    F -Lv 6 [Earthen Wall]: Create a wall of dirt.

    F -Lv 9 [Fireball]: Create a small fireball to chuck at enemy.

    S -Lv 5 [Greater Transmutation]: Can fuse inanimate objects and change its shape and small properties..

    F -Lv 8 [Heal]: Cure small wounds and small status effects.

    F -Lv 7 [Ice Dagger]: Create a small Ice dagger to throw it through the air.

    F -Lv 7 [Light]: Shine a dim light that lights up several feet around him.

    F -Lv 8 [Shocking Grasp]: An electrifying touch.

    F -Lv 4 [Water Sphere]: Create a sphere of water.

    F -Lv 9 [Wind Strike]: Send wind to cut an enemy.

    Titles:

    -Goblin Slayer: Knows attack patterns of goblins and knows their strength and weaknesses.

    Storage:

    -3 Copper Coin

    -42 Wind/ 54 Fire/ 35 Light/ 39 Water/ 40 Darkness/ 35 Earth/ 46 Ice/ 52 Lightning/ 37 Healing Magic Crystals

    -567 Bones

    -2 Greater Battle Axes

    -2 Large Battle Cleavers of Lightning and Wind / Light and Darkness

    -4 chains of bonding and weakness

 Chapter 4: Unexpected Twists

    Rune looked around at the crowd as they hovered around him. There were multiple demi-humans around him and they seemed to surge up to him as they tried to talk to him and thank him. There were several people around him pushing the wave of people back to let him keep his space.

    The people of the village he was in was called Aymren.It was a small village under the Storveld empire. This village was small, but its main source of income was alchemy. It seemed like they farmed, but used alchemic potions to help grow their food.

    Rune was interested when they spoke of this and he was going to watch how they synthesize the potions and creations. His thoughts were interrupted at this point when he heard a girl¡¯s voice in his head.

    <This is Lisbeth. We are going to go to the capital to go to the same school as Charlotte! Apparently she is allowed to have attendants with her, so Riley and I are going to be her attendants. Meet us when you reach the capital. Don¡¯t become too strong when you are away! We both need to catch up to you. Contact us when you get lonely!>

    <Sure thing, but now I am level 12, so you should try and get stronger more quickly if you are still level 6.>

    <Wha?!!? Level 12? Ugh, I really need to try now! ¡®Kay, bye!>

    Rune focused on the task at hand. He followed the elderly man who he had saved. He was the village chief, Hersker, who was one of the ten most powerful alchemists within the continent they were on, Suthelling. He was walking towards the side of his house which was right next to the village hall.

    For most young alchemists, they would start at the village hall, but it seemed like it burned down somehow after being coated in intestines and blood for some reason. No one knew how it burned down and they certainly didn¡¯t know that it was where Rune murdered roughly around 100 enemies. There were bones there though, but Rune took them before they were discovered.

    At the side of Hersker¡¯s house was a pair of doors leading down to a laboratory under his home. He had to cast a spell to unlock it and, because of his precautions, the warrior couldn¡¯t take anything. They walked down a stone staircase to reach an open area that had tables, books, and equipment strewn around the area.

    Hersker moved to a door and knocked on it. There was no answer and he knocked again. Then he tried to open the door with the door know, but it wouldn¡¯t budge.

    ¡°Would you please help me? This person usually doesn¡¯t get out of their room and I wanted to introduce you to her.¡±

    Is this your daughter? Well, if anything happens, it is your fault for telling me to forcefully open it¡­

    Rune moved up to the door and grasped the doorknob. Then he turned it as hard as he could when it turned too much and the doorknob broke out of the door. The door now had no lock, but it was open. Hersker opened the door and Rune¡¯s hypothesis was correct.

    ¡°This is my daughter, Sophia. She is a great prodigy for alchemy and she can definitely help you with your studying alchemy!¡±

    The village chief was definitely trying to hook Sophia up with him. Sophia was sitting in a chair and turned around at her desk. He could see that there was a large bed and a wide table and a closet, but that was the only furniture in the room. The rest of it was cluttered with materials and glass vials and books.

    When she turned around, Rune could see that she was clearly a beauty. Her hair was a pale blue and her eyes seemed to see everything with a light green color. Her complexion was pale due to her staying inside most of the time. Her physique was on the thin side and she seemed to be in her late teens. She also had tall, pale blue ears that stood from her head and she had a fluffy tail of the same color coming from her rear. She seemed to be a different breed from her father who was likely a fox man with ears that were less tall.

    It seemed to Rune that she was a sort of Anubis, like an an animal person with ears that stood straight up and is like a jackal, but she had pale blue ears and hair like her father. The only other likely answer was that her mother was something else.

    She looked at Rune with curiosity. Then she glared at her dad and started to scold him.

    ¡°Did you tell him to break my door?! I thought I told you that I only lock my door to focus on my studies!¡±

    ¡°Well, I thought that, being the great and beautiful prodigy you are and descended from the intelligent Anubis lineage like your mother, you should have an assistant or apprentice. Thus why I have brought Rune here!¡±

    Hersker seems proud of himself that he brought someone worthy of her to her and he emphasized several parts of his speech to Rune. If Rune could sigh, then he definitely would sigh heavily at this point, but he did now know that he mother and Sophia are or used to be Anubis.

    ¡°Dad!! I don¡¯t need an apprentice!!¡±

    ¡°But he wants to learn alchemy!¡±

    Hersker was starting to sound whiny, like a spoiled brat wanting more things. Rune was about to turn around when Hersker gripped his shoulder and tried to force him into the room. Of course, being the being with superior power, he did not budge an inch. When Sophia saw this, she started to argue again.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t he speaking either? Too afraid? And where did you pick him up? He¡¯s all dirty and has some dark liquid on him.¡±

    Rune looked down to see that he still had some blood on himself and he saw that the dirt was actually bone dust. He forgot to clean himself. However, the father immediately had a clear counter that was very much true. He cleared his throat and started to speak.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m pretty sure that he is mute. In fact, the first time I met him, he only wrote words in the dirt. Also, I found him when we were attacked earlier today, but he disposed of the attackers within a few minutes.¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°Oh,sorry¡­¡±

    She looked down as she thought about her terrible behavior. Then she grabbed something off her desk and stood up. She walked to him in five short steps and handed him a crystal. She urged him to take it by holding his hand and placing it into it after a moment.

    ¡°This is a telepathy stone. It allows you to speak into the person who you can see¡¯s mind. Try using it.¡±

    <Well, I know what telepathy is, but thanks I guess?>

    Since telepathy usually takes the voice of what you would normally sound like, even if your vocals are messed up or you were born mute, it would sound like what your voice would or should have been at the user¡¯s age. In this case, he was 16 and his voice was masculine and relaxing, but also extremely monotone due to his lack of empathy, mercy, pity, or other things that a normal human had and he didn¡¯t.

    ¡°Uh, um¡­ Y-your welcome.¡±

    Sophia was holding her hands together and was squirming from side to side as her face became red. She looked up at him after a moment with her head still down. It seemed like she was nervous and had a crush on him. She now saw him as a hero and she thought that he sounded cool and must be amazing to defeat the attackers. Sophia was attracted to people who were strong and able to protect her.

    <Sorry about the ¡°dark liquid¡± and ¡°dirt¡±. I would wash off this blood and bone powder if I had time, but I was directly escorted here after I defeated the attackers.>

    Both the chief and Sophia¡¯s eyes became wide and their jaws dropped. Hersker moved him away and up to the ground level. He whispered furiously at him.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say that sooner!! I can¡¯t believe that this is blood and bone powder!! That is kind of important to mention. That is a part of a corpse or deceased person!!¡±

    <Well, I¡¯m sorry, but I could use telepathy to talk to you guys until now and you guys didn¡¯t let me write a single letter!!!>

    They reached a well and Rune was taking some of the water from [Water Sphere] to cleanse himself. He rubbed off the coagulated blood and the bone dust. Then he cast [Water Sphere] and replenish all the water with pure, clear drinking water as the other buckets were full of dirty water full of disgusting things.

    Then he cast [Fireball] and made it sit in place around him to evaporate the water. Multiple people stared at him, like Sophia who climbed up the stairs to see how he was doing. Rune stretched his chainmail joints and swiveled his helmet towards Sophia who he saw in his vision that was wider than that of a regular person.

    Sophia jumped and ran back down to her room and flumped onto her bed. She grabbed her pillow and started to hug it. The only thoughts on her mind were: ¡°Why is he so powerful?¡± and ¡°Why is he so cool?¡±

    <hr>

    Rune disabled his magic and walked back downstairs. Hersker followed suit and he guided him to a specific table that had books on it. He saw basic, elementary alchemy books on it.

    <Are there any disposable copies of any of the books?>

    ¡°Well, we do have some in the back¡­ Why?¡±

    <I want to test something¡­>

    Hersker led him to a metal door which he unlocked with a spell and Rune followed him inside. There were shelves of books and potions and paper and materials around the room. Hersker pulled down several books from the shelf and handed it to Rune.

    ¡°Here are some books. What are you going to do with them?¡±

    <Just leave the room and don¡¯t look in.>

    ¡°Okay?¡±

    Hersker left the room and Rune waited a moment before taking off his helmet. The abyss inside was now a blood red instead of a bright orange color that used to be there. He dropped a book into his hollow body and he gained basic alchemy knowledge that he seemed to be able to access at a moment¡¯s notice. With this accomplishment, he plopped the other books in along with it and he donned his helm again.

    He left the room and walked back to Hersker. He passed by Sophia¡¯s room whose door was opened and saw her muttering his name and drooling as she hugged her pillow with her body. Rune was kind of scared that there might now be a fanatic who wanted him to the point where she would do this kind of creepy behavior. He shuddered at the thought of yandere girls and moved on, disregarding her actions.

    <Hey, Hersker! Sorry, but you won¡¯t get those books back. On the bright side, I now know a lot more about alchemy than I did before.>

    ¡°Oh, good! They were disposable anyway! Do you need anything else?¡±

    <Unless you guys have aforge, then I won¡¯t be able to do anything.>

    ¡°Well, we do have a forge, but we rarely use it. There is, however, a near infinite power source for the fire. There is one person who works it. Look for Brann. He should be at the edge of the village.¡±

    He finally found what he was looking for, but it was not what he hoped for. It looked shabby and the pillars holding up the roof was cracked. You could see an pavilion in front of the forge which was used to house the weapons and armor. He could see a chimney with billowing smoke coming out from it. He approached the door and was about to knock when the door opened inwards.

    <Ah, sorry.>

    Rune apologized as he accidently rapped the person in the face like one would a door to knock. The person was holding their face and crouching on the floor.

    ¡°Owwww!! You caould be mowe caweful nest time!¡±

    A bear person opened the door and was speaking strangely due to Rune hurting his face.

    ¡°Anyway, I am Brann. The local and best blacksmith in this village!¡±

    I dislike people who boast about themselves too much. Also, he recovered way too fast to being injured. He must have faked it.

    ¡°Fear not loyal customer because you are dealing with the best of the best! People come from all round the village asking me to forge them things!¡±

    <Yeah, I¡¯m just here to learn how to forge something.>

    ¡°Oh!! You want me to take you under my wing?! I dunno, I have requests from too many people to accept a random person¡­¡±

    <Ok. Bye.>

    Rune started to leave and Brann¡¯s face became desperate.

    ¡°Uh, ah, that doesn¡¯t mean I won¡¯t hire you, but I need to know that you are dealing with the best around here!¡±

    <Do you mean the best in the village or just best in your forge?>

    ¡°Agh!¡±

    Brann held his chest as he was hurt by Rune¡¯s harming words. He fell to the ground, completely defeated with the mental damage Rune inflicted with words alone.

    <Hey! You gonna teach me or not?>

    Rune started to use a rude approach because his normal neutral approach would likely be taken advantage of. So, to be convenient, he switched his talking style into something more casual and nonchalant, but also with rude wording.

    "Grrr. Fine, I''ll teach you, but only the basics."

    <That is all I need>

    If Rune could grin at this point, people would be afraid for his grin would show his intentions and his intentions were usually to kill and slaughter a great many things. Luckily, no one knew what he was thinking, but he was going to prepare some better items which would be new in this world.

 Chapter 5: Better Than Expected

    Brann was going to teach Rune how to temper and make blades, weapons, and armor over span of several weeks. Brann was actually very helpful when he wasn¡¯t bragging about himself. Rune only learned how to forge a crude dagger when the day was done.

    The night was already upon him when he stepped out into the moons¡¯ light. His armor was like a shadow in the blue and yellow light, made from the two moons, as he made his way to Hersker who told him to join him at the end of the day.

    Rune put one foot in front of the other as he was exhausted mentally. He had not actually rested his mind in the three days since he came to this world. He wanted to taste food and actually sleep, but his current body wouldn¡¯t let him. To be honest, it was a bit depressing for Rune, but that didn¡¯t stop him.

    He focused on walking to the chief¡¯s house and reached it after going past several houses. He walked up the steps and knocked on the door. He waited a moment and, right before he hit the door again, Hersker opened it inwards.

    To not recreate the Brann incident, he was ready to move his hand away from the door whenever he knocked and, this time, he didn¡¯t smash someone¡¯s face in. Hersker ushered him inside of his home and Rune gladly went in.

    ¡°Ah. I hope you don¡¯t mind, but the house is still in a bit of a mess from the attack.¡±

    <You say a bit, but, uh, isn¡¯t there broken glass on the floor, food everywhere, and a couple splotches of blood?>

    ¡°Well, please disregard that. You should be fine with the blood though, right?¡±

    Hersker asked Rune this fully aware that he was covered in blood for an hour after he killed the attackers. Rune just nodded at this fact and was led into a hallway. The chief opened up a door and handed him a small key and left Rune to himself.

    Rune put the key into the slot and turned it to find an extremely dirty room. It was covered in blood and food and it was just a mess all around. Rune cast [Water Sphere] and started to try and removed the mess. For the blood, the water washed it away and the food was swept up and both things were thrown outside.

    After several minutes of working not very hard, Rune had managed to clean the room. The room consisted of a bed, a drawer, and a lamp on a table in the left hand corner. He closed the door and locked it, then collapsed onto the bed. He was mentally strained from everything that happened so far and wanted to just do nothing for a little while.

    <hr>

    The next day, he woke to find a tray of food on the drawer next to him with a note that read: ¡°Thank you for cleaning up the mess.¡± Rune sat up and looked to see that it was morning and sunlight was entering the room via a window. He could hear birds chirping and it seemed nice all around.

    Despite that, Rune wanted to increase his power even further and he ignored the birds that were chirping away. He got off the bed and opened the door. When he opened it, he saw Sophia with her hand on the door knob.

    She was surprised when he suddenly opened the door and she jumped a bit. Then she settled down and started to talk to him. Her face was red and she was looking downwards while shifting from side to side.

    ¡°Would you like to join me for breakfast?¡±

    <... Sure.>

    I don¡¯t understand why she is like this? This is our second meeting and she seems to have a huge crush on me or something. Is it just the way this world works?

    Rune followed her down the hallway and they turned into a kitchen area. It was neater than when Rune had passed it the day before and the floor wood was shiny and clean. There was a fireplace in one of the walls and there was a cauldron hanging over it. There was a table pushed to the side with two plates and utensils for two on it.

    Sophia grabbed two bowls from a cupboards and filled them both with the soup from the cauldron. She set them both down on the plates and opened a pantry door. She grabbed some bread and split it in half and placed them on the plates.

    ¡°Here! This is tomato soup and bread. Please eat this!¡±

    Wut? You guys have tomato soup? I didn¡¯t know people here ate that at all, much less for breakfast.

    ¡°Do you not like it?¡±

    She started to look down and her face started to make a gloomy expression. Her expression made Rune want to comfort her. It did seem like she made this food for him after all.

    <Um, sorry, but, uh, I have a curse affecting me in which my body is not what it used to be.>

    He had no better excuse than that and he decided to stick with it. It would probably explain why he was mute though.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry for not thinking of that.¡±

    <No, it¡¯s fine. I can still eat, but could you turn away while I do so?>

    ¡°Sure!¡±

    She seemed to be in good spirits after the conversation and she turned around. Rune sat down and removed his helmet and consumed the food and quickly put his helmet back on.

    <Ah, thanks for the food. It was delicious.>

    ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear it!¡±

    She started to happily eat her breakfast when Rune saw Hersker in his peripheral vision. He was grinning stupidly and was giving him a thumbs up.

    <hr>

    Rune had been going through a daily routine of ¡°eating¡± the food that Sophia made for breakfast and dinner. During the middle of the day, Rune worked on his blacksmithing techniques and, during his lunch break, he was off killing and absorbing monsters. When he came back, he was being taught by Sophia about alchemy. She had finally given in and wanted to spend more time with Rune.

    ¡°It has been about two months since Rune has come here and he has helped us so much with everything. He saved our lives, our industry, and was even ok with being near demi-humans 24/7. He has said that he is leaving to go somewhere, but he would come back for a little while. Then he would go to the capital.¡±

    Hersker was speaking proudly as he was standing at the head of the temporary village hall. He was standing in front of a couple hundred demi-humans with a stupid grin on his face.

    ¡°I would like to take this time to thank Rune for helping our village and to congratulate my daughter, Sophia, who became Rune¡¯s girlfriend!¡±

    Hersker took a quick glance at Sophia and gave her a small thumbs up to cheer her on. At this point, Rune¡¯s secret, that he was cursed armor, was known to only Brann, Hersker, and Sophia, but they still accepted him.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    In fact, Rune was quite glad and relieved that they didn¡¯t cast him out and was especially happy that he finally got a girlfriend. It seemed that Sophia didn¡¯t care that he was Cursed Armor. In fact, it seemed like she wanted to make him an actual human body to reside in.

    On top of these facts, he modified his armor, weapons, and even ranked up his magic into mid tier magic.

    <hr>

    Magic:

    B -Lv 4 [Bind]: Can paralyze enemies weaker than user.

    C -Lv 10 [Blindness]: Blind an enemy temporarily.

    B -Lv 6 [Earthen Shield]: Create a barrier of stone.

    C -Lv 10 [Fireball]: Create a small fireball to chuck at enemy.

    F -Lv 8 [Heal]: Cure small wounds and small status effects.

    SS -Lv 7 [Higher Transmutation]: Can fuse inanimate objects and change its shape and small properties..

    C -Lv 7 [Ice Lance]: Create Ice lances to throw it through the air.

    C -Lv 8 [Lightning Grip]: An electrifying touch.

    B -Lv 7 [Ultimate Shine]: Shine a light that can become as bright as sunlight.

    B -Lv 4 [Water Control]: Control water to move at your will.

    D -Lv 6 [Water Ball]: Create a ball of water.

    F -Lv 9 [Wind Strike]: Send wind to cut an enemy.

    <hr>

    He even upgraded his swords to conduct electricity to turn the gears he added onto them. They became something like a chainsaw sword. The more electricity he input with [Lightning Grip], the faster the chain sword could move.

    The speech ended and the people started to congratulate Sophia and Rune on getting together. Sophia was latched onto his arms and she was hugging him tightly and smiling a bright grin.

    Rune was embarrassed, but he didn¡¯t show any emotions as he had no face. Soon, after everyone said their thanks and applauded them, the crowd left and Sophia sighed.

    ¡°That was kind of suffocating, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    <Yeah, it was.>

    <hr>

    The two of them walked down the hall, holding hands, and left the building. The trip that Hersker mentioned was the class getting back together after two months. Rune planned to get there when some of the others started to move in that direction.

    Earlier in the day, he saw that three groups started to move to towards the meeting spot and he had told Hersker about it. When Hersker knew, he called a village meeting and started to toast his feats.

    Rune had decided to travel and checkup on his class, then go directly to the capital. Since his relationship with Sophia had developed a great deal, he decided to bring her with him. He still had yet to warn her about it.

    They walked to the edge of the village and a group of three demi-humans, Brann, Hersker, and Sophia¡¯s little sister, Dina, were huddling together next to a pure white horse. As they walked closer, the three of them noticed the new couple moving towards them and they stopped talking amongst each other.

    ¡°Ehhmm!¡±

    Hersker cleared his throat and started to talk after he received a nod from Brann and Dina.

    ¡°This is a gift for you two for your journey. I hope you are safe and have good luck on your adventure!¡±

    ¡°Bye bye, big sis! Come visit me sometimes!¡±

    ¡°The great me deems it necessary to see you off.¡±

    They were saying their goodbyes and they found that Sophia¡¯s gear was strapped to the horse while Rune held all of his. And so, the two set off for the class meeting.

    <hr>

    <I need you to know that the people I am meeting with are generally friendly with people, but they will be monsters or humanoids with monster features. Do not freak out. If anything, I will protect you. I should still be the strongest.>

    ¡°This meeting is with monsters? What kind will be there?¡±

    <There will be 20 others, each with an amazing, cheat ability. They should be using their humanoid forms, but I can¡¯t be sure. There will be monsters that are usually deadly to people and other races. A Bone Devil, a Succubus, an Earth Elemental, a Fallen Angel, a Death Kiss, a->

    ¡°Wait! Wait! Those are some of the most feared creatures in this continent! Why are you meeting up with all of them?!¡±

    <Ah. They were my classmates, but the only friend I had in that class was Tyler, the Bone Devil. Just don¡¯t be afraid and you¡¯ll be fine.>

    They continued on their journey with Sophia latched on to his waist and was trying not to fall off as they raced towards the location at high speeds. Soon, they arrived at the forest¡¯s edge and got off the horse.

    <Here. Follow me.>

    Rune nudged the horse and it started to gallop in the direction they came. Then he held up his hand and Sophia grabbed on as he slowly led her to the area.

    Rune checked his map and saw that they still had to cover a large amount of land. They pressed on and soon came to a clearing. Instead of a lake, they saw a small goblin camp. Since they were in the forest, it was only natural to run into monsters on their way there. All four goblins turned towards them and started to break into a run.

    Sophia stepped back, fearful of monsters for she had never been in any danger like this before. Rune just held her hand, then tested his new chain sword. The weapon was drawn from his [Storage Greater]. He swept it from one side to the other and all the goblins were halved. Then they stepped over the bloody, corpses spurting blood. Rune cast [Water Control] and [Water Ball] and used the water to block the blood from coming in contact with them.

    The two of them moved passed them and kept walking through the forest.

    <hr>

    After a while of pushed past bushes and shrubs, they saw a murky lake that seemed too large to see the other side. The beach was sandy and the tide was rolling in.

    To their right was a group of people who were sitting in chairs around a large fire. There were about seven people in beach chairs under umbrellas and they were talking with each other. One of them was reading a book intently and trying to concentrate.

    One person, the one reading the book, was slightly see through and her skin was as pale as wax. Another had a pair of folded red wings and was conversing with someone with spikes on their back and blue scales on their arms and legs. To the other side of the person with wings was a girl dressed in an elegant gown with green hair. Talking to the green haired girl was a girl with white fur and a fluffy white tail who sat next to a girl with a red and green tail with wings.

    Rune could see another person was sleeping and had pale skin and his fangs could be seen every time he opened his mouth to snore. He had a strange tail with a stinger at the bottom of his back. He walked over to him, still holding Sophia¡¯s hand, and shook him awake.

    ¡°Huh? Rune? Oh, hi. How are you-¡±

    Tyler stopped talking in his raspy voice after he saw the Anubis girl holding his hand. He was so shocked at how someone like him could get a beauty like her that he stopped moving and talking.

    The other six people turned their heads to look at them and they all stared in shock as they saw that Rune was holding onto a cute girl¡¯s hand. At this point, Tyler regained his senses and hissed at Rune.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t supposed to kidnap people!!¡±

    <Hey, that hurts. I didn¡¯t kidnap her. She is my girlfriend.>

    ¡°What!?¡±

    Seven people spoke the same word at the same time and all showed the same reaction, surprise. Then Ms. Flustern spoke to them with telepathy.

    <Well, it¡¯s good that you adapted to this world, but aren¡¯t you doing this too quickly?>

    Several people turned to look from Ms. Fluestern to Rune and nodded and Sophia just put on a confused expression.She turned to Rune and whispered to his helmet area.

    ¡°What did she say?¡±

    <She used telepathy to say something like, ¡°It¡¯s good that you adapted to this world, but aren¡¯t you doing it too fast?¡± or something.>

    Rune used telepathy to directly talk to only Sophia after she asked her question. Then Tyler spoke up to her.

    ¡°You do know what he is, right? You can¡¯t possibly like a-¡±

    ¡°Cursed Armor? He is still a person! And a good one at that!¡±

    Tyler shrunk back as she retaliated. Then he muttered multiple things before using telepathy to talk only to Rune. He was obviously jealous.

    <Ha! You have done better than expected! Getting a cute girlfriend from another world so easily! Grrrrr. You normie!!>

 Bonus Chapter 1: Before the Grenades

    Rune had started to train in karate and aikido when he was eight years old. He had seen movies about how a strong a person could defeat any opponent and he wanted to protect himself and people he knew. He asked his parents when he was seven years old, but they had said it was too early to start.

    For his eighth birthday, they had gotten him children¡¯s lessons for karate and aikido to see which one he liked better. He had gotten into the car and they had started to drive to a dojo that allowed people to learn either aikido or karate.

    Rune¡¯s town was not too bland, but was more like nothing exciting ever happened. It was the kind of town where the crime rate was one of the lowest, but their police force was extremely capable. There was a mall on the opposite side of the town which was at the intersection of another city. There was a small farmer¡¯s market twice a year for fruits and vegetables.

    The school system was different that that of other schools because they switched some of the math and science classes. Geometry and physics was now in sophomore year and freshmen had algebra II and environmental science.

    However different this school was, they still had a good educational system for its students and they gave a lot of freedom to them. People could dye their hair, wear what they want as long as it wasn¡¯t offensive, and multiple other freedoms. The people there were friendly and helped each other out when they were needed.

    Rune stared out of the car window as the car entered the parking lot. It was full of empty spaces, but there were multiple cars parked there. They pulled up to a space and stopped the car.

    When Rune entered the dojo, he and his parents were greeted by a friendly receptionist. The interior of the building seemed somewhat simple with its wooden floor and mats placed periodically around the floor.

    ¡°Are you here to check out karate and aikido?¡±

    Rune nodded and his parents started to give the person the tickets they got when they signed him up. Rune was not watching this event, but was instead focusing on a man with white hair who seemed to beat everyone who he went against. He threw palms and punches and kicks that blew the opponents back as they landed with precision and speed.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Alrighty, come on Rune. We will go see the instructor, okay?¡±

    The person gave him a smile as he was led to the man with the white hair. The man stopped fighting as he saw the receptionist walk up to him and he waved them off. Then he kneeled to Rune¡¯s height and spoke in a tough voice.

    ¡°Hello. Are you Rune? Do you want to be taught karate or aikido?¡±

    ¡°Can I try both before I decide?¡±

    ¡°Ah! A wise choice!¡±

    The man stood up and him over to two mats. Then the man stood on one and gestured that Rune take the other. Then Rune was taught what each looked like and what they were used for.

    ¡°So, what do you want to do? You seem to have grasped both concepts easily. I¡¯m sure you can master one of them.¡±

    ¡°I want to do both.¡±

    Rune spoke in a determined voice and the man just chuckled. Then he nodded and waved for the receptionist to come over. They came over with a paper and clipboard and the instructor wrote something.

    ¡°He will be signing up for both karate and aikido.¡±

    Karate utilizes attacks made by the hands and feet while aikido takes advantage of opponents using locking, holding, and throwing techniques.

    <hr>

    He mastered most of the art of karate and aikido by the age of twelve and had started to practice using different types of weaponry by the age of ten.

    He went to the dojo when he was bored and was taught by his instructor, master Ken. He taught Rune the techniques of aikido and karate as well as teach him weapon techniques when he was ten.

    Master Ken was a man who had trained from a young age and wanted to train a prodigy who would be as powerful as him. He sensed that Rune wanted to be stronger, but he didn¡¯t force it onto him.

    Later on, Rune became a master of dual swordsmanship, the halberd, one handed and two handed swords, scythes, bardiches, bows, battle axes, and knives. He mastered them at the age of fifteen when he diligently worked on his skills at home and at the dojo.

    He soon looked over different techniques and developed his own. Using the concepts of knockout and killing techniques, he learned how to bring down an opponent in an instant.

    The only problem was that there was no reason for him to to use those moves in the current society. He wished to be in a fantasy world of kill or be killed to use his attacks.

    Luckily for him, he would go to a fantasy world. The only problem was that he had to die first.

 Chapter 6: Registration at Last

    Tyler was still glaring at Rune when the others arrived at their location. Everyone else seemed to have met up before they reached the meeting area and a wave of monsters entered the area. Then they turned into humanoid creatures and walked over to them.

    They joined the group and several of the guys started to look a Sophia. Orion had come up to her and started to try and flirt with her when she backed up and stood behind Rune.

    The people who agar just arrived looked to see that Orion walked up to the beautiful girl and tried to make a move on her, but she moved behind Rune. Confused people started to wonder who she was as they hadn¡¯t seen her before in their lives.

    Some people were about to speak when they all heard a woman¡¯s voice in their mind. It was Ms. Flustern who started to talk.

    <You shouldn¡¯t try to make moves on other people if they have a girl/boyfriend. She is Rune¡¯s girlfriend, Sophia.>

    Orion started to yell at Rune. He jabbed at his armor and seemed to speak in a threatening tone.

    ¡°I bet I am more powerful than you! I bet you can¡¯t even protect her as well as I could!¡±

    Orion sneered at him before continuing. It seemed like Rune was the main person they would pin their anger on.

    ¡°I became level 10! What are you!? Level 6?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not true!! He is level 14!!¡±

    Sophia started to yell to defend Rune, but he held up his hand to stop her from antagonizing the angered classmates even more. However, it seemed that he couldn¡¯t stop her from yelling out his level.

    Everyone¡¯s face paled as the heard his level. It took over at least 275,000 experience points to reach that level and most people in this world couldn¡¯t reach it in about two months like Rune had. Even then, there were easier ways to earn experience points by cooking, creating potions, or blacksmithing, but only killing monsters gave a large amount of experience.

    The reason why people didn¡¯t normally get to level 14 was because they didn¡¯t want to risk their lives in order to get it. If one became an adventurer and only killed goblins to get to level 14, they likely couldn¡¯t pay for their necessities and they would have to grind at least 5,500 goblins.

    He knew that he was too strong for anyone in the class to go against him when he saw that everybody had reacted to that last comment. At least, since the last battle with Will, nobody would likely challenge him.

    ¡°Oi, hey Rune, does your girlfriend have any friends or people she could introduce me to?¡±

    Tyler was trying to get a girlfriend and be more like a normie. In this case, he seemed especially desperate.

    <I don¡¯t know. Just go ask her if you want to know.>

    Tyler groaned and slowly got out of his chair. He walked up to Sophia who was now crowded by the other girls in the class.

    When he saw them, he quickly turned around and sat back down. He was now in a worse mood.

    <Anyway, where have you been these last two months? I saw that you were in the mountains, but did you find people?>

    ¡°Yeah, I found people, but there dwarves. Where did you find animal eared people?¡±

    <Oh, I can show you a village that has a couple hundred demi-humans. There are most cat and dog eared people there.>

    ¡°YES, TAKE ME THERE, PLEASE!¡±

    Tyler was so loud that several people turned to look at him. He quietly shrunk back in his seat and sighed.

    <Oh! Did the dwarves make anything more advanced than this time period?>

    ¡°Yeah, course they did. It was even more advanced than our world in some aspects! They had gunpowder, but only used it to power their machines. They had these large mechs which they used to dig in the ground and fight monsters, but they can¡¯t use magic at all.¡±

    <Neat! I might go there sometime¡­>

    Rune¡¯s conversation was cut short when Ms. Flustern started to use telepathy. She floated into the air and looked at her class plus Sophia.

    <Hello class, we are here to talk about how to better survive in this world and more information about it. It seems that we all encountered civilizations. Why don¡¯t we share what we have learned.>

    People started to raise their hands an Ms. Flustern called on them to talk. It seemed like Rune could learn something from this.

    ¡°Guilds can give you a class or job and those classes can give you better attributes or skills that relate to them. When you meet a requirement for that class, you can get a new class if you pay money. The only way to choose a class is to put your hand on an orb and it determines what classes you can get. For example, a magicless person can not become a mage.¡±

    ¡°This continent is mainly ruled by the Storveld empire in this continent called Suthelling. There are four other continents in which there are other empires. The continents seem to form a strange pentagon if you connect lines from each of them. Humans mostly make up Suthelling and live up to two hundred years due to the high abundance of magic.

    It seems that there are continents where different races control each of them, or at least most of them. There is the elven kingdom where wood elves are regular elves. There are high elves who are highly respected and can use great magic and the dark elves who are discriminated against. High elves live up to four thousand years, regular elves live up to two thousand years and dark elves live anywhere from one thousand to seven thousand years depending on the other parent¡¯s race.

    Another is country where dwarves rule. They have high wall surrounding them and seem to have underwater ships according to most which are likely submarines. Little is known about them as they isolated themselves a couple thousand years ago. They seem to have other dwellings in other continents, but these groups don¡¯t seem to work together. They live for about five hundred years.

    Beast people, or demi-humans, are in one continent. While there, humans are inferior to them while, here, the demi-humans are deemed inferior. They can live from two hundred to one thousand years depending on their animal type.

    Lastly, demons make up the last continent. They prefer the term majin and are usually neutral unless provoked. They are superior to humans in intelligence, strength, and magic, but lack ambition. They are discriminated against as well due to the demon war three thousand years ago. They, nowadays, focus on bettering their magic or sell themselves as mercenaries.

    Majin are usually different from each other and carry traits of devils and demons from the abyssal astral plain.¡±

    ¡°There are other humanoids other than humans, elves, beast people, majin, and dwarves. There are the lizard men of the swamps who share no connection with the beast people. Vampires lurk in the shadows of human cities. Lamia are a race of women with serpent tails for legs. Titans are slightly larger than humans and four times as strong so they have made fortresses of large stones and rock. Giants are like colossuses whose heights can reach the treetops. Dhampirs are born when vampires and humans have relations.¡±

    ¡°There are gods here that seemed to each have a religion. Lathander, the one who brought us here, is the god of birth and renewal. Kelemvor is the god of death. And there are many more.¡±

    It seemed like all that wanted to be said was spoken. The class was now more informed of the world and the races that make it up. However, even with this knowledge, they didn¡¯t know everything.

    <All right class, that was very informative. The next meeting should be, let¡¯s say six months from now. It seems like all of you are busy adapting with your new lives now. All right, goodbye and take care!>

    Ms. Flustern had said her goodbyes and started to head off in the direction of the desert. Ari and Brittany and Ian went to fly over towards the mountain. Everybody else had left to go back to where they had come from, but Tyler walked up to Rune.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°You gonna take me?¡±

    <Sure, but you have to behave and, if they seem to be in any danger, you have to save them. What level are you?>

    ¡°I am level 8.¡±

    <When you get there, start training when you can by killing the ogres in the nearby plains.>

    <hr>

    At the edge of the forest, they had come to a road and Rune was pointing to the horizon. He was making sure Tyler saw where he was pointing and Tyler started to move in that direction.

    <He should be fine when he gets there. At least I think so¡­>

    ¡°He is your friend, right?¡±

    <Haaa¡­ yes. The only problem is likely that he wants to touch the ears of all the animal girls.>

    ¡°They won¡¯t like that, but, if you want, you can touch my ears.¡±

    Her face was turning red and she squeezed her eyes shut as she tilted her head towards Rune. He moved his hand and patted her head. She smiled lightly and they walked to the side of the road.

    <hr>

    The walk wasn¡¯t terribly long as they started to see the capital. The couple made a bit of small talk as they approached.

    <Have you been there before?>

    ¡°Only once to get the alchemist class. When I was there, it was quite beautiful. We could sightsee around it!¡±

    <Yes, we should. Are there any interesting stores or places to go?>

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but we could just walk around. There is one place that I want to go to for dinner though.¡±

    <Sure, let¡¯s go to that. When we get in, I should probably register in the adventurer¡¯s guild though. After that, we will go wherever you would like to go.>

    By the time he said this, Sophia was smiling at him cheerfully and they came upon the gates. There were four guards clad in shiny steel armor and carried greatswords. They seemed to look down on Rune as he approached them.

    ¡°We would like to enter the capital please.¡±

    ¡°The fee is one silver.¡±

    The guard had a gruff voice and had a permanent scowl on his face. He was looking a Sophia as she spoke to him.

    ¡°Here.¡±

    Sophia handed him a silver coin and the two of them moved passed him. There was another line next to them that had people pulling horses and wagons into the city. Out of the corner of his vision, Rune could see several suspicious people integrated in the line. They were moving their hands towards bulges in their coat pockets.

    Does everything I do start an event? First, there was a goblin king. Next, there was a noble knight girl who needed to be saved. Now there are people who are probably bandits.

    There seemed to be eight people who suddenly drew knives and skewered the guards too quickly for them to react. The four who had killed the guards started to take their stuff and the other four started to take hostages.

    ¡°Nooo!!¡±

    ¡°Stop!!¡±

    ¡°I beg you, please spare my life!¡±

    Rune could hear three screams and a bandit moved behind him. The person used his long knife and removed his helmet as he tried to decapitate him.

    ¡°Hahaha!! That¡¯s what you get for not being vigilant!¡±

    The bandit started to grab Sophia when a sharp force skewered the hand that was nearing her. The bandit grunted as he felt his hand stop and pain sear into him. He turned to see Rune holding his head in his left hand and using his right to stab the man¡¯s wrist.

    The person backed up and stumbled onto his rear. He was too scared to speak and he tried to back up. Rune, on the other hand, was reaching into his storage and pulled out his chain sword. He held it up to the person¡¯s neck, placing his neck in between two teeth on the sword.

    He activated [Lightning Grip] and the sword started to move. The teeth ran through his neck and continued to have blood poured onto it. The man was soon decapitated and blood gushed into the air

    Several attackers looked at him as he pulled the other blade from, what seemed like, thin air. The swung his wind and lightning blade and a man became halved even though he was outside of the blade¡¯s reach. Then Rune swung it several more times with such precision that he only decapitated the other six attackers. The hostages were safe.

    Everyone stared at him in awe and admiration as he sheathed his dual swords in his magical storage. There was silence, but it was soon interrupted when two guards ran over to them and started to scream at Rune.

    ¡°Did you kill the guards? We are going to have to arrest you!¡±

    ¡°No! He saved us from the bandits who killed the guards. See!¡±

    A person who used to be a hostage was defending Rune and several people started to join her. It was the least they could do to help Rune after he saved them.

    <hr>

    ¡°Sorry about the misunderstanding! Please forgive us!¡±

    The guards were apologizing to Rune and were bowing down as far as they could. It seemed that they only saw a man in bloody armor and assumed that he murdered the four guards.

    <It¡¯s fine. Just let us through.>

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    They were to busy apologizing that they didn¡¯t realize that he was using telepathy to talk to them. They let him and Sophia pass them and they entered the capital.

    The gates they went through were large enough to fit a gargantuan sized beast through and there were crowds of people jamming their way into the capital. It took some time, but they managed to enter and they were greeted by an amazing sight.

    There were people of different races, dragonborn, elves, humans, beast people, and more. The city was lively and people sold their wares in stores and in portable booths around the streets. There were carriages in the roads and had different beasts pulling them.

    They stopped at a billboard with a map of the entire capital on it. It seemed that there were five different districts. An Adventurer¡¯s District, Eating District, Merchant¡¯s District, Noble District, and Living District.

    It seemed extremely clear that they could find an adventurer¡¯s guild at the Adventurer¡¯s District. They started to move through the crowd of people until they reached the adventurer¡¯s guild. They both entered and could immediately feel several eyes fall upon them.

    ¡°Hello, who might you be?>

    <I¡¯m here to register as an adventurer.>

    ¡°Oh my! Telepathy!¡±

    Several heads turned to look at him and tried to see if he was using magic or had a telepathy stone on him. They couldn¡¯t find it as he had absorbed it and gained the effects.

    ¡°Here. Just fill this out and we will choose your class if you don¡¯t have one.¡±

    Rune started to fill out the paperwork. He put in his name and weapon of choice, but there wwas one problem.

    <Do I have to fill out the race?>

    ¡°Yes, you do. Why, is there something wrong?¡±

    He became silent and he put in ¡°human¡± for his race as he did used to be human at one point. He handed the woman his form and she took him to a room in the back. Unfortunately, Sophia couldn¡¯t come with him and had to wait at a table.

    The woman led him down a hallway and she took out a key. She put it into a slot in the metal door and turned it. She used some force and pushed the door open.

    ¡°Here, just place your hand on this orb and this crystal plate will tell you which classes you can choose. Tap on one of them on the plate.¡±

    Rune placed his hand on the orb and it started to list off jobs.

    ¡°It seems like you could be a blacksmith, berserker, cryomancer, lightning general, enchanter, soldier, alchemist, thief, dark paladin, samurai, ninja, mage killer, mage, wizard, sorcerer, warlock, cleric, pyromancer, water spiritualist, earthen guard, hunter, butcher, and a dark hero.¡±

    She sighed, exhausted from saying all the classes in a single sentence.

    ¡°That is amazing!! You could be a-¡±

    <Yes, I can be an enchanter.>

    ¡°Wut?¡±

    <I will choose enchanter. Being a dark hero can wait. This would help me the most.>

    He definitely went against what seemed like the most powerful class and became an enchanter. The reason why he wanted a class like an enchanter was because his body was just armor. If he could enhance armor with the enchanter class, then he could enhance his body.

    ¡°O-oh. I see¡­ Thank you for your choice.¡±

    She was speaking while being in a confused state. They left the room and she locked it behind her. Then they reached the main hall and Rune saw that Sophia was being hit on by three guys.

    They seemed to be trying to say that Rune was weak and that she should join their party, but Rune had other plans. Rune grabbed two people¡¯s shoulders and started to use telepathy.

    <I suggest you back away before you say any more. If you don¡¯t¡­>

    He started to cast a weak [Lightning Grip] and the two people backed up as far away as they could. The third man, however, looked at him and scoffed. He drew his blade and started to run at Rune, several women behind him were cheering.

    I¡¯ll beat the heck out of this guy, the normie. You will rue the day you messed with¡­

    Rune couldn¡¯t finish the thought when the man chucked his sword into his stomach. Rune looked down surprised.

    <Did you just throw your only weapon at me?>

    The blade seemed to be long and the hilt was made of gold and some blue jewels. The blade itself was a cold blue color and seemed to give off an evil aura.

    ¡°Yes, that is my cursed weapon, Iram! It was made when a frost giant was killed and its soul fused with an already powerful blade. Only I can truly master its strength with my¡­ Hey!!¡±

    He started to yell as he saw that Iram was slowly being pulled farther into Rune and was being absorbed.

    <Ah. I can¡¯t help it. It just happens on its own.>

    He gave a little nonchalant shrug as the armor repaired itself immediately after absorbing Iram. He was definitely lying about his [High Absorb] being passive. He just wanted to take a cursed sword and this guy was being pretty annoying.

    ¡°Nnnnooooooo!!!!!!¡±

    The man yelled in tears and her fell to his knees and pounded on the ground. It seemed like he was nothing without Iram.

    <Oi, fool. I told you not to mess with me, but you did. Look at your consequences!!>

    Things went better for Rune in the adventurer¡¯s guild than expected. He gained [Enchant], [Low Analyze], and [Iram¡¯s Curse]. Apparently, he was not able to create small blades jutting out from his body at will and his armor now had immediate repair as a passive skill. His [Frozen Touch] also became [Iram¡¯s Grip].

    Sophia and him stepped out of the adventurer¡¯s guild. People could hear wailing coming from within the guild building as he left.

 Chapter 7: A Bit of Luck

    The couple walked over to a cafe known as Deadly Gluttony and walked through the door. It was clean and neat as they walked to a table and sat down. There were booths with fur seats stuffed with cotton. There were two menus on the table and Sophia picked one up.

    <What do you think that you will get?>

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ Maybe I¡¯ll get a waffle with cream on it.¡±

    <You guys have that in this world?>

    ¡°Hmmm? Yes, the cream is sweet and delicious and the waffles are fluffy and good.¡±

    Soon after, a waitress came over and asked for their orders. Sophia ordered the waffle and Rune just ordered water to not be rude. After jotting down their orders, she left and Rune started to talk to Sophia.

    <I was thinking that we should find an inn to sleep in for the day. Tomorrow, I could complete some quests for the adventurer¡¯s guild and get some money. It shouldn¡¯t take too long and, after that, we can look around the town. Oh! Your waffle is here.>

    The waitress placed a plate of waffles in front of Sophia and gave Rune a cup of water. Sophia started to eat the waffles and cream.

    When she finished, Rune noticed that, like a cliche, she had some cream on her nose and her wiped it off. She smiled gently as he wiped her face.

    <hr>

    ¡°This is one of the more decent inns in the capital. Their rooms are pretty spacious and they even have a bar!¡±

    <How old do you have to be to drink here?>

    ¡°You can drink at the age of twelve usually.¡±

    <Are you going to drink? Where I was from, 15 year olds shouldn¡¯t drink until they are 21.>

    ¡°Really? Well, anyway, we should get going!¡±

    She clung to Rune¡¯s arm and they strode into the door. Rune could feel jealous looks upon him as men glared at him. They were probably thinking something like, ¡°Just explode, you normie!¡±

    A moment after they entered the inn, a girl in a french maid outfit strode up to them rather quickly. She was holding a tray and had her blue hair in a short pigtails.

    ¡°Hello there, loyal customer! Would you like a room?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes! A room for two, please.¡±

    ¡°Yes, right this way! Come with me to the counter so that I can check you in. There are many rooms to pick from. What kind would you like? We have five floors and large to small rooms.¡±

    She spoke as they walked to the counter and she started to write down what Sophia told her. They got a medium sized room at a medium size and they paid five silver for it.

    ¡°Come this way! My name is Era and I am the assistant manager of this fine establishment!¡±

    The three of them made their way up the stairs and now stood outside the room.

    ¡°Here is your key. Make sure to not do anything too noisy when you are in there!¡±

    She said in a taunting voice to Sophia and her face started to redden as she held her hands to her face. Rune ignored that last sentence and accepted the key from Era. The two of them went in and Sophia flopped onto the bed.

    She seemed tired from the encounters of the day and started to sleep as soon as she hit the bed. Rune leaned against a wall and slid down it. His mind wrapped in thought as he waited until morning.

    <hr>

    Morning had arrived when Rune had finished enchanting himself. He became bored in the middle of the night and decided to try out [Enchant]. He learned that he could only put one enchantment on each different item.

    He put strength in his fingers and feet, acceleration into his legs, farsight in his helmet, and was able to make his chestplate provide more defense. He also learned that some of his enchantments could be used when he poured magic through and so he added a heal feature to his palm.

    He also used his skill to fuse magic stones into several different weapons and also enchanted them with different attributes so that the weapons could be used better and more efficiently.

    If any of his classmates saw him, they would say he is like a cheat character who can only grow stronger. In fact, if people knew that he got to level 14 in two months, they would see him as a monster.

    Sophia sat up in bed with disheveled hair and looked at Rune sitting against the wall. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    <Just getting ready for the day.>

    ¡°Okay. Should we get breakfast?¡±

    <Ah. Sure.>

    <hr>

    After breakfast, they stepped into the adventurer¡¯s guild to find that the person who had Iram was crying in the corner. He seemed to have taken a large emotional attack the day before.

    Rune walked up to the counter to see that the same woman who was there yesterday was sitting at the counter again. She looked up in surprise as she saw him and Sophia who was clinging to his arm.

    ¡°Ah! Sir, I forgot to give you your guild card due to all the commotion. You will start out as an F rank, but I am confident that you will rise up the ranks quickly enough.

    To rank up, you need to defeat a monster that is outside of the regular challenge level for a rank. F ranks usually defeat up to challenge 1, D ranks go up to challenge 5, C ranks fight up to challenge 8, B ranks fight up to challenge 14, A ranks fight up to challenge 25, and S ranks fight challenge 30+.¡±

    She paused a moment to see if Rune understood, but couldn¡¯t figure out his expression. She started to continue her speech again.

    ¡°Present us with the same monster part to earn money. For example, say you want to choose right ears, you can only bring back right ears until you change it or if something doesn¡¯t have ears.¡±

    <All right, I will choose skulls.>

    Rune said this and reached into the air. He placed down fifteen Ogre skulls onto the counter in front of her.

    <How much are Ogres worth?>

    ¡°A-about two silver each. Together, this is worth 30 silver. Her you are¡­¡±

    She reached into a drawer and drew out money. Then she placed it into his hands and started to write some things down.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°You are now a D rank. You have defeated a challenge 2 monster.¡±

    She announced this and seemed like she was going to say something else when the front doors burst open. A guard wearing iron armor ran up to the counter, next to Rune, and started to scream in fear.

    ¡°I-I saw them!! T-there must¡¯ve been h-hundreds of them!! Devils!! They are coming this way!!¡±

    He was crying and had some blood on his chestplate and greaves.

    The receptionist that the man was screaming to grabbed out an orb from her drawer and placed her hand on it. Suddenly, everyone could hear a voice coming from all around them.

    ¡°Devil raid!!! All adventurers and soldiers meet at battlefield.¡±

    People started to run around them and Rune held Sophia closer to his arms. The two of them rushed out to face the oncoming threat.

    <hr>

    I suppose gods like to send obstacles in our ways for their entertainment, huh.

    Rune was on a wall with Sophia and the two of them looked towards the horizon. They could see a guard tower destroyed and a devil camp several miles away. They seemed to be getting ready with extreme disorganization.

    Behind them, they could see a moving fortress with legs like a spider made of steel. It seemed like a boss would be hiding in there.

    <Go back to the inn. Hopefully you should be safe there. Here, I made this cloak. Put it on and run there as fast as you can.>

    Rune gave a cloak imbued with Protection and a light attribute and sent Sophia off. Then he turned to the devils and watched.

    A man in golden armor was at the front of the charge to protect the capital of Storveld. He rode on a griffon and was carrying a golden greatsword which glinted in the light. He held it high above his head and started the charge.

    The soldiers were the ones that had just charged while the adventurers were still getting ready. Rune, however, was always ready to kill things and leapt from the wall. He used [Earthen Shield] to jump onto several platforms before hitting the ground.

    He ran towards the enemy faster than the soldiers who stared at him with pity, thinking that he would die quickly. Contrary to their predictions, he started to cut down Horned Devils, Imps, and a couple Ice Devils. He seemed to have to trouble annihilating a couple hundred demons.

    In Rune¡¯s eyes, the Imps and Horned Devils were small fries. Only the Ice Devils proved to be a bit of a challenge, but were easily killed with a couple strikes from his lightning and wind blade. He kept at it and devil blood filled the area as shrieks and screams of pain appeared. Some devils even tried to run away just to be cornered by the soldiers and killed.

    Theonly problem was that there was a large fortress with multiple legs that looked to be made of metal. It was advancing slowly until it reached a hill and it planted itself firmly in the ground.

    He had no idea of what could be in it and it definitely posed a threat. The other soldiers seemed to be spooked when they saw it involved their vision.

    <hr>

    After his 180th kill, he made it to the fortress. He had no fatigue due to him not needing any regular necessities to stay alive. He also felt no remorse for the devils for he knew that it was most definitely kill or be killed in this situation.

    He stabbed a Horned Devil in the face as he trudged into the large door. It was dark inside, but the hall was lit by candles. He was walking on a red carpet as he strode to meet whoever dwelled inside.

    After a bit of walking, and several traps that he broke immediately, he reached a throne. He saw several piles of flesh and oozing intestines laying around the room. He saw movement on the throne and looked to see a red devil that looked an awful lot like Rick, except was definitely more powerful. It had orange eyes and wings and a tail. It was a size larger than what Rick had been and it was holding a black mace.

    It¡¯s hand moved to pick up a person in chains and it proceeded to bite its upper body. The thing squirmed around for a while before falling limp and the Pit Fiend swallowed the rest. It lazily looked at Rune and spoke in his mind.

    <Only one? I wanted a hero¡¯s party to show up and eat them one after the other. Well, it might be good to play with you for a little while. I only have one snack left after all.>

    Rune looked to see a figure in chains holding itself in its arms as it curled up into a ball. The Pit Fiend moved out of it¡¯s throne and stood up. A shadow moved near it and a succubus appeared on one of his throne armrests. It sneered at Rune as the Pit Fiend approached him.

    It lifted its hand and smashed the mace into the spot where Rune used to be. Rune was behind one of the Pit Fiend¡¯s legs. He stabbed both of his swords into it and unleashed [Lightning Grip] on them to rend his legs.

    The pit fiend screamed and tried to step on Rune with the bloody leg. However, when the foot hit Rune, the leg exploded as its flesh went everywhere. The succubus on the armrest started to shift around.

    The Pit Fiend swung his tail down to the ground to balance him as a replacement for the utterly destroyed leg. Then he swung his mace at Rune. One moment it was in his grasp, the next, it was gone. Rune had stored it into his storage as he swung.

    <You useless succubus!! Charm him!!>

    The succubus unleashed a spell on Rune and it hit him in the head. No one moved for a moment before the succubus moved towards him.

    ¡°Hey now. Don¡¯t you want to come with me for a bit?¡±

    <Nah, I¡¯m good. Gotta kill this devil before I massacre the rest of this army. I gotta say though, i is impossible to charm an object.>

    With a surprised look on her face, Rune used his chains to bring the Pit Fiend down and he cut off its head in one fell strike. The body collapsed onto the ground and it seemed to sink into it before disappearing. Rune stored the body in his storage like he did with some of the other devils.

    He turned towards the Succubus who was now prostrating on the ground. She was shivering in fear and didn¡¯t want to die.

    ¡°Please, make this servant yours. She will be loyal to you for as long as you live!¡±

    She was definitely begging. Rune decided to chain her up for a while while he explored the fortress. His chains unwound from his arms and wrapped around her as he started walking. It was like a coal miner dragging a cart of coal with a rope, except it was Cursed Armor dragging a demon girl in chains.

    Rune walked over to the person crouched in the corner and shone light on them. The person was a girl in chains who seemed young and had blonde hair. She had long hair and red eyes that looked at Rune. On her head was a pair of ears and a tail that had a black striped pattern. She had her wrists and ankles in chains and had a symbol on her right shoulder.

    <Do you want to live?>

    Rune spouted an iconic line, but would have saved her anyway. He doubted that she had the energy to move, much less talk, but now it was Rune¡¯s turn to be surprised as she spoke in a hoarse voice.

    ¡°...yes¡­¡±

    <Ok, then I will carry you. You can rest now. There aren¡¯t any more devils here.>

    ¡°What about me?!¡±

    <Oh, you can use telepathy, can¡¯t you. Also, I thought that Succubus and Incubus are just regular fiends.>

    ¡°Well, I affiliate with the devils.¡±

    She said in a high and mighty manner, but Rune brought her down in a single sentence.

    <Does that mean that I should kill you too?>

    ¡°...¡±

    Rune heaved the girl onto his back and kept moving with the Succubus still in chains. There was nowhere to go now except to exit the fortress. Rune walked as the Succubus started to make strange noises.

    I wish I could sigh now because I have to deal with a masochist now. Seems like the gods are having their fun. Well, as long as it doesn¡¯t kill me or Sophia¡­

    Rune left the building to find that there were still more devils left. He released the chains and set the beast girl down. The Succubus started to snort in displeasure when Rune took out an even longer chain that he had made the night before. This chain used the effects of [Ultimate Bind], [Faint], and [Truth Telling].

    He tied the Succubus down with it and she stayed in place, making even stranger sounds. The sounds of a pervert. Disgusted by her attitude, he left to kill some more devils while expressing his annoyance with a <Tch.>

    <hr>

    He killed numerous devils around the beast girl to protect her. She was just snoring and still asleep while the Succubus was moaning and laughing for some reason.

    After an hour of more slaughtering, it seemed that there were no more devils left. The succubus was, sadly, still alive and the beast girl was still sleeping. Several soldiers ran up to him.

    ¡°Thank you!! Thanks to you, we only had twelve casualties and the rest of us have made it through the devils!¡±

    ¡°I get to return home to my wife and child!¡±

    ¡°We also get paid!!¡±

    <You are welcome. Who other than you and I helped?>

    ¡°Only a small group of adventurers who barely killed three devils.¡±

    ¡°We saw you kill at least a couple hundred demons!! That was pretty amazing skill!¡±

    <How much are we being paid?>

    ¡°Quite a hefty amount I imagine. The last time this happened, a lesser army attacked and about 10% of the capital¡¯s population was killed. This is truly a historical moment!¡±

    Rune didn¡¯t really care for the soldiers¡¯ praise or other adventurers too much, but he did care about the money and if anyone special came to the field.

    After a while of dodging questions and ignoring praise, Rune picked up the beast girl and saw that they Succubus disappeared. Thoroughly disappointed in the soldiers for keeping him distracted, he left.

 Chapter 8: New Companions and Annoyances

    It was evening when Rune reached the inn. People were giving him stares as he walked through the street holding a beast girl while covered in bloody armor. A couple people stopped him thinking that he was a slave trader, but Rune just used [Iram¡¯s Curse] to send blades from his body into their shins.

    He was a bit bored now that he had his fun and wanted to get more money. He entered the inn and Era approached him. She was still in the maid outfit and seemed to have just finished serving a customer some tea.

    ¡°Hello! Seems like you got another girl now, huh? Is it going to be a-¡±

    <No, it is not.>

    Rune cut her off before she said anything else and headed to his room. In his arms was the beast girl who seemed starved and wore rags. She seemed to be a young girl who was in single digits age wise.

    Rune knocked on the door and Sophia opened it. She saw Rune and the girl and frowned.

    ¡°Who is this?¡±

    <She was about to be eaten by the boss Pit Fiend before I killed it. I also had a succubus in chains, but I think that she escaped. Anyway, I think that we should feed this girl before she dies.>

    ¡°Hmmm¡­ Okay.¡±

    Rune placed her on one of the two beds. Suddenly, the girl frowned and opened an eye. She looked around suspiciously before Rune spoke to her.

    <You don¡¯t have to do that here. We are in the capital and the Pit Fiend is dead.>

    She seemed to understand that she wasn¡¯t in danger of dying anymore and sat up. It seemed that she wanted to say something, but was too thirsty to do so.

    Rune grabbed a cup from the nearby table and used [Water Ball] to create water in the cup. He handed it to her and she greedily gulped it down. Then she held out the cup timidly to Rune and he filled it again.

    Sophia started to ask the little girl some questions. Although, she started to interrogate her, she spoke in a gentle, soothing voice.

    ¡°What is your name?¡±

    ¡°...Roxana Tigrystis¡­¡±

    ¡°Why were you with the Pit Fiend?¡±

    ¡°...Kidnapped from village...seemed like he was going to eat me¡­¡±

    She spoke in fragmented sentences or short phrases as she paused to think about the answers. In between the questions, she sipped the water and, while Sophia was asking questions, Rune was downstairs trying to find food fit for a little girl.

    ¡°Is there anyone left you know?¡±

    Roxana shook her head and she started to shake and tears rolled down her dirty face. Sophia was a bit taken back, but regained her posture.

    ¡°Would you like a bath? Rune is bring some food up for you to eat. Is there anything you are allergic to?¡±

    Roxana shook her head to notify Sophia that she wasn¡¯t allergic to anything, then nodded her head to show that she did want to cleanse herself.

    <hr>

    Rune came back upstairs with two plates of food. It was already dinnertime and it seemed like Roxana needed to eat. Roxana was wearing a blouse that was much too big for her and had a towel on her long hair.

    She was sitting on Sophia¡¯s lap while Sophia was talking to her. Rune made a coughing noise with telepathy and the two saw him with two plates of food.

    Rune handed Roxana a plate with steaks cut up into small, bite sized chunks and mashed potatoes on the side. She scarfed it down immediately and looked around for more food like a hungry wolf.

    Sophia laughed and gave her a bit of her food to eat. Rune sat in a chair near the corner while watching both of their interactions. To him, it seemed like a mother and daughter type of relationship.

    Roxana turned towards Rune and climbed down from Sophia¡¯s lap. Then she tottered over to Rune, still unsteady on her feet, and tried to climb onto his lap.

    <Here.>

    He was becoming rather gentle towards more and more people now, but he still carried the urge to kill random monsters. It was like his instinct to find and decimate creatures that were a danger to him, Sophia, or his friends.

    He was not about to let his life become one of tragedy if he could help it. Unknowing to him, two goddesses, Sune of love and beauty and Lliira of joy, were rooting for him to have a fun and happy life. Of course, some gods wanted to turn his life into a nightmare, but figured that, if he grew as powerful as the gods, he would likely hurt them a lot or even banish their existences for several eons. Also, the majority of gods wanted to watch a happy life with the occasional sideshow of blood and guts.

    The slaughter he performed did sate Bhaal, god of murder, Loviatar, goddess of pain, Myrkul, god of death, and Tempus, god of war. They decided to let him have his life without too much trouble as they still had the other 20 classmates to monitor.

    Rune lifted Roxana up and placed her onto his lap. He felt like a father and, to be honest, it was kind of disappointing to him. He was only 17 after all.

    ¡°...what do you look like...without armor?¡±

    <Um, well I just look like red energy. Sorry if you re disappointed, but this body is not human.>

    ¡°...n¡­okay¡­¡±

    <...Is there anything you want to do? Anything you want to learn?>

    ¡°...magic¡­¡±

    <Oh! What magic do you want to know?>

    ¡°...fire magic¡­¡±

    <Well, I do know how to teach you magic, but I might not be able to teach you all that much. Of course, I could if I get some books¡­.>

    He turned to Sophia to ask her a question.

    <Are there any bookstores that sell fire magic knowledge?>

    ¡°Yes, there are two around here. Should we go together, Roxana?¡±

    ¡°...n¡­¡±

    She voiced her agreement and Sophia started to get herself and Roxana ready. After several minutes, Roxana and Sophia were ready and they took off. Rune, feeling a bit left out, went to the adventurer¡¯s guild.

    Rune stepped outside of the inn and saw that the sky was still bright. Apparently, Arborea had the same seasons as Earth and it was now the end of Spring when days were longer. He traveled down the streets and reached the guild to find that there were four men in golden armor following a man in black armor. They were at the entrance of the guild.

    The man in black armor had a helmet in the shape of a panther. At his belt was a longsword that was in a golden and black sheath. He was taller than the rest of the people following him and he seemed imposing.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    As Rune warily approached, one of the men pointed at him and seemed to say something to the others. The five approached him and Rune started to move his hands to try out a new weapon when the one in black armor spoke.

    ¡°Are you the one called Rune? I heard that a man in a cold steel suit had, almost single handedly, defeated the devil army. Is that you?¡±

    <...Yes, but why do you want to know?>

    ¡°You even use telepathy like the reports said!! His royal majesty invites you to the palace for a reward!!¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°It is advised to look as presentable as possible when encountering his majesty. You Should remove your armor and show him the face of the capital¡¯s savior.¡±

    <I cannot. I have reasons to keep my armor on.>

    ¡°...Ok, but at least clean it until it is so shiny, that one can see their reflection perfectly in it.¡±

    <I don¡¯t think you can do that with cold steel¡­>

    ¡°Maids!!! Do your job and clean this man¡¯s armor!!!¡±

    The man in black armor yelled for the maids who came running and carried buckets of water and sponges. They started to clean his armor where he stood.

    After several minutes of uncomfortableness, Rune was free of the cleaning and his cold steel armor was now shiny. The man in black armor led Rune to a large door and he knocked three times on it.

    The doors opened slowly after a moment and they both walked in. The moment they entered, Rune could see that the ceiling and pillars were made in gold and there were hundreds of small tapestries on the wall. Ten guards stood on either side of the throne, lining the red carpet.

    The guards wore golden armor and carried halberds with blacks blade heads. They were kneeling on the carpet border and had their heads looking down.

    On the throne sat a man wearing pure white armor detailed with golden engravings. The armor was whiter than snow and was sleek and not bulky like most armor. He carried a small fang in his left hand and was looking straight at Rune.

    ¡°Hello. I am king Leo Regis Domini.¡±

    His voice boomed throughout the hall and the black knight kneeled with Rune following suit. Rune could feel the gaze of the king on him as time passed. It felt like an eternity until the king spoke again.

    ¡°I heard that you defeated most of the devils and even ventured into the moving fortress. What was it like to face so many foes and the great boss. You must be a hero!

    I would like to personally give you what you desire. This event could have ended the capital. Last time this happened, there were about half as many devils and we also had several B rank adventurers. Even with them, there was trouble and they were a bit overwhelmed with all the devils. However, you defeated hundreds of them and you were by yourself doing so.¡±

    He paused to rest his throat for a moment and to let the idea of almost total destruction of the capital sink into Rune¡¯s mind.

    ¡°I shall give you the rank of Marquis, but I may call on you in times of peril. You will be given a pay of 1000 gold per month and own a home in the Living District. Also, you can have any selection of women you want, huh. How does that sound?¡±

    <Your majesty, I accept all except for the women. I already have my own.>

    ¡°Ah! That is fine, but I have assignment for you. You will receive it in a month. For now, go live in a nice mansion.¡±

    <Thank you, your majesty.>

    Rune was having a difficult time speaking to a person who stood at the pinnacle of the noble ranking system. Now, Rune was a marquis and didn¡¯t have to be an adventurer any more. Although, he would likely leave the capital just to kill something.

    <hr>

    ¡°We¡¯re back!¡±

    <Ah! Welcome back. I have something important to discuss.>

    Rune was sitting in a chair in the inn waiting for Sophia and Roxana to come back. He was going to take Sophia and Roxana to the mansion that was now his.

    <Um, so¡­ Since I killed about 75% of the devils, I became a marquis and was given a mansion from the king. So, uh, would you two like to come?>

    ¡°...n¡­¡±

    ¡°Really!? You became a marquis?! That¡¯s amazing!!¡±

    <Yeah, so should we make the trip now or tomorrow?>

    ¡°Roxana, what do you want.¡±

    ¡°...to go...with mama and papa¡­¡±

    <Huh? Did something happen?>

    ¡°Oh, since she lost her entire village, I thought that we can take care of her and she started to call me mama. It was when we were buying the books and the person at the counter said that it was nice to see a mother and a child spending time together. She started calling me ¡°mama¡± at that point.¡±

    <Ok. Although, I thought that I would be a bit older before I had a child, it¡¯s fine. Ok, so let¡¯s go now.>

    They packed whatever belongings they had put out and Rune placed it in his storage.Then three of them walked downstairs to the counter to tell Era that they were leaving. They saw that she was giving people drinks when she noticed them.

    ¡°Oh!!! You three going out?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but we are also not going to be in the inn anymore.¡±

    ¡°Oh, well. That is a bit sad. I can¡¯t make fun of you two anymore, but I hope you live nicely now! You should come and visit me sometimes, ok?¡±

    Era wrote something down on a sheet of paper and handed them the remaining amount of money that was left to pay for living. The three moved outside and saw that it was now morning and everyone except Rune was tired.

    There was a carriage waiting for them as they exited the inn and a chauffeur was holding open the door. The carriage was fancy with intricate silver designs on the black frame. The seats had red cushions of leather with a soft inside. The windows were made of slightly clear glass.

    The three of them stepped inside and the chauffeur started to drive.

    <hr>

    <Why were you two out until the morning? It was already quite late when you two left for the bookstore.>

    ¡°We were getting Roxana some new clothes, magic books, and her new necklace!!¡±

    ¡°...see¡­¡±

    Roxana was sitting on Rune¡¯s lap and was holding up a nice silver necklace in the shape of a tiger. Rune looked at it closely and asked Roxana a question.

    <Can I see it for a little bit?>

    ¡°...n¡­¡±

    She handed him the necklace and he secretly enchanted it with protection and defend against evil. Then he enchanted the metal chain holding it with unbreaking and purify. He handed it back and she smiled at him.

    Rune had also noticed, when he left the throne room, there was a new notification in his stats and it said, ¡°Requirement for Enchanter completed. New class choice available.¡±

    He could now choose another class because the Enchanter¡¯s requirement was to be recognized by a person that was high up in society. Being recognized by the king would definitely fulfill this.

    <hr>

    Sophia and Roxana were already sleeping by the time they reached the mansion and Rune carefully shook them awake. Sophia yawned as she stretched. She looked out of the window and saw a large building.

    It was white with pillars supporting the entrance. It had a garden in the front yard full of flowers and the manion seemed to have three stories.

    The carriage slowed down and stopped in front of the mansion and the chauffeur opened the door. Rune stepped out and started to piggy back Roxana and Sophia followed behind them.

    They opened the mansion door and found six people. There were three maids and three butlers and they all bowed to him.

    ¡°Hello, master. We are your servants here.¡±

    They all said in unison and one maid and one butler walked up to them.

    ¡°We are the head maid and head butler of this mansion. May I ask to take your armor?¡±

    <Uh, no I can¡¯t take this off. Please understand. If you see under it, do not tell anyone about it.>

    He was feeling a bit nervous because he was now a marquis and was in charge of a mansion with six servants. He and Sophia followed the butler who was leading them to a room for Roxana.

    ¡°Here you are, sir.¡±

    The butler held open the door and Rune walked inside. He noticed that all the things in the room looked really expensive and fancy. There were velvet curtains over the windows and the carpet was blue with yellow designs. A sofa in the corner had a coffee table in front of it and there was a vase of assorted flowers on the table.

    Rune set Roxana down on the bed and pulled the blanket sheets up to her neck and left the room. Then the butler led Rune and Sophia to their room which was one door down.

    The bed was large and had white sheets. There were four chairs against a table on the balcony. The curtains on the balcony were velvet as well and Sophia yawned again.

    She sat down on the bed and spoke one word to Rune before she fell asleep.

    ¡°Goodnight¡­¡±

    Rune sat in one of the chairs and was becoming restless. He was bored and wanted something to do so he left the room after placing a saber in the corner. It was an animated sword which attacked those who tried to hurt Sophia as well as defend her if something happened.

    He moved down the hall and saw a maid cleaning the carpet. He strode up to her and asked her a question.

    <Is there anything like a training room, or a blacksmith, or a large, empty room?>

    ¡°There is a large, empty room in the second wing. Currently we are in the third and the last room of the second wing is connected to the room you are looking for. Just go down two flights of stairs, reach the foyer, and go down the middle hallway to the end.¡±

    She bowed as Rune left and followed her directions. Everything was going so well until he tripped on something. He caught himself by hopping on one foot several times before looking at what he tripped on.

    To his dismay, he heard a strange moaning noise and movement. He looked down as he saw the succubus that had escaped him earlier. He took a glance at her before taking out a large, bladed mace from his storage. It had the properties of fainting, constraint, and paralyzing.

    In disgust, he swung it at the succubus who was rolling around on the floor. It hit her face and she fell unconscious with no obvious bruise or cut on her. She looked to be perfectly fine.

 Chapter 9: Calm Before the Storm

    It was around lunchtime when Sophia and Roxana woke up. At first, Roxana was confused and scared as she hadn¡¯t seen the mansion yet and she didn¡¯t know where she was. She opened the door and peered out to see a butler and she walked up to him.

    ¡°...where is mama?¡±

    ¡°Ah, young miss, your mother should be in the bathing room. I will have a maid escort you there.¡±

    The butler walked over to one of the halls and asked a maid to escort Roxana. The two walked to the bathing room and Roxana was reunited with Sophia.

    After bathing, the two of them headed towards the dining room which had a long table. There were three large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and a maid saw them approaching.

    ¡°Ma¡¯am, young miss, would you like to eat? You can ask the chef to cook up anything you would like as long as we have the ingredients for them.¡±

    ¡°Anything is fine. What do you want Roxana?¡±

    ¡°...meat¡­¡±

    ¡°I shall relay you orders to the chef.¡±

    The maid left to go through a door and Sophia and Roxana sat down. They looked in amazement at the beauty of the room.

    ¡°Oh! Roxana, have you seen where Rune went?¡±

    ¡°...papa isn¡¯t with you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid not. I don¡¯t know where he is and I would probably get lost trying.¡±

    ¡°Ma¡¯am, young miss, here are your dishes, the bolognese pasta, that the chef has cooked. She hopes you like them.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°...thanks¡­¡±

    The two of them started to eat the delicious food while talking with each other. While this was happening, Rune was taking care of a newly found problem.

    <hr>

    <So why have you come to my home! I can cut you down where you stand!>

    ¡°A~ah!! Yes, punish me!!¡±

    Rune would have clicked his tongue if he had one, but now he could only watch as the Succubus was squirming in her chains. He had dragged her to the empty room and chained her in the corner.

    Originally, he had planned to build some innovations, but he didn¡¯t want to have the Succubus see. He blindfolded her, but it became worse when she came to and started sprouting nonsensical words.

    Rune had to take the blindfolds off and he just created a wall around her. This room was used as a training room in the past, but now was just a barren room with no purpose. Rune decided to turn this into his lab where he and Sophia could work without being bothered.

    Rune had considered offing the Succubus, but he wanted to get some information out of her first. He definitely couldn¡¯t torture her due to her masochist tendencies, but he could lock her up. He used the formed wall and created a small prison, void of any light, and left several holes to breath in. Then he continued his work.

    He believed that it was possible for him to craft weapons not seen in Earth or Arborea. For Rune, he was able to use magic and he still kept his knowledge from Earth.

    If he was able to use his skills and magic, he could most definitely create some of the weapons he had in mind. While thinking this, he could hear muffled sounds from the makeshift prison he made.

    Maybe I¡¯ll set up a couple guards here if she gets out.

    He started to get to work.

    <hr>

    ¡°Oh!!! There you are!! I haven¡¯t seen you for hours. What are you doing?¡±

    <I am working on a project. Why? Did something happen?>

    ¡°Oh, no. It¡¯s just that Roxana was wondering where you went.¡±

    <Ah. I can stop here. Just let me do one last thing.>

    ¡°Sure!¡±

    Rune strode up to the makeshift prison and wrapped a chain around it. He had just developed it and it even helped him rank up his [Enchant[ skill so that he could now place four enchantments on a single item. Then he strode up to Sophia and they left the room.

    Rune walked to follow Sophia and they went to into the foyer. There were three people seated on the sofa already and Sophia and Rune sat across from them.

    ¡°Hello. We meet again, Rune. As for you, hello, I am Charlotte, the daughter of Oren, a viscount.¡±

    ¡°Hello, I am Sophia.¡±

    ¡°I am Lisbeth, one attendant of Charlotte.¡±

    ¡°I am Riley, one attendant of Charlotte.¡±

    Sophia noticed Lisbeth and Riley, but did not say anything. Lisbeth and Riley carefully looked at Sophia and rune.

    ¡°I am here to once again thank you for saving me and to congratulate you on becoming a marquis.¡±

    <Yes, hello. Is there something you need?>Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°I am here on King Leo Regis Domini¡¯s orders. You are to go to the demon country to scout out and defeat the Demon Lords competing to become the Demon King. They are stirring the majin like crazy and it seems that they will try and kill humans. They seem to be on a neutral agreement with the beast people.¡±

    <I¡¯m supposed to go and kill the future Demon Kings? Is there anything I get in return?>

    ¡°Yes, we shall provide passage there as well as expenses. If you complete the task, you shall be rewarded with one thing you want. The king knows that he can only depend on you since the only A rank adventurers don¡¯t want to take part in a war and the one S rank is nowhere to be found.¡±

    <Hmmmm. Ok.>

    <hr>

    This must be the orders that the king said he would give. I didn¡¯t imagine it would come within two days. At least I have a bit less than a month until I have to go.

    Rune was working on his project to quickly finish it by the time he had to leave. He had to leave both Roxana and Sophia behind and he talked to Lisbeth before he left.

    <You do know magic, right? I need you to teach Roxana and to take care of her. She is only six years old and she needs a protector. If I go out to the demon country, I cannot do so.>

    She sighed and took a sip of tea from the cup she held. They were sitting in the foyer and everyone else had left. Then Lisbeth used telepathy.

    <Why do you even have a child? No, the better question is, how do you have a child?>

    <I saved her from a Pit Fiend, ok? I just need someone to protect her and I know that you can do that. What level are you now?>

    <I¡¯m level ten now. I mostly use lightning, fire, and light magic.>

    <Good. Please teach Roxana fire magic. She said she wanted to learn and I don¡¯t have the ability to do so. I can only wield my swords and make them.>

    <Fine, but you have to pay me.>

    <Five gold per month. That is more than ten years of work for a peasant,>

    <Deal.>

    They shook hands and Lisbeth told Charlotte that she will not be going with her for a while. She told her that she would stay at Rune¡¯s mansion for a while to teach Roxana.

    Rune continued to work and Sophia started to work on alchemy. For several days, they worked and played with Roxana and Rune occasionally left to ¡°train¡± himself.

    Roxana seemed to understand and grasp the basic concepts of magic quite easily. Lisbeth was definitely the best instructor that Rune could have chosen. Roxana even warmed up to her in a matter of hours.

    At one point, the Succubus spoke while he was working on his project. Her voice was fine for someone who spent eleven days in isolation.

    ¡°I heard that you are to go to the Demon Country. Let me help you. I know the way around there.¡±

    <Why would I trust you?>

    ¡°Being in danger is much more fun than being isolated from everyone.¡±

    <You aren¡¯t just saying that because you are a masochist, right.>

    ¡°Well, that too, but mainly adventure and the chance to prove myself as a loyal servant of you.¡±

    <If you actually know where you are going, then I will bring you¡­>

    After the thirtieth day, Rune walked over to Sophia. Roxana was still studying with Lisbeth. Sophia was looking out of the balcony and Rune kneeled down near her.

    <Sophia, would you please marry me?>

    Sophia looked down, stunned and nodded wordlessly. When Rune stood up, she hugged him.

    <It¡¯s going to be fine. Tomorrow, I will go to the demon country and have to kill the Demon Lords. I will probably come back. I have created many things to protect you two in the meantime. I will finish this as soon as possible.>

    Sophia was in tears as Rune embraced her and they stood there for a while.

    <hr>

    ¡°Tch. What a cliche moment which would raise several death flags, but we won¡¯t let him die.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I want to see his new weapons!!¡±

    It was Myrkul, god of death, and Tempus, god of war, who were talking with each other. They were sitting in chairs looking up at a large monitor. It would remind most people of two guys being lazy on a couch.

    ¡°Yeah, how many weapons do you think he will make and how many will he kill? It seems that his life will be a much more interesting story if he is alive.¡±

    A person walked up to them and rested his arms on the sofa. It was Bhaal, god of murder.

    ¡°Yeah, he will definitely kill more people and creatures if he stays alive. As long as we don¡¯t do anything bad to him, the other gods won¡¯t come after us as well.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, cheers for the existence of a murderous protagonist!¡±

    The three gods clinked beer cans together and drank. To people of Earth, this scene would seem like three buddies cheering for their favorite sports team winning.

    There were other classmates that the gods could look at, but they weren¡¯t particularly interested in them as they were in Rune. There were a couple like Stacy who were building up their fame or empires. In fact, Stacy was in the middle of creating her empire where people who were outsiders were welcomed. There were Fallen Angels, Dampirs, Were Animals, and Half Dragons.

    It seemed like their tiny country of two hundred thousand was flourishing in the coast. Stacy was also mainly worshipping Helm, god of protection, and Chauntea, goddess of agriculture. Only those two focused on her and each god looked over the most interesting classmate to them.

    Most of the evil gods, Auril, Bane, Bhaal, Loviatar, Malar, Mask, Myrkul, and Shar, were watching him. On top of the evil gods, Gond, god of Craft, Lliira, goddess of Endurance, and Tymora, goddess of Good Fortune, were also watching over him. It seemed like most of the gods favored him.

    To them, it would be a shame to see a main source of their entertainment die.

    <hr>

    ¡°...papa...will I see you again?¡±

    <Yes, you will. I won¡¯t die! Even if I do, I will return.>

    He had some insurance in case he did die. It would be absolutely suicidal to not have a backup plan. Especially for a dangerous mission where most people would die. In case he did die, he had created a suit of armor that would bring his soul into it and it was even stronger than his current cold steel body by itself.

    He also finished one project that he was happy to see finished. It was a defense system in case the mansion got attacked. They were Flying Swords that danced through the skies and, when one of the servants, Roxana, Sophia, or Lisbeth were in danger, they would defend them. They were also much stronger than regular swords and carried different elemental attributes and enchantments.

    As for the Succubus, he imprisoned her in a small jewel that was on his new necklace. He could summon her at any time and even use telepathy to talk to her. The Succubus, however, wanted to actually be standing by his side and not in a piece of jewelry.

    ¡°Bye.¡±

    Sophia had a sullen look on her face as she looked at him. Rune went up to her and hugged her for a while before letting go.

    <I have to go and kill them.I basically have no say in this and I am the only one who can do this.>

    ¡°I know, but¡­ Do you really have to leave?¡±

    <Yes, but I won¡¯t be too long. About a week I think. I will use teleportation crystals to go there and back.>

    Rune moved away towards the carriage and entered it.

    <hr>

    ¡°Ok. Here are your teleportations crystals. We have given you four just in case. You have to go there, eliminate the Demon Lords, and come back. Understood?¡±

    It was the black knight from earlier who was now seated at the same table as Rune. He had a map out on the table and was pointing out and marking where he needed to go.

    ¡°We will give you one week. If you cannot do it, come back and tell us the information."

    <Ok, I will go now>

    Rune spoke after he collected his supplies and teleported to the designated location.

 Chapter 10: A Small Trip

    Rune found himself in a room that had grey walls and a single window. A door made of wood was on the other side of the room as him and there was a seat and a table. A person dressed in black sat in one of the seats and was playing around with a deck of cards.

    They looked up at Rune and he could see that they wore a mask that looked like a face, but it had rhombus shaped eyes and a mouth that had fangs. The mouth was curved in a smile that went across their entire face. They wore a black scarf with a red design going through it that looked like a dragon.

    ¡°You must be Rune. I was told by the king to guide you around and act as your overseer.¡±

    When they talked, their voice was muffled and small and the mouth opened and closed when they did so. The eyes in the mask had a red glow that left a trail behind it when it moved.

    They started to get up and Rune found that they were shorter than him by around half a foot. Their body was slender and clad in black leather armor with chainmail underneath. On their waist, there was a scabbard that was made of metal and moon light glinted off.

    When Rune teleported, it was around morning time and the sun was starting to rise. Now, the two moons were high in the sky as he had traveled to the opposite side of the world. Rune could see out the window that the moons were starting to rise now and shadows covered the land.

    ¡°This country is backwards. They usually work during the night and sleep during the day. They seem to dislike humans and elves, but are fine with dwarves and beast people. Come on, I will show you where exactly we are.¡±

    They motioned for Rune to follow them and he did so. The door creaked open and closed as they passed through and the next room had maps covering the walls. There was a round table in the middle of the room which had a large map of the world with knives sticking out of it. The knives pierced multiple areas within the Demon Country.

    ¡°Here.¡±

    The person had walked over to a wall and was now pointing to a map that looked like it covered a rather large area. They carefully unpinned the map and set it down over the world map on the table.

    ¡°This is where we are. On this world map, the seven knives are in the area where the seven demon king candidates lie.¡±

    The person first pointed at the smaller map that they took down, then at the world map. It seemed that the map they brought down was an enhanced version of the town they and two demon lord candidates were.

    ¡°There are always seven demon lord candidates chosen by Beelzebub, Satan, Leviathan, Asmodeus, Belphegor, Mammon, and Lucifer. They are the embodiments of the seven deadly sins as Archdemons. They choose Majin and grant them power and the Majin transform into something that looks more like their patron.

    Currently, Asmodeus and Mammon are in the same city as us. Fortunately, none of the demon lord candidates are allied with anyone else. They are Greed, Mammon, and Lust, Asmodeus.¡±

    The person turned to look underneath the table and crouched. When they came back up, Rune could see that they were carrying a box.

    ¡°I have prepared some silver weaponry for the battles. They cannot be harmed by regular weapons and only by magical or silvered weapons.¡±

    <Yes, but all of my weapons are made of magic stones or magical metals. I won¡¯t need it.>

    ¡°What!? Only the most elite blacksmiths can forge those weapons. Them and dwarves are the only ones that can craft such weapons and dwarves don¡¯t deal with other humanoids and there are only five elite blacksmiths in the human country! If you have those you can most definitely harm the demon lord candidates!¡±

    The person¡¯s voice was quite shrill when they voiced their surprise and quickly covered their mouth. The person regained their posture and straightened their back after suddenly leaning in towards him. They coughed to clear their throat and started to take out the silver weapons and the sheaths.

    The person put the two daggers on their belt and fastened them tightly. Satisfied, they started to speak to Rune again.

    ¡°We will head out now. I assume that you are ready, correct?¡±

    <Yes. Where are we going now?>

    ¡°Is it not obvious? We are to go to either the Mammon or Asmodeus candidates and kill them or, at least, gain some information regarding them. Right now, we are about one mile from where Asmodeus¡¯s territory starts. We will kill him first.¡±

    <Ok¡­What should I call you?>

    ¡°You can call me Hecate.¡±

    The two of them moved out of the building and Rune looked around at his surroundings once again. They were in an alleyway where there was only one exit. The two moons were still coming up and he saw Majin walking through the streets.

    ¡°There it is. Asmodeus is in that castle.¡±

    Hecate was pointing at a huge, looming building in the distance. It seemed to be made out of white bricks and was at least ten stories tall. There were multiple balconies built around the castle from the fifth story to the tenth.

    Around the castle, there were smaller towers spread out around them. Majin moved around the base of the castle and towers on the ground floor. They all wore metal armor and carried short swords and shields at their sides. Several of them had pets or creatures next to them and carried staffs.

    They had many different creatures among them. There were several fat creatures with two arms, four legs, and a large mouth dividing its body in half, they were Maw Demons. There were four wolf-like beings that had spikes on their backs and a stinger on their tails. They looked diseased and also had glowing red eyes, they were Shoosuvas. Lastly, there were six large humanoids with maroon skin with grey chests and legs. They had spikes growing out of all their limbs and backs and also had two large horns growing from each side of their heads, they were Tanarukk carrying large cleavers and axes.

    ¡°We had better watch out for those Warlocks. They seem to have summoned some high level fiends to aid them in guarding. The regular Majin guard should be defeated easily.¡±

    Hecate pointed down from where they were. Currently, they sat on a rooftop outside of the almost barren ground and were looking down on the defenses. Hecate was tracking a guard with their finger and they moved down towards them.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    They lingered in the shadows and Hecate pulled out two chakrams. They were about to throw them when Hecate noticed that the Majin they were aiming at was now missing.

    <Hey, no need for blood. I mean, we still gotta kill them though.>

    Rune was holding a lifeless Majin in his arms. It seemed that his neck was limp and Rune dropped his corpse in some bushes. He tossed it away like one would trash and he moved on. Hecate was at a loss for words and was watching him for a while before regaining their senses. They moved up next to him as he tossed another body aside.

    After some time later, Hecate decided that it would be a good idea to talk to Rune before he murdered more Majin. He was going through them faster than a person could go through one cigarette.

    ¡°I know that I said that we should only deal with the guards, but I meant as little as possible. It would be best to avoid too many casualties¡­¡±

    <Look. I only killed 37 of them because they worked with a future demon king or whatever. I¡¯m just here on the king¡¯s orders to do this.>

    Hecate sighed quietly through their scarf as Rune discarded yet another Majin from his grasp and moved on to the next one. It seemed like he was aiming to kill all the guards on the ground before working his way up the building. To Rune, he seemed like he was an assassin from a game he had played in his previous life.

    At some point, Rune was edging his way up to a Majin Warlock and Hecate was shaking their head furiously. They didn¡¯t want to mess around with the being who had one Tanarukk next to them.

    Rune steadily moved closer to the Tanarukk and Warlock. He started to cast a wind spell he had gained, [Quiet], and went right behind the Tanarukk.

    As he was moving right behind it, it seemed to sniff the air and started to turn around. Rune was much faster and stuck his hand into its chest. Using his skill, [Frozen Touch], he froze all its blood and it stopped moving. Rune removed his hand and quickly snapped the neck of the Warlock that was starting to turn around.

    The Tanarukk started to fall, but Rune dropped its body into his storage as it did so. Then he removed the staff and an amulet from the dead Warlock and cast it aside like he did with the rest.

    Rune turned towards Hecate and saw that they was shivering in fear. He moved towards them and Hecate took a step back.

    ¡°What are you really!? Are you really just a human?! Are you an imposter?!¡±

    Hecate was pointing a finger in his direction while accusing him. It seemed that they were shaking so much was their scarf was coming loose.

    <I was sent by the king. I am here to kill the demon lord candidates and then return back to my wife. That is all.>

    Hecate was still shaking and the scarf moved out from around their neck and fell. As they tried to catch the scarf, Gecate made an unusually girlish ¡°Aaah¡± that was still quiet. Their voice wasn¡¯t blocked by the scarf and Rune confirmed his suspicions.

    <You are a woman, correct? What race are you. You seem much more nimble than a human.>

    ¡°...Fine. I am a Wood Elf ranger who is a freelance merc.¡±

    <Well then, merc, shall we start the bloodshed?>

    <hr>

    After thirty minutes, Rune was throwing a Shoosuva corpse into his storage. He was trying to store all the demonic fiends and devils into his storage so that he can use them. He already found the many uses of devils and even their dead bodies sold for hefty prices.

    Hecate looked around at the now barren area. It wasn¡¯t possible to see them, but there were well over fifty Majin corpses. Their pale skin and horns were covered by the leaves and their equipment was either scavenged or broken down and left as junk.

    Rune had tried to let out as little blood as possible using his freezing and neck snapping methods, but there were a couple splotches of blood on the sides of the towers. One tower even had blood dripping from its highest platform. Up there was a Majin that was mashed into the floorboards by yours truly.

    ¡°Seriously, what are you? Are you a demi-human? I wouldn¡¯t believe it if you are a human or an elf. Well, maybe if you were a dark elf, but dark elves usually wear robes, cloaks, or light armor. Your strength is that of a rest Dragonborn, but a Dragonborn¡¯s head wouldn¡¯t fit inside that helm. Tell me. Just what are you?¡±

    Hecate was still trying to get the answer out of him. Despite her efforts, she couldn¡¯t even squeeze out a name of a race from him. He just waved her off or answered with a shrug.

    <Let¡¯s go to that candidate of Asmodeus and kill him already. I¡¯m dying to get more experience points.>

    As usual, Rune only thought of his foes as materials to make items and sources of experience points. Hecate just sighed at this point and followed his lead. It seemed that the Succubus, Hela Cania, knew where most of the candidates were and how to get to them.

    It seemed like she spent a lot of time with Mephistopheles¡¯s, Archdevil of one plain of the Nine Hells, subordinates. She had been watching over the demon candidates to determine if they were a threat to the devils. She only knew of Asmodeus, Satan, Lucifer, Mammon, and Belphegor whereabouts.

    Leviathan was apparently hiding out in an underwater lair and Hela couldn¡¯t see that far into it with her resources. However, Leviathan usually only tried to take over the Demon Country and some merfolk.

    Rune walked up the stairs and stood in front of the large double doors that everyone apparently liked in Arborea. It had an intricate design of pentagrams around the door in the frames. Rune took a closer look at the pentagrams since one can never be too sure about them and he walked in.

    Hecate followed him as they found themselves on a navy blue rug. They could see several pillars and a staircase in front of them that separated in a snake like path. Both sides ended at the second floor and there was a large chandelier above it. Several pedestals held a couple jars with green liquid. In the murky fluid, they could see eyes and brains and other small organs.

    Hecate seemed like she was about to throw up, but Rune just walked up the stairs. Suddenly, a hatch opened above Rune and a cage fell. It hit the floor around Rune except it was in pieces and fell everywhere. Rune had already cut it using a magical wind strike to separate the cage into small shards.

    <Well? Aren¡¯t we going to kill this person?>

    ¡°A-ah¡­yes...¡±

    Hecate timidly followed behind him thinking that he would handle all the traps. Rune pummeled several log traps where logs were swinging towards him, he demolished multiple traps where the walls started to close in, and he annihilated a couple hundred Majin. He just decapitated every guard that crossed him and their heads flew wonderfully through the air and blood splattered on the walls nearby.

    Their free rolling heads planted fear into the race more powerful than humans in almost all aspects. Several that he came across tried to run, but Rune was too fast for them.

    He rushed at them and they could see the glint in his blood red eyes as he decapitated each and every one of them. In his path, there were bodies and heads strewn around the halls as the two of them went up towards the tenth floor.

    He kept up this pace up to the tenth floor while Hecate was just trying not to vomit out her breakfast. If there were stories about this event in the future, it would likely depict a demon in armor murdering over a hundred Majin while dragging along a young girl against her will.

    <hr>

    When they reached the stairs up to the tenth floor, Rune checked his stats. He now had 136 Endurance, 108 Mobility, and 124 Strength. He had been absorbing bones and armor and found that he had to absorb a large amount of good bones just to increase one of his three ability scores by 1. He had amassed over 150 corpses and had a couple thousand bones. He was also level 17 and was basically much more powerful than the rest of his classmates.

    He walked up the stairs while Hecate was holding her stomach and was leaning on the wall. He could hear retching from her direction. Then she wobbled up to Rune while wiping away some dribble.

    ¡°I can¡¯t, hmrph, believe you killed so many¡­¡±

    She was still on the verge of throwing up and had removed her mask already to do so. Her hair was a golden blond color and was tied in a small, braided bun. Her eyes were a light green and had tears around them. Her face was that of a young teenager and had a cute face despite the retching from before.

    <I need experience and the king needs these demon lord candidates dead. Two birds with one stone. Three if you count all the materials I got.>

    Rune walked up the stairs and pushed open the door. He looked to see a large open space void of walls and had pillars. There was a large open area where four Majin sat at a huge, oval table. Another being sat at the head of the table. Instead of white skin, the demon had crimson skin. horns like a goat, and had crimson eyes.

    The demon carried a large staff that was five feet long and the demon, himself, was at least 13 ft tall. It had open robes with a large, red ruby inside of its chest. It took a look at Rune and grinned in a demonic crescent moon shaped smile.

 Answers to Comments 1

    If that old man is one of the greatest alchemists in the kingdom, why doesn''t the kingdom keep an eye on him? How can a bunch of the kingdoms own troops treat him so poorly? Are alchemists not valued in this world?

    Also, I assume that that old man''s daughter didn''t notice the bandits attack since she was in a sealed room and focused in her work, but why wasn''t she surprised when her father told her about it? At least, she didn''t seem to know about it until her father said something.Assuming that many villagers died, and or got raped, why does everyone seem so normal?

    Answer: There are many alchemists within the kingdom and this "old man" likes to live in his village. Also, the elite soldiers treat them poorly because the commander and higher ups within the elites look down on the beast folk and they like to earn money and basically are greedy and lustful. Also, there are no guards because they were killed by the "raiders" in the attack. You don''t know this, but they were burned alive with no visible trace left. Secondly, yes people got raped because of the "raiders" lust. Did I not write that? They were not acting normal because they had trauma and I never said that they went back to a normal life. They were especially happy when Rune saved them because they were going to be sold as slaves and stuff. Also, only the guards were killed as the rest of the people were going to be sold as slaves. Thirdly, Sophia was in the sealed off lab because only her and her father and her younger sister were able to go in and out. She didn''t notice anything because she usually stayed there for days on end and all her necessities were taken care of inside the underground area. Literally zero need to leave.

    Alchemists are not treated too well, but not poorly either. Priests and clerics can heal people and the only reason for alchemists are to create mana potions and health potions for those without healers.

    <hr>

    How did he wake up if he can''t go to sleep in the first place?

    Answer: He is basically daydreaming and spaces out for hours on end. It''s basically what he did during his school time.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    <hr>

    Will Rune ever have a physical body?

    Answer: You''ll see later... Likely in chapter 15-16...

    <hr>

    Will the story be dropped?

    Answer: Probably not. Unless the ratings reach one or something. I intend to take this world and write another novel off of it in the future. Likely, if I continue Cursed Armor Reincarnation, when it ends sometime after at least three books of twenty-ish chapters each. It''s not like it is randomly moving about because I have a general idea where I want this to go.

    <hr>

    I already don''t like the direction this might be going. I can see it now, his absorption ability will slowly lead to him becomeing a jack of all traits and master of all. Wouldn''t it have been better if his skill set leaned far closer to pure melee? A good magic system (though this isn''t really a magic system) is defined by it''s limitations and how the characters overcome those limitations. The same goes for other aspects of a story. Good characters are defined by their limitations and imperfections.

    Answer: Do you not see him murdering people everyday? He literally killed so much without giving a second thought on it. Also, the cheat power is given by Lathander, but it is not intune with a personality, but instead what the gods want to give him. Also, the magic system developed by me is due to the d and d magic system only allowing several spells to be used a couple times per day. Also, there should be flaws in a character as is why [Absorb] is not absolute, but it allows for Rune to gain skills and magic quickly enough for him to survive. I would think that Rune''s entire character and skill structure is flawed in almost every aspect. He is not a god.

    This answer was given with no angry. Sorry if it sounds angry. I think I''m tired...

    <hr>

    How does he not notice someone in his "daydreaming"?

    Answer: Because he is tired from not resting his mind in like three days and his mind is just wandering now. Just because you can''t sleep doesn''t mean you can''t faint, be knocked out, or jsut blank out. In chapter 5, he is blanking out.

    If you daydream hard enough, is it not possible to block out everything in your vision and then some?

    <hr>

    Sorry about the ranting. I was tired and a bit frustrated with people. Although, I do realize that my stories are garbage. Also, I would use different language if I could, but I cannot use profanity in this series. Also, truly sorry if anybody doesn''t like me for writing this, but I want to clarify before I go mad.

 Chapter 11: Gotta Deal with Some Pests

    Rune took a look at the large demon who was seated on a throne. His throne was placed in front of the oval table where the four Majin were getting up from. The four Majin grabbed weapons from underneath their table and the large demon, who Rune guessed was the candidate of Asmodeus, put his head on his chin and laughed.

    The four Majin leaped at Rune who was pulling out his swords. Right as their weapons were about to reach Rune, sword blades jutted out from Rune and entered the necks of the Majin. They stiffened momentarily, then went limp. The blades went back into Rune and the bodies fell to the ground.

    Rune turned back to Hecate who was now leaning against a wall while sitting. She was trying to not vomit, but was definitely still sick. Rune turned back to the large demon. He spoke in a raspy voice to him.

    ¡°You have done well to get here. Using only your hands, you killed many of my subordinates. You seem capable enough to be my right hand man. What do you-¡±

    His face turned from a relaxed one into one of surprise as Rune came at him with impossibly high speeds and took out the ruby in his chest. Then the demon smiled.

    ¡°You thought that that was the source of my power? My regeneration source is my castle!! You cannot hope to defeat me!!¡±

    Rune moved back from the demon and placed the ruby in his storage. Then he turned back to the demon and thought of several ways to kill him.

    ¡°You see, I the chosen candidate of my lord, Asmodeus! I will become the Demon Lord for him and rule the world. Then every woman will be mine!!!¡±

    <That is kinda too cliche, isn¡¯t it?>

    ¡°What?¡±

    The Asmodeus candidate looked at Rune as Rune threw a small object at him. The candidate looked at it with surprise and caught it in his hand.

    ¡°You try and throw a chakram at me? You should know that-¡±

    The circular disc that Rune threw at him exploded and dust surrounded him. When it settled, the demon was on the ground with his left arm blown off. It seemed like blood suddenly formed into tentacles from his arm and formed a new arm after solidifying.

    He moved to get up off the ground when he saw Rune looming over him with a couple more discs.

    <It would be a shame to lose such good material, but it has to be done.>

    Rune dropped them on the still injured demon and went to Hecate. Then he motioned for her to cover her ears and she did so. A moment later, a huge explosion rang out.

    Rune looked past the doors and saw a huge smoking crater with a head in it. Rune approached and drew a large scythe. It was made of Fire and Earth magic crystals to have a very special effect when the blade touches blood.

    ¡°You¡­ I can still¡­¡±

    <What a waste.>

    Rune drove his scythe into his face and it exploded. Nothing was remaining of the Asmodeus candidate now and Rune turned to look at Hecate.

    <Job¡¯s done. Let¡¯s murder Mammon next.>

    Hecate was shaking out of fear and was watching how Rune killed Asmodeus with only a couple attacks. It was clearly obvious that someone who killed efficiently and without regard for life would be feared by many.

    In fact, it wasn¡¯t just the explosions that killed Asmodeus, but shrapnel. Rune had stuffed his explosive discs with Dark magic crystals which depleted a person of their mana at a high rate if there was a large quantity inside of someone. This and the fact that the candidate¡¯s regeneration power may have been great, but it took time and mana to use. When Rune used his shrapnel, it took away his mana. When he stabbed him in the face quickly, it took away his time.

    ¡°D-do you want to rest before w-we kill him>¡±

    <I¡¯m fine. I could easily kill them without rest if they were as easy to kill as him. The only problem is that it seems that the others are much more powerful. Everyone except Beelzebub who eats most of the day.>

    With that said, the two of them left the castle. When they exited, they found that the two moons were now in the middle of the sky and that it was midday to the Majin.

    <hr>

    ¡°How are you going to take these guys now? This is a single temple with about two hundred Majin followers and fiends all together! You can¡¯t possibly use stealth this time!¡±

    Hecate was trying to make Rune take a less violent approach, but he wasn¡¯t having it. There was so much experience points for the taking and so much raw material.

    It seemed that Hecate wanted to disperse the Majin so that they wouldn¡¯t kill as many of them. After half an hour of begging, Rune gave in to a compromise.

    <Fine!! I will only kill the fiends. The Majin will have two choices. Run or die by my hand in a one sided massacre. They will make their choice when I kill that candidate.>

    The two of them were standing on a floating platform. To be more specific, Hecate was crouching down and hugging one of Rune¡¯s legs while watching the large group in front of Mammon¡¯s candidate.

    The platform was made using Wind and Light magic crystals to hover over the crowd and shield them from the eyes of the Majin below. Put in simple terms, it was an invisible floating platform.

    No Majin could see them as they were hovering several stories in the sky. Rune had taken out a trident that had a black frame with white spikes. He was aiming it down at the Mammon candidate.

    ¡°Wait!!! We don¡¯t know if he is actually trying to destroy humanity!! Also, throwing something from up here, you could accidentally hit someone else!!¡±

    <Do I have to repeat myself again? I am here to kill them. All of them. Just don¡¯t get in my way¡­>

    Rune threw down his trident at the candidate who was morphed. They had a snake¡¯s lower body instead of legs and had four horns from either side of their head. He was holding a spear with an orange gem as its spearhead.

    The trident rushed down towards the candidate when the candidate turned to block it. It appeared that his senses were better so that he could hear the whistling of a trident flying through the air. He readied his spear and blocked it as it glanced off of his spear.

    The candidate started to look from where the spear had come from when they noticed that they were falling. With a thunk, it¡¯s head fell to the ground and it¡¯s body started to turn towards Rune who was behind him with an executioner axe.

    While the head was rolling down the steps of the dark grey temple, the body thrust its spear into Rune faster than he anticipated and it went into his head.

    Rune could hear an audible ¡°Nooool!!!¡± From above as Hecate was screaming. From the neck of the candidate came smoke and a new head appeared that was more snake like with four eyes and had three horns on each side of its head with one horn on its forehead.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    The new head seemed to smile by opening its mouth and its two tongues danced in its mouth. It looked at Rune with all four of its snake eyes and started to speak.

    ¡°I mussssst thank you for decapitating my ssssservant ssssso that I could return!!¡±

    <You¡¯re very welcome.>

    Rune spoke with the spearhead inside of his face. The snake and Hecate both were extremely surprised st this development. The person who was possessing the candidate was none other than Mammon. Rune only knew this because Hela told him with telepathy.

    Mammon pulled out his spear to discover that the orange gem used as its point was missing. Rune absorbed it like how he did with Iram. Rune then heard a hissing voice in his mind.

    {You¡­ you have a gem of the Demon King¡­ you will usssssse it to get the other gemssssss from the other sssssix candidatessssss¡­ I sssssshall give you the power of Greed¡­ the power to sssssteal anything in your sssssight, but you will be taken over by the Demon King¡¯ssssssss corruption¡­}

    Neat. I guess I can steal stuff now? I¡¯ll check after I kill this Mammon.

    Rune took this small window where Mammon was surprised and he put away his axe to get his chains. Quickly, he restrained Mammon as he was still in a weak, Majin body. Then Rune took out a box.

    <I finally figured out how to kill you guys without letting your corpse go to waste.>

    The box was filled with black needles. Rune really liked to use the Dark magic crystals in his weapons. He picked up a single needle, twirled it in one hand once, then drove it into Mammon¡¯s heart. He did this 49 more times to other places in him until Mammon looked like a bleeding pin cushion.

    The light was fading from his eyes as Rune drove the final needle in and he died. Rune could tell because, at that moment, the head of Mammon dispersed in a cloud of black. Rune put away his needles and turned to the stunned crowd. He used his telepathy to speak to everyone.

    <If you want to fight, then fight me!!!!!>

    After a moment, one Shoosuva lunges at him and Rune obliterated it with a single punch using only brute force and his speed. The remains showered several members of the crowd and Majin started to rub as the fiends started to attack Rune.

    It was obviously a fatal error to them, especially when he finished them all off within a few minutes. The hovering platform moved down from its height and Rune could see a curled up Hecate cradling herself in her arms.

    Compared to Asmodeus, this bloodbath was even more gorey with the intestines of fiends littering the temple and the grass around it. Rune put his box, trident, and body of Mammon¡¯s candidate in his storage after wiping away the blood. He also took the decapitated head.

    ¡°How did you survive the face stabbing?! That was like an invincible monster!!!¡±

    <I can do some stuff. Anyway, where to now? I want to kill some more and then get back to my wife.>

    ¡°How do you have a wife if all you do is kill?!!¡±

    <Isn¡¯t it obvious? Because I can protect her easily and she likes my personality.>

    ¡°Well, I suppose that you can protect someone with killing skills¡­¡±

    <hr>

    The two of them were sitting on a rooftop while Hecate was eating. It was a bit past midday and Hecate had an extremely empty stomach from retching.

    A map was in between the two of them. Hecate was pointing to where they would go in a periodic order. First, Belphegor was stationed in an underground fortress in the mountains. Then, Leviathan was under the sea near the coast. Lastly, Lucifer and Satan were in the Demon Country capital. She didn''t know where Beelzebub was, but suspected that its candidate was mooching off of Lucifer.

    <How did you guys kill the demon king candidates before? This seems like a common occurrence, but everyone is too weak.>

    ¡°We just waited until one demon king candidate was left, then we sent S class adventurers to deal with them. It has only happened three times in the last thousand years. Nowadays, people are more laid back ergo more weak. Also, the candidates take such a long time to prep for killing each other and an even longer time attacking humanity.¡±

    <That is good. Then let us head over to Belphegor in those mountains.>

    ¡°Ok. It is that way.¡±

    While Hecate was pointing in the opposite direction as Rune, Rune quickly absorbed the red ruby that he took from Asmodeus¡¯s candidate. He heard another voice in his mind.

    {You have gotten a second gem of the Demon King¡­ I shall give you the power of Lust¡­ You now can charm and persuade anyone who is not expecting it¡­ But now your corruption from the Demon King will increase¡­}

    Rune had seen that he was slowly being corrupted by the Demon King¡¯s Corruption which makes his mind slowly be taken over to become a Demon King. However, Rune had psychic damage immunity and would not be affected by it at all. Essentially, it was just a huge benefit for him as he got special Demon King magic.

    ¡°You see there? That is the mountain.¡±

    Rune looked at where Hecate was pointing and nodded to her question. They slowly made their way down from the roof and the two of them found themselves in an alley. It was quite dark and there were several large buckets with trash in them.

    From behind them, a voice that sounded like a dehydrated person spoke.

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    Rune and Hecate turned to find an old man who was hunched over. He wore rags over his clothes and was holding an metal nugget. He seemed like a beggar.

    ¡°I won¡¯t stay in this world for long, but I want you to help me with one thing before I die. I have a nugget to pay you¡­¡±

    ¡°Hey, old man! Go back-¡±

    <What is it?>

    Rune cut her off by sticking his arm in front of her. She stared in belief as he started conversing with the person.

    ¡°Thank you. My daughter. She is sick and I need a doctor. I can¡¯t go too far, but can you get a doctor for me?¡±

    ¡°Why would there be a-¡±

    <I can probably do it. I have [Cure]. You are going to give me that metal, right?>

    ¡°Yes. Thank you. This way.¡±

    The old man led them to the back of the building and was tottering from side to side while doing so. Behind the building were several tents huddled to make a small tent town with a large tent in the center.

    The man walked to a small tent on the outskirts of the tent town and gestured for the two of them to follow him inside. Hecate was hesitating because she was weary of any traps, but Rune just walked inside.

    ¡°What are you doing? This is one of those poor Majin tent camps. They are probably going to mug you!¡±

    Hecate hissed at him while he gave her a shrug and then used telepathy to speak to only her.

    <If anything happens to me, I¡¯ll just kill them. I thought that that was pretty obvious.>

    Rune saw the old man kneeling next to a person under several blankets. Rune could hear wheezing and coughing from where he was and the old man was indicating for Rune to heal the person.

    Rune cast [Heal] and [Cure] at the same time on the person and a green light shone from his hands. The wheezing and coughing stopped and the old man grinned.

    ¡°Thank you!! Thank you so much!! Here, take this!¡±

    He gave him the nugget of metal and Rune plopped it into his storage. The person under the blankets pushed off the blankets to reveal a girl who had pale skin.

    Her eyes were a crimson color and she had snow white hair. There were two horns protruding from her forehead, pushing her hair aside. She seemed young and was staring intently at Rune.

    Why am I surrounded by young women? Also, why are they all so cute?

    ¡°I am Rena with the title of ¡°Curious¡±. I saw that you could use magic and, now that I look at you, you seem powerful. I want to be your apprentice and learn whatever you do for a living.¡±

    She said it in a stern tone. She seemed to actually want to be Rune¡¯s apprentice and not just to mooch off of him.

    ¡°Why should we trust a Majin? You guys are all evil and work for the future Demon King that will try and kill many humans and elves?¡±

    <If you don¡¯t mind what I do, then you can be my apprentice. It seems like you also need someone to take care of you after this man is dead, correct?>

    ¡°Yes. My grandfather has watched over me since I was young and now he stays alive only to help me find someone that will help me.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is my wish. Now I can rest in peace. Thank you¡­¡±

    The old man sat down and sighed. After a moment, he lied down and started to rest. He wasn¡¯t dead though, but he was sleeping soundly.

    ¡°Why are you bringing a Majin!?¡±

    <Isn¡¯t it obvious? I need to pass down these combat tactics to someone. This person seems capable and persistent enough to do so.>

    Rune, Hecate, and Rena left the tent and were now standing outside. Rena wasn¡¯t wearing clothes that would be useful where Rune was going. He took out some armor that he took from the Majin guards that he killed and fused it with Healing magic crystals. Then he changed the shape of the armor.

    Now the armor covered the face and he turned the robes into cloth to use as a cloak with a hood. Then he made the rest of the cloth into coverings for the joints in the armor and enchanted it all with repairing and speed.

    <Here is armor. It would be bad if someone saw your real face. You said that you want to do what I do for a living? Then I will train you to be an Assassin.>

 Chapter 12: The Lazy and the Jealous

    Rune was sitting on a high tree and was looking down at the cave¡¯s entrance. Hecate and Rena were bickering at the bottom of the tree and Rune ws trying to ignore them. He noticed that there were eight skeletal guards. Six were Skeletons of Majin and two Minotaur Skeletons.

    Rune climbed down from his perch and landed on the floor in between Hecate and Rena. They stopped their arguments as soon as Rune was in front of them.

    <There are six Majin Skeletons and two Minotaur Skeletons. I will take out the two Minotaurs and Rena will take on one Skeleton for training,>

    ¡°What about the other five Skeleton Majins?¡±

    <I¡¯m going to restrain them.>

    The trio sneaked up to the entrance and Rune readied his chains. Then, in a single instance, chains sprang from the bushes and pulled together five Skeleton Majins. Rune also chucked his trident at a Minotaur Skeleton and it blew up. In the next moment, Rune punched the last Minotaur and it exploded into bones and debris.

    Rena sneaked up to the last Skeleton and started attacking it with the two small scythes or kamas. They were made of Water magic crystals and modified to make blood flood out of cuts faster. Basically, if the creature attacked had blood, it would die of blood loss faster.

    She ran up to the skeleton and slashed at it. The Skeleton blocked with its buckler and swung with the shortsword in its other hand. Rena dodged the swing and tried to attack again, but the Skeleton blocked and countered again.

    Rena used a different technique and swung each kama separately and, after a few more attacks, the Skeleton lost its head and it was defeated.

    ¡°I did it!!! Did you see?!¡±

    <Yep. You just have five more to go!>

    ¡°What?¡±

    Rune let out a Skeleton from the chains and had Rena fight it. Eventually, she became level 3 and gained [Single Strike].

    Rena finished the sixth Skeleton Majin and was now sitting on the ground. Sh was tired from fighting six in a row, but the trio had to move onward to kill Belphegor. For now, they still had six days left to kill five more and they were moving at a great pace.

    After a short rest, the three of them tread on into the cavern. Inside, there were more Skeletons of Majin, Gnolls, and Minotaurs. Rune had Rena defeat the Skeleton Majin and several Gnolls. Rune took care of the Minotaurs and Hecate was just walking behind them leisurely.

    An hour passed before they came to a door. It was more like a large circle on the wall. As soon as they came closer, the door opened and they could see a Dragon. The only problem as that this dragon was undead and made out of bones, a dragolich. It roared as it rattled its bones.

    Hecate and Rena were slowly moving backwards as the Dragolich advanced towards them.. The Dragolich drew back its head and breathed out tremendously cold air around them, but Rune threw something into the air.

    It was a shield that expanded as soon as it left his hand. It blocked the cold breath and retaliated with a fiery burst. The Dragolich moved quickly out of the fire¡¯s way and the blast exploded the ceiling in a huge explosion. It turned to Rune.

    As it turned towards him, it realized that he wasn¡¯t where he was a few seconds ago and looked around. Rune was next to it tightening up several chains as the undead beast fell. Rune looked into it and saw several large, white crystals inside of its ribcage.

    Rune walked through its bones as it collapsed and he started to shove the crystals into his storage. The Dragolich roared in anger as Rune stole its crystals and, after Rune was done, its eyes started to fade. It stopped moving and sunk into Rune¡¯s storage.

    <You guys coming? I still need to kill that Belphegor.>

    Hecate and Rena were shivering as they thought that they were going to be killed. In fact, Rune actually cut out the source of its power which tainted the Dragon to become an undead. In most cases, nobody would be able to move the crystals and, even if they were stolen, they would have to go to another dimension to stop the false life of the Dragolich,

    Behind the circular door, there was a throne that was floating on a ball that had some red lights over it. It was moving around the room with a humanoid on it. It seemed to be a female Majin that had two horns longer than regular Majin and had a furry, black tail. She had claws at the end of her tail that carried a green orb.

    ¡°Zzzz...Zzzz...Zzzz¡­¡±

    It was sleeping in the chair as Rune approached. Suddenly, the tail moved as if it was its own entity and a bolt of green magic flew at Rune. Quickly, he cast [Earthen Shield] to block it. When it struck the wall of dirt, the dirt turned into a brown sludge that steamed.

    Suddenly, the Majin awoke and looked around lazily. Soon, she focused her eyes on Rune and yawned. Then she started to speak while trying to stay awake.

    ¡°I, aaaaaahhhh, I am Belphegor¡¯s candidate, Lafi. I just want to sleep now. Here.¡±

    The tail dropped the green orb on the floor and Lafi fell asleep. The chair moved around the room and the tail was trying to grab the orb that was on the ground.

    Rune picked up the orb and plopped it into his storage. Suddenly, a mist came out of Lafi and it formed into a black form with cat ears and had the body of a fat body. It had black feathers instead of fur and was slowly hovering towards Rune.

    It stopped in front of him and yawned. Then it turned its green eyes at him and opened its jaws to speak.

    ¡°I am Belphegor, the Sin of Sloth. Give me that orb.¡±

    Rune stabbed its face and it dispersed. Then he left the room and the two others followed him. Hecate turned to Rune as soon as they reached the entrance.

    ¡°I thought you were going to kill her. Why didn¡¯t you?¡±

    <I don¡¯t feel like killing people who don¡¯t show violence and give up what I want.>Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°What about sleeping people?¡±

    Rena was now asking him a question as he was now her instructor. She noticed that Belphegor was sleeping as well as giving up.

    <...I would kill a sleeping person.>

    <hr>

    ¡°I don¡¯t have to go in there, right? You can take care of this by yourself, right?¡±

    Hecate was talking about the vast sea in front of them. The surrounding area was murky and dark and the water was deep. They could see some tails and spikes from the water around them. Rena and Hecate were definitely scared.

    <Fine. I¡¯ll go and kill him real quick.>

    Hecate and Rena were staying on the beach nearby and had a small totem in between the two of them. The totem was in the shape of a small wolf. Rune had made a small charm that had Dreadful Aspect to spread bloodlust towards everyone except Rune, Rena, and Hecate. It also had the spell [Water Control] to automatically form a defensive barrier of water to defend against attacks, but it wasn¡¯t too powerful.

    Rune looked at the map in his hands and noticed that Leviathan¡¯s candidate was somewhat offshore and he had to go a bit into the sea first until he could reach it. He placed the map into his storage and whatever else would be damaged by water in there as well.

    He slowly crouched down and put his hands on grooved ice that he quickly formed under him. Then he kicked off the ground and sprinted to the position of the candidate¡¯s lair. Under him, the sea became ice with grooves so that he could have traction.

    With a full sprint, he ran forward and several sea monsters came up to meet him. There were serpents and large fish and even some squid-like beings, but, when they tried to intercept him, he chucked throwing knives with drain life enchantments in them and, when they died, he put them in his storage. He was basically a large hoarder now who randomly shoved whatever creature he killed into it.

    At some point, he reached where he wanted to go and he stood on the ice. He looked behind him to see his path that was now broken and were like small icebergs. He turned to look down at the water in front of him and he hesitated to go in. He was not about to go into dark, murky inhabited waters without the proper tactics.

    First, he took out the green orb he received from Lafi, the candidate of Sloth, and absorbed it. He heard a voice that kept yawning in his mind.

    {You have gotten a, aaaahh, a third gem of the Demon King¡­ I shall give you the power of Sloth¡­ You now can paralyze anyone who is not expecting it or make them, aaaaahh, make them sleep¡­ But now your corruption from the Demon King will increase¡­}

    Still doesn¡¯t affect me. Thank the gods for the random suit of armor in the forest, even if they didn¡¯t put it there.

    He took out a strange lantern shaped item that gave off a blindingly bright light and dropped it into the water. As it fell, he could see serpents moving around it and people-like shapes underwater. When it hit the bottom, he could see a large shadow that was larger than anything he had seen before. Rune guessed that that was either the guardian of the candidate, like how the Dragolich was the guardian for Lafi, or the candidate itself.

    He thought that it was one or the other because he knew that Leviathan was a large aberration that could devour entire towns or villages. This information was given to him by Hecate while discussing this mysterious Sin of Envy.

    Look at what you¡¯ve done! You are making me enter evil looking, strange as heck water!! You leave me no choice but to end you!!!

    Rune really didn¡¯t like whatever was going on down there, but he did want to take the Leviathan candidate¡¯s body. He mostly took the bodies because he found that they were usually made of special materials and had magic not found in the rest of Arborea. He also really wanted to make weapons and armor. Eventually, his goal was to make a school that he would run.

    He quickly chucked four more lantern far around him, then he did a pencil dive and dropped into the water. Some monsters attacked him, but he gripped their throats or bodies and crushed them in his grasp. When he reached the bottom, he heard a voice in his head speaking to him.

    <You¡­ You are an irregular in this world¡­ More than anyone else¡­ You want to stop me¡­ But I will kill you first¡­ I am the Leviathan¡­ Instead of a candidate¡­ I bring part of myself over¡­ I do this to bring about my ideals¡­ But I have never won¡­ Not even once¡­>

    <You want to kill me? Heck no! I¡¯ll murder the heck outta ya!!>

    <Go¡­ Go my minions¡­>

    Suddenly, hundred of creatures rushed Rune. There were multiple serpents and large crabs and even some small piranha-like fish attacking him. Rune just used a magic he got from Iram, [Ice Age], and froze the water around the monsters. They floated to the surface, dead as their blood vessels froze in them.

    Rune turned to look at the monsters dying as their eyes rolled up into their heads. He could see some frozen blood particles around him. Then he turned to the gargantuan beast in front of him.

    Leviathan was at least as long as a battleship from Earth with dark blue scales covering the top of him and light blue scales covering his stomach. It¡¯s face was like a trapezoid with the top being wider than the bottom. Its maw carried hundreds of large fangs and its eyes were a cold white. It had six arms with four claws on each. It looked like a large humanoid, but, instead of legs, it had six tentacles that ended in strange fins.

    It looked at him with curiosity and pity as it believed that he would soon die. When it saw that its minions died in a single attack, he became frustrated and irritated. Then he swiped at Rune with a paw.

    It struck Rune who was not able to move well underwater. It struck him and he was flung back into a rock pillar coming out from the ground. With the lanterns, Rune could see that the only enemy left was now just Leviathan.

    It roared at him and Rune could see a ripple through the water. Rune tried to pull out his shield, which, due to his poor naming sense, he named Flare Guard, but he was driven further into the rocks.

    Angered, Rune started to make a dome around him using [Water Control] and he started to run at Leviathan. He pulled out his Flare Guard and held it in front of him. Leviathan hit his shield and was instantly burned with fire.

    The fire wouldn''t be put out due to Rune using [Water Control] to constantly form a small oxygen barrier around the fire. Everytime Rune made a dome of air, it was filled with the oxygen and hydrogen that the water used to contain. This was because he used his magic to turn the water into the gases that made it up. However, he could only break it up and not produce water out of thin air unless there was moisture.

    It turned out that Leviathan¡¯s body was flammable as long as there was no water in it. Soon enough, all of its body was burning and it was screaming in pain. Rune then created a huge dome over himself and the aberration and pulled out his scythe.

    Rune ran up to the burning colossus and drove his scythe into its head. It exploded and the body fell. Rune put out the fire by drenching it with water and then put the body into his storage. Rune noticed a blue orb in the area where Leviathan was swimming. He quickly absorbed it without hesitation.

    {You have gotten a fourth gem of the Demon King¡­ I shall give you the power of Envy¡­ You now can send out a fierce bloodlust and crush enemies who are weaker than you¡­ But now your corruption from the Demon King will increase¡­}

    To get himself back to the surface quickly, he took out a teleportation stone. He absorbed it and gained a new skill, [Teleportation].

    This skill was definitely inferior to Lisbeth¡¯s [Teleportation] and was only able to go to landmarks and party members. Luckily, he was in a party with Rena who was gaining xp at a 1:99 rate where Renawas the 99%.

    <hr>

    Hecate was lying in the moonlight on a blanket. She was tired and wanted to eat some food as it was already midday. Rena was quietly sleeping in a curled up ball. She was likely dreaming of fancy things like mansions and steak.

    Suddenly, Rena heard Hecate make a surprised voice and she woke up suddenly. She moved her hand to her dual kamas when she noticed the dark armor in front of her.

    ¡°That was quick! About 10 minutes or so? That was faster than last time!¡±

    <If you are that impressed from me killing Leviathan, you should be impressed when you see me wipe out an army in a matter of moments.>

    Rune wasn¡¯t lying when he said that he could wipe out an army because his level became level 18. He gained more weapons and supplies and even gathered over a hundred corpses in his storage.

    <Anyway, let¡¯s go to that capital now. I want to make more weapons at home¡­>

 Chapter 13: The Hunt Begins

    It took quite some time to reach the capital from Leviathan¡¯s lair. On the way, Rune started to teach Rena how to kill something quickly and demonstrated it on five Majin bandits. He snapped three of their necks with a simple twist after getting around them and he decapitated the last two with just his hands.

    Rena tried to copy what he did and she ended up getting the skill [Quick Step] to move quickly. The three of them finally made it to the capital sometime during noon and reached a large gate and a wall.

    ¡°Halt! Are you with lucifer or are you with Satan?¡±

    Rune didn¡¯t turn to Hecate, but used telepathy to talk to only her.

    <Is the capital only controlled by Lucifer and Satan?>

    Hecate slightly nodded enough so that only Rune noticed. Then Rune thought for a moment to answer the Majin guards.

    <What if we say that we are with Satan?>

    ¡°Then you will DIE!!! Glory to Lucifer!!¡±

    <Bad answer.>

    As the Majin reached for their swords, they seemed to disappear and reappear in the walls. Their bodies were crushed into the walls and leaking blood from every wound that they just received in their body.

    Rune walked up to the gate and used [Frozen Touch] to freeze it and he punched it once it was frozen. It shattered into millions of fragments and fell into the moat.

    He turned to Hecate and Rena and handed them necklaces and placed one on himself. They were necklaces that bent the light using Light magic crystals. No one could see them, but they could see each other.

    ¡°Why do you have everything for every situation? Why would you even have an exploding scythe, a trident, an executioner¡¯s axe, and even an invisibility amulet?¡±

    <Because I might need to explode my enemies or be invisible to murder my enemies.>

    ¡°Why does everything include murder?!¡±

    <Murdering can be a form of protection. You murder before you are murdered.>

    The three of them got onto Rune¡¯s floating platform and moved towards Lucifer¡¯s castle. While they were flying, Hecate and Rena were asking him what else he had in his storage.

    ¡°Do you have a crossbow or bow that never misses?¡±

    <No.>

    ¡°How about a blade that can cut someone from far away.¡±

    <Actually, I do that that¡­>

    ¡°Really? What about a¡­¡±

    The questions felt endless as they pestered him persistently. They asked about 80 questions before they were hovering over Lucifer¡¯s castle. Hela was telling Rune that Lucifer was in the top floor again, but Beelzebub was likely by Lucifer¡¯s side.

    Rune did not want to wait any longer to get back home. Deciding to end this quickly, he jumped from the platform for the second time.

    Lucifer¡¯s candidate was a female Majin who turned into a being with black bird wings. Her name was Ena and she had gathered over 1,000,000 followers. She was a special Majin who had even more magical power than regular Majin warlocks.

    People both feared and admired her and decided that it was better to not get in her way. At her side was the Beelzebub candidate who was a fat blob of a Majin. He decided that it would be best to give Lucifer¡¯s candidate his gem and stay by her side than be wiped out and lose the gem anyway.

    It was the first time an ¡°alliance¡± was formed between the parties and there were some problems. Mainly that Beelzebub¡¯s candidate was mooching off of Lucifer¡¯s Candidate¡¯s glory and wealth.

    At the moment, the two of them were in a meeting with four other Majin to decide how to get rid of Satan¡¯s candidate who had as much power as her. They sat in a small oval table with ten elite guards watching over them.

    Suddenly, something fell through the ceiling and crashed into three of the guards who died immediately. The other 13 Majins turned towards the sound and looked as something got up.

    Rune was covered in blood after landing and had one of his hands inside the left lung of an elite guard. He pulled his hand free to find the lung still stuck on him and he crushed it.

    Then he got up and looked towards the other and nonchalantly rolled some cylindrical devices within the cover of the dust. When the dust dispersed, Ena could see Rune and was staring at hi closely.

    ¡°Who are you? One of Satan¡¯s spies?¡±

    <No. I am just a person with a job.>

    ¡°...And what is your job?¡±

    <I am here to either take your Demon King gems or to kill you and take them.>

    ¡°Ha! You think you can take mine?! Go kill the others first and we¡¯ll see if you¡¯re worthy enough to fight me.¡±

    <So you are saying that I should kill Satan¡¯s candidate and come back?>

    ¡°No. Kill Leviathan, Belphegor, Mammon, and Asmodeus before coming back.¡±

    <Then I can kill you now.>

    ¡°What?!¡±

    Rune detonated his grenades that he dropped and 11 Majin died in the explosions. Their internal organs flew everywhere as they stopped living.

    ¡°Beelzebub!! Go kill him!!¡±

    The candidate of Beelzebub rushed at Rune, but he was slow. Far too slow for Rune and was obliterated with an open palm thrust. His remains were painted all over the nearby wall and his bones were crushed into dust.

    ¡°H-hey!! Y-you can¡¯t!! I still have yet to unite the people!! Satan will just ruin them!!¡±

    <Here. I¡¯ll make a compromise. Hand over your gems and live or I¡¯ll kill you. If I let you live, you can become the empress or whatever after I kill Satan.>

    ¡°...¡±

    Ena had to think about this. She wanted to help the people under her and didn¡¯t want to die, but she wanted to get all the gems. She turned to look at the 14 other dead Majin around her.

    ¡°Ok. Deal. Here are Lucifer and Beelzebub¡¯s gems. Just let me live, ok?¡±

    <Yes. However, you owe me a favor. I will call upon it later if I need it as well as an alliance exclusively between us, Empress of Majin.>

    He held out his hand and Ena timidly shook it. She did not want to make an enemy out of this man who was standing in front of her.

    <So, I will help you out if you ever need it and if I deem it acceptable, but, in return, you must help me with something of my choosing.>

    ¡°I-I understand. Thank you for your generosity.¡±

    <Well, then. I suppose it is time to kill Stan¡¯s candidate now.>

    Rune put on his invisibility amulet again and teleported to Rena who was sitting on the floating platform.

    <We are heading towards Satan¡¯s candidate now. Let¡¯s begin the hunt.>

    <hr>

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard that he is a tricky fellow to find. He is always on the move and usually goes to bars and clubs. He likes to party and to start fights. People are only under him for fear of death.¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    <Then we had better get started. Which bars does he frequently go to?>

    ¡°He usually goes to The Towering Well and Betelgeuse''s Circle. I suggest going to The Towering Well first since he goes there more often.¡±

    <Ok.>

    Hecate had already done some research on each of the Demon King Candidates, but knew very little about each one.

    They reached the bar and Rune walked in with Rena. Hecate was going to stay on the roof to tell them if anything happened around them. The two others were given a magic tool to communicate using telepathy that Rune called ¡°Comms¡±.

    They were small devices that one would put in either ear. They had a good range of 300 ft and any distance from 300-1000 ft would be broken and harder to communicate.

    While developing these, Rune thought about how long it would take this world to create guns and computers. He knew that at least two people in his class, Jared and Kelly, were computer people who liked to build their own machines. They would likely be the ones introducing this technology, even if it wasn¡¯t perfect.

    Rune pushed open the wooden double doors and was confronted with a terrible smell. The smell of alcohol entered his senses as the two of them entered and Rena started to clamp her nose.

    In the bar, there were table and an actual bar with three people manning the single bar. There were two waitress that brought out ale and mead to the customers and the drank and talked loudly. It was the kind of place Rune would not want to be in.

    In fact, to him alcohol ruined his senses and he would use other drinks instead of alcohol. On Earth, he already had lined up several sodas and energy drinks, but here he just didn¡¯t have to drink anything at all. He could if he wanted to and he could taste it too, but he didn¡¯t feel hunger or thirst. His new body made his three human necessities into wants with eating, sleeping, and oxygen.

    ¡°Hey, missy! You don¡¯t like drinks, eh?¡±

    A large Majin with a huge, bushy beard turned his head to look at Rena who was clamping her nose. In his hand was a huge cup that could fit a gallon and there was just mead filled to the brim. Then he took a huge swig and downed over half of it in a single gulp.

    ¡°Hey, boyo! Let me have your woman for a bit!¡±

    ¡°I-I¡¯m not his woman!¡±

    Wrong answer. If you say you aren¡¯t with me, you will likely be attacked. Probably in more ways than one. I can¡¯t believe this. If they start a fight now, I gotta kill them. I don¡¯t want to get blood that smells of alcohol on my armor.

    The man with a large beard sighed and snapped his fingers. Everyone at the bar stood up and pulled out knives. The Majin turned to Rena and talked with lust filling his eyes.

    ¡°Tis a bit sad to have the woman you are with be ravaged by us. Well, we have to kill you now. Then we can present her to Satan¡¯s candidate.¡±

    Ten Majin jumped at Rune and plunged their blades into every single vital area on a person. They hit the brain, neck, heart, liver, intestines, and other places. Rune fell to the floor with the knives sticking out of him like an insect on display with pins inside of it.

    ¡°Look what we did to your man, missy! Now it is time to mess you up!¡±

    ¡°Nooooooo!!¡±

    ¡°Hahaha-¡±

    The fifteen Majin steadily walked towards Rena as she screamed in terror. She saw her instructor fall and she felt like she lost hope. The men drew nearer and nearer, but never came.

    Instead, Rune came to them and stabbed each and every one of their faces with their own knives and, as for the other five, he ripped out the spinal columns of some Majin and stabbed it through them like he was spearing fish.

    The Majin with a bushy beard looked in disbelief and Rena looked in awe as Rune stood up. Fifteen people died in a flash and now it was the Majin with a beard¡¯s turn to die.

    ¡°W-wait!!! I-I can do anything you ask!! Please, just let me live!!¡±

    In his mind, he was thinking that he would bring Satan¡¯s candidate over to kill him once he left, but Rune¡¯s response made him confused.

    ¡°Y-yes!!¡±

    Quickly, the Majin opened up his jacket to reveal an orb. He grasped it and closed his eyes.

    ¡°There. I did it. Now you will let me leave, right?¡±

    <Didn¡¯t you realize that I said ¡°you live right now¡±? That means you only had until you contacted Satan¡¯s candidate to live. It was you who misinterpreted my words, fool.>

    The Majin had a look of fear covering his face and he shook all over. Rune stretched out his hand to his face and the last thing he saw was the dark armor of Rune crushing his skull.

    <hr>

    ¡°This better be it. I heard Oleg say that there was a strong person in The Towering Well and that they were looking for me. I want to see him before I kill him.¡±

    It was Satan¡¯s candidate who was now walking up to the bar. As he got closer, he could see the windows that used to be clear were now a reddish color. It was as if someone was painting windows with blood.

    Satan¡¯s candidate was by far the strongest candidate there was if deciding on raw strength alone. In fact, he was more powerful than all the other candidates except Lucifer¡¯s combined. His name was More and was a muscly Majin with elongated horns and black, leathery wings sprouting from his back. He wore adamantite gauntlets with sharp fingers at the end of them.

    He walked up to the door and kicked it open yakuza style. The door split open and part of the wall exploded in splinters and there was bent metal shrapnel everywhere. Inside, he saw Rune and Rena who were readying their weapons. Rune rushed at More and stabbed him in the heart.

    More was faster though and blocked it. Rune¡¯s knife snapped and he took a step back.

    ¡°Are you the ones who killed my subordinates? This will disgrace my name if this incident is leaked to the public. I will kill you!!!¡±

    Flames started to erupt around Rune and they started to heat his armor until they became white. It started to melt and he tried to escape, but he was locked in place. More was holding him down with his bare hands as Rune¡¯s armor melted.

    Rena watched in horror as her mentor melted into a puddle of metal in an instant. More turned to Rena and laughed at her despair.

    ¡°HA!!! He was so WEAK!! Look at him now! Just a puddle in the floor!!!¡±

    Rena moved to the wall and was sliding down it with a cold feeling moving down her spine. More moved up to her and grasped her lower jaw and forced her to look up at him. He grinned an evil grin as wide as a crescent moon.

    <hr>

    That person!!! He will die!!! He melted my armor in an instant!! That heck!!

    Rune had lost his cold steel armor and was in the middle of being transported to his back up plan. Suddenly, his blood red wispy form appeared in his lab where his project was located. He felt a strong pull and was shoved into the new project.

    He had kept all his skills, magic, titles, stuff, and his stats, but lost his main body. His new body was very similar to his old one, but was made of a new metal that he had developed. He made it by liquefying magic stones, cold steel, and mana infused orichalcum metal and fusing them all together. It gave him a boost in magic abilities and the power to use every element with just his hands.

    He chose to only give the armor one pair of ram horns as well as smooth pauldrons. It was also more slender, but the same height so that he could more faster and execute his attacks more efficiently.

    He was also extremely pissed at Satan¡¯s candidate for killing him. In his lab, he made it so that one second outside was one hour inside the lab. He originally used this make his projects faster, but now he was using it to absorb all the bodies in his inventory.

    He started consuming them like crazy and, as some point, he was able to absorb organic material as well as absorb them on touch. He consumed his Ice Devils, Imps, Horned Devils, Pit Fiend corpse, Tanarukks, Shoosuvas, Maw Demons, and sea monsters. Now it was the main event.

    He took out Leviathan, Mammon, two orbs, and the Dragolich bones. Then he started to absorb them.

    <hr>

    ¡°Where is your savior now!? I will kill all of you!! Ha ha ha!! I defeated your friend sooooooo easily!!¡±

    More was chuckling to himself while talking to Rena. She was now bound in rope and he was in the middle of hanging her from the ceiling of the porch with a hook on her ropes. He was going to use her as a punching bag to take out his anger. Of course, she likely wouldn¡¯t survive the first attack.

    He was drawing his hand back and was about to punch. Rena closed her eyes, but the punch never came. Instead, there was a loud roar.

    Rena peaked open her eyes to see a huge dragon flying towards them. It was a black color and was rushing at them with immense speed. More just grinned and started to speak.

    ¡°Here is my ride, fool. I will let him eat you instead of me punching you. Hahaha-¡±

    He stopped laughing for the black dragon was hit by something in midair. It was like a huge, white bullet as flesh flew around the surrounding area. Then a new dragon took its place. This time, it was three time the size of the black dragon and was white.

    ¡°What the-¡±

    The dragon let out a streak of cold air as it flew at More with a speed faster than he could dodge. It struck him and he literally froze in place. Then the dragon landed and Rena started to expect her doom and Hecate, who was hiding on the roof, was holding herself and rocking back and forth.

    <You!!! You hecking Satan¡¯s candidate!!! I will kill you and absorb you!!! I had to travel half a world over to get here, but I do have to thank you. You helped me get this much stronger after killing me!!!>

    The candidate paled as it realized who the dragon was. It was Rune who was extremely pissed at the Majin. Rune drew closer to him and opened his maw and promptly at the Majin¡¯s head followed by the rest of its body.

    Rune roared in a loud, audible roar and Rena could now see the white dragon¡¯s body in more detail. She was still unaware that it was Rune for he only used telepathy on More.

    Its scales were not actually scales, but shining metal that was linked closely and was in the shape of scales. It had an eye that was not normal with a glowing, blood red pupil and, instead of the whites of the eyes being white, it was black. It claws were serrated and seemed to be glowing with Light and Dark magic surrounding it.

    It did have wings, but they were made of ice that seemed to have melted when it landed. Its teeth seemed to be made of cold steel and its tongue was just darkness.

    It seemed to morph and change into a humanoid figure and what came out was Rune, except the armor had one pair of ram horns and the color of the armor was a night black. It had two glowing dots where its eyes would be.

    ¡°Rune!!!???¡±

    ¡°What? Rune!!!¡±

    Rena and Hecate were looking at the figure as it was getting Rena down.

    <That stupid heck!! He thinks that he could just break my body and get away with it? Karma, fool!!!>

    ¡°How did you survive?! I saw you turn into a puddle!!¡±

    Rena was shocked and amazed as her previously thought to be dead mentor unbound her.

    <You see¡­ I actually am Cursed Armor. I have a human soul though and, when my body broke, I was pulled into the body I prepared beforehand. I¡¯ll talk about it on the way. We have to go meet the Majin Empress¡­>

 Chapter 14: Rewards

    Rune was walking towards Lucifer¡¯s candidate¡¯s castle. He told Rena and Hecate about what he did to get to be a Marquis and what he did in his free time.

    He was also able to absorb the Black gem hooked onto More¡¯s belt and gained the title of Demon King. He didn¡¯t know how humans dealt with the Demon King as its stats were squared. It was likely that, if the stats were low, the Demon King would be weak, but, if they were as strong as Rune, then their stats would reach the five digits.

    He was now a cheat character with the stats given below:

    Rune Samuv: Level 18 5,500/13,107,200 Class: Enchanter

    Endurance Mobility Strength

    (140 squared)19,600 (112 squared)12,544 (134 squared)17,956

    Magic: 133,350,000 mp

    Magic Gain Per Second: 1,333,500 mp/s

    Skills:

    C -Lv 8 [Analyze]: Can see dexterity of objects and what it¡¯s base material is.

    S -Lv 1 [Elemental Touch]: Can use any chosen element on touch.

    A -Lv 3 [Extreme Stroke]: A single strike that uses 500% more damage for magic or weapons.

    SSS -Lv 9 [High Absorb]: Can take in non-living objects and use their properties.

    S -Lv 1 [Iram¡¯s Grip]: User can block ice attacks in a radius of 10 ft if active. User can freeze anything in a 10 ft radius.

    D -Lv 6 [Protection]: Protects owner from weaker status affects.

    S -Lv 1 [Shapeshift]: Turn into White Dragon, Leviathan, Ice/Horned Devil, Imp, Pit Fiend.

    C -Lv 7 [Sharp Extremity]: Can cut through even obsidian or cold steel.

    A -Lv 8 [Storage Greater]: Can carry large items.

    S -Lv 2 [Teleport]: Move to a landmark or a party member.

    A -Lv 5 [Vajra]: Hardens the owner¡¯s skin or armor to the point where only those stronger than user can deal a fraction of their full damage.

    Magic:

    B -Lv 4 [Bind]: Can paralyze enemies weaker than user.

    C -Lv 10 [Blindness]: Blind an enemy temporarily.

    C -Lv 2 [Cure]: Heal internal attacks like diseases and curses.

    B -Lv 6 [Earthen Shield]: Create a barrier of stone.

    C -Lv 4 [Enchant]: Can put minor enchantments on inanimate objects.

    C -Lv 10 [Fireball]: Create a small fireball to chuck at enemy.

    F -Lv 8 [Heal]: Cure small wounds and small status effects.

    SS -Lv 9 [Higher Transmutation]: Can fuse inanimate objects and change its shape and small properties.

    S -Lv 2 [Ice Age]: Turn any designated fluid around into ice and freeze the temperature.

    C -Lv 7 [Ice Lance]: Create Ice lances to throw it through the air.

    S -Lv 1 [Iram¡¯s Curse]: User can have blades move from his body, but has to stay connected to gain user¡¯s effects. Grants user Immediate repair to all equipment on their person.

    C -Lv 8 [Lightning Grip]: An electrifying touch.

    C -Lv 3 [Quiet]: Make a small area in your range not allow sounds in or out.

    A -Lv 10 [Telepathy]: Talk through minds and translate into any language.

    B -Lv 7 [Ultimate Shine]: Shine a light that can become as bright as sunlight.

    A -Lv 10 [Water Control]: Control water to move at your will.

    D -Lv 6 [Water Ball]: Create a ball of water.

    F -Lv 9 [Wind Strike]: Send wind to cut an enemy.

    Titles:

    A -Slayer: Knows attack patterns of monsters that title carrier has killed and knows their strength and weaknesses.

    S -Holder of Iram: Highly resistant to ice and cold damage and can use [Iram¡¯s Grip]

    SS -Envy¡¯s Chosen: Send out Bloodlust or crush enemies weaker than owner anytime.

    SS -Gluttony¡¯s Chosen: Ability to eat anything one touches that is weaker than user.

    SS -Greed¡¯s Chosen: Steal anything in one¡¯s sight three times per day.

    SS -Lust¡¯s Chosen: Charm or persuade anyone who is not aware of it three times per day.

    SS -Pride¡¯s Chosen: Ability to see a bit in the future three times per day and gain respect faster.

    SS -Sloth¡¯s Chosen: Paralyze anyone or make them sleep three times per day.

    SS -Wrath¡¯s Chosen: Deal explosive blows and enough force to destroy adamantite with one hand.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    Unique Titles:

    SSSS -Demon King: The one being worshipped by Majin and has every attribute squared.

    Immunities:

    -Poison, Psychic, Sleep, Fatigue, Oxygen, Dark

    Essentially, the only thing that could inconvenience him would be a god or lack of information. He had managed to not gain any abnormalities from the Curse of the Demon King that he had before he absorbed all seven gems.

    No one could oppose him and, if they did, they would likely not leave a single trace of their being.

    <hr>

    It took a few minutes to reach the castle and Rena and Hecate still had more questions. They wanted to know things like what it was like to be armor and how Rune got the ability to absorb things.

    As the three walked up to the keep, ten guards moved to block their path.

    ¡°Halt!! Who goes there!? Only designated individuals are allowed here!!¡±

    <Did she not tell you? I am Rune.>

    ¡°Don¡¯t take another step!!¡±

    Rune was getting frustrated as the guards did not move from their perch. He took one step towards them and reached out into the air to grasp his scythe. Surprisingly, a feminine voice appeared behind the guards.

    ¡°STOP!!! If you even lay a hand on him, we will all be killed!!!¡±

    It was Ena who was rushing over to the guards. She forced them to lower their spears with her bare hands and looked at Rune.

    ¡°Ahhh¡­ Sorry about that. I see that you are a bit different. Did you kill Satan¡¯s candidate?¡±

    <Of course. I even became the Demon King. I forgot to ask before, but what is your name, Majin Empress?>

    ¡°Y-you¡­ Demon King? Uh¡­ I-I¡¯m Ena¡­>

    The ten guards moved away as they saw how Ena acted and they bowed their heads. They started to kneel when Rune told them that he was the Demon King.

    <Well, I have come here to tell you that you and Lafi, Belphegor¡¯s candidate, are the only ones left, but Lafi seems to just want to sleep. Since that is the case, you will unite the rest of the Majin and I will head back. I don¡¯t intend on ruling the world, but I will kill whoever gets in my way.>

    ¡°...Anyway, good luck getting back to the Human Continent¡­¡±

    <Yup. Bye.>

    Rune¡¯s thinking was that it would be a great idea to build up connections in case he need help for something like wealth or power. To have the newly appointed Majin Empress and the King of Storveld as his two main connections, he was already powerful.

    He promptly grabbed onto Rena and Hecate¡¯s wrists and they seemed to almost let out their complaints when their scenery suddenly changed. They now appeared in front of the king¡¯s palace in the capital.

    He used [Teleport] to move to a landmark known as the King¡¯s Palace. Suddenly, Hecate held her mouth and turned to the left and right, looking for a place to throw up. Rena just held her head and stood still for a moment.

    Rune walked up to a pair of guards and started to talk when they cut him off.

    ¡°You are Rune, correct? The king is expecting an audience with you as soon as you have come back to this country.

    <hr>

    Rune was led to the throne room by the black knight who had rushed over to him several minutes earlier. They moved to the doorway of the throne room which was open and they entered.

    What they saw was a scene straight out of a nightmare. Twenty guards were strewn all around the room as their organs fell out. Blood dripped from the walls and chandeliers and the king had a spear going through him.

    He was wearing his white suit of armor and the spear forced him to stay connected to his throne. He was dribbling blood from his mouth and blood gushed from the wound in the heart.

    ¡°Oh no!!!! King!!!¡±

    The black knight ran to the king and removed the spear out of him, but he stayed in the same position. Suddenly, the king fizzled out of existence and the knight was baffled.

    Out from behind the throne, a man moved and started to speak.

    ¡°What? You thought that that was actually me? I am always prepared for situations like these.¡±

    It was the king in his white armor except he seemed to be perfectly fine. He walked forward without any injury and did a light chop to the black knight¡¯s head.

    ¡°That was just an illusion. Didn¡¯t I tell you? Illusions are my specialty.¡±

    ¡°T-then what about the spear?¡±

    ¡°My illusion had to react to actual objects. Anyways, Rune. I see that you completed your mission. Good job.¡±

    ¡°What about the guards?¡±

    The black knight was shaken and looking at the twenty guards around the room. The king gave him a quick answer before leading Rune to a room behind the throne.

    ¡°They¡¯re dolls. Come on. Let¡¯s go talk about what you¡¯ve learned.¡±

    The king put his arm around Rune and dragged him off as the black knight sunk to his knees. His face was that of disbelief as he saw his fake comrades. He seemed to be traumitized.

    ¡°Don¡¯t just stare and look at the doll guards. Come on.¡±

    The king just casually dropped two bombs. One that he was alive and the other that the guards were doll replacements for the real guards. The real guards were acting as regular guards outside of the throne room so they were fine.

    The king led the four of them inside of a room with a door that seemed to meld into the wall as it was camouflaged. Inside was a round table with six seats around it and there was a plate of bread in the center.

    Rune took a seat opposite of the king and Rena and Hecate were on either side of Rune. The black knight was to the right of the king.

    ¡°So, Hecate, Rune, who is this?¡±

    The king gestured to Rena who was hiding her face.

    <She is my apprentice.>

    ¡°Since she wasn¡¯t with you before you went, could she be a Majin?¡±

    <...Yes?>

    ¡°Get her out-¡±

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s fine. As long as she doesn¡¯t do anything wrong here. I¡¯m not about to discriminate against the apprentice of someone who survived the seven demon king candidates. So what information can you bring me about them?¡±

    <Five out of seven are dead due my hand, one is sleeping, the other is now the Majin Empress.>

    ¡°Oooohhh. Good work!¡±

    <Also, apparently, for future reference, there are seven gems given to the demon king candidates by each of the seven gates of hell. Leviathan actually comes to Arborea himself instead of using a candidate. Anyway, the other two left should be peaceful. Especially, Lafi, the sloth.>

    ¡°And why is that?¡±

    <It¡¯s because she just handed her gem to me and started to sleep. Then, Ena, the pride, became the Majin Empress due to others conceding control. Apparently, they all fear me as I have gained the title of Demon King.>

    ¡°What!!! Die!!!¡±

    ¡°Oi! Stop it. Isn¡¯t it obvious that he is on our side? Don¡¯t just keep trying to kick people out or killing them. I am the king and that is final.¡±

    <Yeah¡­ Anyway, I¡¯m just gonna go back home now. Is there a reward?>

    ¡°Yep. It¡¯ll be delivered to you as soon as it is collected.¡±

    <Ok. I¡¯ll be going now. Come on Rena.>

    Rune and Rena left the room and exited the palace as they headed towards Rune¡¯s mansion. It had been about three days since he first left and he was finally coming back home.

    <Oh. I forgot to ask about why his throne room was all bloody like that. Oh well. Come on, Rena. I think I¡¯m going to build a school. No. A fiefdom of students.>

    ¡°I¡¯ll still be your favorite student, right?¡±

    <...Probably...>

    <hr>

    Sulking on the way, Rena was following behind Rune as they soon reached the gates and was greeted by two guards. They both saluted to him and opened the door.

    Rune walked in and Rena followed. They passed through a huge garden before reaching the front door. Rune knocked on the door and the head maid answered.

    ¡°Hello, Master Rune. I shall announce your presence to the young miss and madam.¡±

    She quickly hurried to the tell Sophia and Rune sat down on the foyer sofa. Rena followed suit and sighed. Then she stretched her arms and legs and waited.

    After a small bit of waiting, Sophia ran to the foyer with Roxana and Lisbeth tailing behind her. Sophia jumped onto Rune and hugged him.

    ¡°You¡¯re back!!!¡±

    <Yeah. Well, I mean, I came back for a minute yesterday, but I had to immediately go back to the Majin Country.>

    Sophia was busy rubbing her face on Rune¡¯s helmet and Roxana was moving towards Rena.

    ¡°...Who are you?¡±

    <Roxana, you should say that more politely.>

    ¡°...Oh, sorry... Hello, I am Roxana... May I please know your name?¡±

    Rune stopped moving. Then he looked at Lisbeth who just grinned. He didn¡¯t expect Roxana to be able to speak in such a polite manner.

    ¡°I am Rena, the first disciple of master Rune. Who might you and this woman clinging onto Rune be?¡±

    <This is Sophia, my wife, and this is Roxana as she told you, my adopted daughter. Didn¡¯t you wonder who I was talking about when I said wife?>

    ¡°Your armor looks different. Why?¡±

    <I had to come back and upgrade. Oh, I am apparently now the most feared being in the Majin Country. Especially after gaining the title of Demon King.>

    There was some silence after that, but then Sophia grinned and kept on rubbing her face on him.

    <Anyway¡­ I was thinking that I should start up a couple buildings to create a school of students as well as a lab to research multiple items of interest.>

 Chapter 15: How Many are There?

    Rune opened the door to find three people panting and a large box that was over three times the size of Rune on his porch. One of the three men spoke.

    ¡°Here is the reward as promised from the king.¡±

    <Ah¡­ Thanks¡­>

    The three men left and Rune was left on the porch with a huge box. He put it into his storage and moved it into the lab. He placed the box upright and opened the lid.

    Inside were two letters and something long wrapped in cloth. There was also a huge bag of multiple things. Rune opened both of the two letters and read them.

    ¡°Hello Marquis Rune,

    It has come to my attention that you are a force greater than any other in this world. It seems that there are many organizations out to capture you, so be wary. You have likely created some defense mechanisms to protect you and your family, but I recommend moving out. I have hired several contractors to help build a wonderful place to live in on the Shimmering Plains.

    Do not worry. Your staff will be the same, but you can do whatever you want within the property itself. You are allowed to build anything that you wish as long as it is within your budget of one million gold pieces. Don¡¯t worry. Whatever you don¡¯t use for building will be given to you.

    Sincerely,

    King Leo Regis Domini¡±

    The second letter actually contained a map of the area in which the building would be built in. There was also a small note saying that they should be ready to build in a couple days, but Rune needed to meet up with the contractors as soon as he could.

    Then he put aside the two letters and opened the bag. Inside was a lot of gold coins with a small letter saying that this was the reward for defeating five out of seven demon king candidates. He counted it all up to about three thousand gold coins.

    Then he placed it all in his storage and unwrapped the thing in cloth.

    It was a long spear that was made of gold. It had jewels embedded into the spear head. There was a note on it saying that this spear was known as Gungnir.

    Apparently it had several abilities. Its two powerful traits were to shapeshift one¡¯s form and create illusions. The shapeshifting actually kept the user¡¯s soul, but morphed their physical body without illusions.

    The illusions that it could create are auditory, visual, and smells as well as touch. Essentially, all senses except taste could be produced.

    Rune absorbed Gungnir and gained the ability to shapeshift into any humanoid race as well as gained the magic, [Masterful Illusion]. His new found shapeshift allowed him to turn into a human, but he could not choose its features.

    He moved out of the lab and walked towards Sophia who was snoozing on the sofa in the living room. She was curled up in a ball and was making soft breaths as she breathed. Rune carefully shook her awake.

    ¡°W-what?¡±

    <I think I can turn into a human now. Want to see?>

    ¡°Huh?! You can?! Great!! Let me see!!¡±

    She snapped out of her sleepy state and sat upright. She was looking at Rune expectantly as he used the shapeshift skill to turn into a human.

    He used the skill and it seemed like nothing changed. His armor was still there, but, in reality, Rune had turned into a human, but only his red energy-like thing inside the armor had. He could now take off his armor, but, as soon as he becomes a Cursed Armor again, he would automatically be in the suit of armor.

    Rune took off his helmet and Sophia could see Rune¡¯s human face. She gasped in happiness as she saw a man with a good looking face. His irises in his eyes were a blood red and his hair was snow white with black highlights at the tips.

    ¡°I wonder if I can¡­! I can speak!!¡±

    ¡°Yay!!!¡±

    Sophia pushed the books off of her and jumped onto Rune who was still surprised. The only problem now was that he was not sure if he could survive being stabbed in the face now.

    He still retained the condition immunities of Dark, Psychic, and Poison attacks and was sure that those three were resistances that the Demon King had. But he also regained his need to eat, sleep, rest, and breath.

    ¡°This is pretty cool. Ah, but first I need some clothes¡­¡±

    Sophia dragged him to the lab where she entered. After a couple seconds, she came out holding dark colored clothes. There was a pair of pants, a shirt, and a long jacket that went down to his knees.

    The pants had a belt on it with several pouches and even two sheaths for knives. The shirt was like a t-shirt with a grey color and golden outlines for a design. The design was something from Norse mythology known as the Triple Horn of Odin. It looked like three horns with a dragon design inside each horn and they were overlapping each other. This design was placed in the center of the shirt.

    The symbol was the physical sign of commitment and wisdom. On his jacket was two pauldrons that were just large enough for Rune to put over his shoulders.

    Rune gratefully accepted the clothes and took them to his room. He came back after a moment and was now wearing the clothes. He had put his armor into his storage, but had kept his greaves and gauntlets on his hands and feet.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    Apparently, there were many people transferred from another world in the past. About one thousand people were moved from Rune¡¯s first world, Earth, but did not receive any skills or cheats. Among the thousand, there were three people who had much knowledge of Norse mythology which allowed for myths to be known as small fairy tales. People were apparently brought during different time periods with the Celtic, Nordic, Medieval, etc. being from different eras. The only similarity was that they had not yet developed guns or weapons using gunpowder.

    When others came, they brought more knowledge of different religions and stories. This resulted in the birth of what used to be legendary weapons from Earth being true relics in Arborea. Thus why many symbols appeared as well.

    Gungnir was one of those weapons as well as Excalibur, Zeus¡¯s Lightning Bolt, Gram, etc. None of their gods had come to Arborea, but they were certainly busying themselves with Earth. Many of the weapons were made as their descriptions had decided their abilities and most were in possession by the Human and Elf continents.

    Rune stretched his arms and yawned for the first time since he had come to this world and he was happy. Although, not as happy as Sophia who was talking about what things they could do together now.

    ¡°Ah, but first¡­¡±

    Sophia embraced Rune and gave him a kiss on the lips before letting him go. She looked into his eyes with a wry grin on her face.

    Suddenly, a small voice appeared out of nowhere and the couple turned their heads.

    ¡°Ah!! Who are you!!!¡±

    It was Roxana who was too surprised to speak in her regular style of speaking. She was pointing at Rune who was still being gripped by Sophia.

    ¡°Now now, Roxana. This is papa. Rune just gained the ability to become human.¡±

    ¡°Wha?! Papa?!¡±

    ¡°Ahh¡­ Yep. It¡¯s me. Oh. It feels so strange being able to talk after three months¡­¡±

    Roxana calmed down and started to speak in her usual style.

    ¡°...Papa...You could talk before?¡±

    ¡°Ah, um. Yes, it was before my original body was...I probably shouldn¡¯t say this to a child¡­¡±

    Suddenly Rena came around the corner and pointed at Rune.

    ¡°Ahhh!!!! Who are you?!?! Why do you have master¡¯s gauntlets and greaves?!?!¡±

    She grabbed her two kamas from her waist and leaped at Rune, but he dodged easily. It seemed that his stats stayed the same. He lifted his leg and Rena tripped as she flew by him.

    ¡°I would think that you would recognize your master even when he changes into a human. My my, how disappointing.¡±

    He put his hand on his face and slightly shook his head from side to side while chuckling.

    ¡°M-master!!??¡±

    ¡°Anyways, come on you three. We need to go build that new building.¡±

    ¡°What!?¡±

    All three of them asked at the same time and he sighed. Then he smiled as he could now sigh.

    ¡°Ahhh. It¡¯s been far too long since I actually sighed. Right now, we are going to meet up with some contractors to build our new home as well as a place for me to teach new students.¡±

    ¡°So you plan on making competition for the spot of number one student¡­¡±

    ¡°...Sure? I just wanted to teach people about multiple different fighting styles so that they can get stronger. Apparently, humans, elves, and beast folk are not as powerful as they were during the last Demon King attack. I gotta get them ready for anything, like another Demon King or the apocalypse.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you the Demon King?¡±

    ¡°Ah! Your right! I should ask Ena if there would be anyone who would want to be my student. Majin are very patient and learn pretty easily.¡±

    ¡°N-no. I think that is just me¡­¡±

    <hr>

    Currently, Rune was going to go to the Shimmering Plains to see the contractors. He had brought the others along because they would be building a place to live there together as well as where Rune would build his school to teach people about his techniques.

    He was actually quite excited when he got the money to do so as well as the Gungnir he got and his new human form. He also wanted to try his Majin form, but decided that he would do it later in the lab. Right now, his only objective was the school.

    He eventually reached the designated place and he saw a flat area with many people around a table. There were many wooden planks and materials all around.

    There was a man who particularly stood out from the crowd. He was carrying a sheet of paper and was sitting in a chair. He was the only one who was wearing dark clothing while everyone else wore white t-shirts. The man turned towards Rune who was walking up to them and stood up.

    ¡°Are you the contractee?¡±

    Rune was took far away to actually speak and he did not want to yell like what the man did. Also, it was apparent to him that one of his defining traits was telepathy.

    <I am Rune. I have some suggestions for this project.?

    ¡°So you are Rune, huh? I thought you only wore armor.¡±

    <Well, recently, I was able to get out of the cursed armor. I was stuck for quite some time.>

    ¡°So what d¡¯ya have in mind?¡±

    <Ok¡­>

    <hr>

    ¡°I see! I would like to send my children there!¡±

    <Huh? But why? I¡¯m going to have a regiment that will be on the strict side.>

    ¡°Yes, but my children need to learn how to survive in this world and you seem to be teaching them about things other than just fighting. It is a miracle to find a place that can teach math and literature for free.¡±

    <Are you sure? Because I would be glad to have them, but they will also be taught fighting techniques as well as killing monsters.>

    Rune had already become the buddy of the architect, His name was Ulf and was married to an elf, Kyla. Rune was talking to Ulf about the school project that he had.

    Apparently, there were only two schools in the capital for the elite to go and learn magic or swordsmanship. Rune had decided to create a school to learn math and how to read when Ulf was talking about how there weren¡¯t many good schools to learn the humanities, things like literature, history, art, and culture, and that his children should learn about them and math.

    The most complex math in Arborea was calculus, but only twenty people in the Human continent knew it and most only knew addition and subtraction. For literature, people knew how to speak, but not read.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. You will provide food and rooms for them, right?¡±

    <Well, yes. I suppose as long as they agree¡­>

    <hr>

    After two months, Rune was standing in front of his new school. His home was to the right of the school next to the dormitories. The school itself was in the center of the land and there was a huge barrack and training ground to the left.

    Rune found himself on a stage with Rena by his side. With his back to the school, he looked at the 105 students in front of him.

    He was standing behind a pedestal and was looking over the huge crowd of people. He had a piece of paper in front of him and cleared his throat.

    ¡°Hello, new students. You have been welcomed to the new school of Storveld known as The Academy of Learning and Fighting or ALF. You are here to learn fighting techniques and to learn math and literature to survive in the world. You will stay in the dorms here for four years. Currently, you are freshmen. Next year, you are sophomores, then juniors, then seniors. Let¡¯s all aim for a great school year.¡±

    Rune stopped talking and left the stage. He was really tired and wanted to rest as soon as he saw all the people. Apparently, he had now lost his resistance to sleeping and no oxygen so he had to sleep.

 Chapter 16: School Life

    Roxana was sleeping when she felt a bright light in front of her. She peeped one of her eyes open to see that the window was opened. In the light, she could see a silhouette of a person.

    They had pointed ears and light green hair. He was wearing the ALF school uniform which was black with snow white designs on it. The uniform consisted of a raven black jacket that went down to the waist, a button down white shirt underneath the jacket, and a pair of pants that had four pockets and was a light grey color.

    The person who was opening Roxana¡¯s curtains was one of her two friends at the school. There was actually another building behind the building that Rune called the ¡°highschool¡±. That building was a smaller school that Roxana went to with forty other children. They were all ages 8-13 and learned different things. The highschool had 14-18 year olds, but so far there were only 14-15 year olds in the freshmen group.

    There were teachers that Rune brought in to teach the students as well as some magic instructors. There were some teachers that Rune brought in to be combat instructors, but Rune himself taught all the honors fighting classes. It was a special class where only the most worthy came to find themselves.

    Honor¡¯s Class Freshmen:

    -Rena: Majin female: Dual kama user. 5¡¯ 4¡±

    -Erin: Dragonborn male. Dual greatsword user. 6¡¯ 9¡±

    -Yula: Protector Aasimar female. Close combat and defensive magic user. 5¡¯ 6¡±

    -Mynn: Half-Elf male. Bow user. 6¡¯ 2¡±

    -Hika: Human female. Katana user. 5¡¯ 5¡±

    -Hyht: Cat Man male. Knife and enhancement magic user. 5¡¯ 11¡±

    -Akta: Majin female. Scythe wielder. 5¡¯ 2¡±

    -Nija: Majin female. Short sword and shield user. 4¡¯ 11¡±

    The schools were made up of different races as well as different ages:

    Students in high school: 105 Students in other school: 40

    Majin: 30% 32 people 20% 8 people

    Beast Folk 20% 21 people 40% 16 people

    Humans 20% 20 people 20% 8 people

    Elves 10% 11 people 10% 4 people

    Other 20% 21 people 10% 4 people

    Roxana was in 3rd grade for she was a bit older than 8 years old. Her class learned writing and easy reading. Their math level was addition and subtraction and some multiplication. Only the high schoolers were allowed to practice combat. Rune wasn¡¯t such an improper parent that he would allow Roxana to fight monsters.

    In her class, she had two friends, Lysp and Enya. They were the twin daughter and son of Ulf, the architect. There were four others in the class to make seven people taught by a teacher by the name of Ms. Orya Nymm.

    Instead of combat, they were taught magic by Lisbeth who had permanently quit being Charlotte''s attendant. She had fun teaching Roxana that she asked to be their magic teacher. Rune agreed in an instant and she was hired.

    The person who had opened Roxana¡¯s curtains was Lysp. He was the son of Ulf and the male twin to his sister, Enya. Enya and Lysp were both Roxana¡¯s friends and they had hung out a lot over the past month.

    Lysp and Enya were half-elves because their mother was a High Elf who, although think of themselves as superior to all else, had fallen in love with Ulf, their father. Because of this, Lysp and Enya could both use magic better than most, but Roxana was at least on par with them.

    Lysp could use Water magic and his highest spell was a rank B [Flood]. Enya used the Healing attribute and her highest spell was a rank B [Remedial Grounds]. Currently, Roxana could use an A rank spell known as [Purgatory].

    Back to the present, Lysp turned his head towards Roxana and then looked to her right. Roxana slowly turned her head to find Enya grinning. They were both in the home on the far right of the property, but Lysp and Enya had special permission to enter as well as the multiple defenses guarding Roxana.

    In a high pitched voice with some glee, Enya spoke to Roxana.

    ¡°Get up, sleepy head! It¡¯s time to go to class!¡±

    Roxana sat up slowly in her bed and looked at the two of them with sleepy eyes. She stretched and yawned and got out of her blankets grudgingly. Then she walked over to her closet, got out her uniform, and went to the bathroom to change.

    When she came out, she could see Enya and Lysp at her door ready to go and the three of them left for school. As they went through the hallways, maids and butlers greeted them as they passed.

    <hr>

    Rune was in the break room that he made when he designed the school. It was a room where teachers could be in to relax during lunch and study hall. Currently, Rune was having a chat with Lisbeth.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t one anymore, right?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not. Are you?¡±

    Lisbeth sighed and hung her head. Her sigh was long filled with a bit of sadness.

    ¡°...Yes¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, well. You should focus on finding someone to go out with you first.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I guess¡­¡±

    Suddenly, Roxana popped up at the door with her two friends.

    ¡°...What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°Things adults talk about.¡±

    ¡°...But your only eight years older than me...¡±

    ¡°Ah. Then things you don¡¯t need to know yet, I guess? Anyway, how are your classes?¡±

    ¡°...They are going good¡­¡±

    Ms. Hymm who was getting some coffee that the school procured itself butted in. The school was one that was free for students to attend, so they had to create their own food system of gaining meat and other things. They decided to have the high school students fight boar monsters and things like them to get meat and they had animated gardening tools to harvest crops.

    ¡°You mean going well.¡±

    ¡°...Yes...going ¡°well¡±...¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good. You know what? We should have a field trip somewhere.¡±

    ¡°...Field trip?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°Oh, that sounds like a great idea!¡±

    Only Rune and Lisbeth knew what a field trip was as none in Arborea went on them. Rune had decided that it would be good for them to get out of the school for a bit and roam around. Probably in a safe environment, but he would likely have something or someone to guard each group.

    ¡°It is basically a trip that each class goes on to learn about things outside of school.¡±

    This time Enya and Lysp spoke simultaneously.

    ¡°Really!!?¡±

    ¡°Sure. Let¡¯s schedule one for the capital, but let¡¯s have different classes go at different times.¡±

    <hr>

    Roxana moved through the halls at a quick pace with her two friends by her side. They were trying to get to class. Their classes started later than the high school¡¯s classes, but Rune and Lisbeth and the others were lazing around because they had a transport item to teleport the teacher to their respective classes when one used it.

    The trio finally reached class and sat down at their desks when the bell rang. The classroom had four other kids, seven in total, who were all sitting at their desks. On the seven desks, there were chalk tablets for the children to practice their writing. Ms. Nymm allowed the children to talk while working which made the class not boring for them.

    What everyone was really looking forward to was the next class period where Lisbeth would teach them magic. She taught each student in the class personally so that they could each understand what their magic attribute does and what they can do with it in the future.

    Everyone in the class was able to learn magic so she taught them on a regular basis. The school was only held on mondays to fridays and the weekend were there to let them do what they wanted in the school grounds.

    Arborea had seven days a week with exactly thirty days in each month. The way the world spun on its axis and the star it moved around allowed for there to be 360 days in one year.

    Everybody was talking with one another and Enya, Lysp, and Roxana were having their own conversations. Enya started to speak to the two of them.

    ¡°I wonder what kind of things the high schoolers learn in their classes.¡±

    <hr>

    Rena found herself tired and in a daze. She wanted to get out of the class and fight something. Her attitude was slowly becoming that of Rune¡¯s. In her class, there were 21 people including her. There were five classes of 21 students in the freshmen year.

    The school system they ran on was something like the japanese school system where the teachers would move around the five classes. Rune decided that it would be easier to have a small amount of teachers moving than it was for all 105 high schoolers to even though he was from America. There was a study hall in the first block of the day and there were seven periods in total. Eight if you included lunch.

    The class periods depended on what teachers were there and the seven were math, literature, history, science, weapon uses, study hall, and ¡°gym¡±. The gym was where all the freshmen gathered at the end of the day and worked on fighting techniques. The Honor¡¯s fighting students were taken from the freshmen and Rune took charge of them.

    To be honest, Rune was the most laid back teacher they had for the weapon uses and Honor¡¯s fighting classes. There were five teachers teaching five different subjects.

    -Rune Samuv: Human(?) male. Honor¡¯s fighting and weapon history. 6¡¯ 4¡±

    -Ophen Ryden: Ox Man male. History teacher. 6¡¯ 4¡±

    -Kely Ryden: Fox Girl female. Literature teacher. 5¡¯ 3¡±

    -Hugri Leio: Gnome male. Math teacher. 3¡¯ 11¡±

    -Sophia (Orn Alkyst) Samuv: Albino Anubis female. Teaches sciences. 5¡¯ 3¡±

    They each had homeroom teachers and Rena¡¯s homeroom teacher was Rune. That meant that her second period class was Weapon Uses as her first was study hall. Her second period was Science with Sophia, third was Literature with Ms. Ryden, then History with Mr. Ryden, and, right before gym, was Math with Mr. Leio.

    On the first day of school, the study hall and every class other than gym was used to introduce people to the teacher and the teacher to the students. In Rune¡¯s case, he came in his full cold steel, magical armor and went to the chalkboard. He wrote his name in common, which is basically english, and talked to everybody with telepathy.

    <Hello everyone. Take your seats and let¡¯s have a good first year.>

    Then he took off his helmet, placed it on his desk and sat in the chair. To the class¡¯s surprise, his armor vanished and he was wearing his dark clothing.

    ¡°Anyone want to say where they are from or their hobbies or what they want to do when they come out of this school?¡±

    He spoke in common to the students who were gazing at him with suspicion and awe. One person raised their hand and he called on them.

    ¡°I am the son of the nobleman of Krept. We are becoming a poor noble family and I wish to learn all the humanities to be a good successor for my father so that all he worked for does not fail. My name is Haliberd Krept.¡±

    Rune started to noticeably cringe. It looked like Haliberd had a question mark over his head as he looked confused towards Rune¡¯s cringe.

    ¡°I meant things like jobs or careers and hobbies and likes and dislikes. Not all that polite stuff. Here, it was my mistake. Just say your name and hobby. Don¡¯t go into a sad backstory. Here. I¡¯ll go first.¡±

    He cleared his throat and stood up.

    ¡°I am Rune Samuv, creator and founder of this school and I like to do whatever I want. There. Something like that.¡±

    ¡°A-ah. Ok. I am Haliberd Krept and I like to practice sword fighting.¡±

    ¡°Good good. Next. You.¡±

    This went on for the entire study hall. When second period came, Rune started to explain what he was going to teach in his class. People asked him questions and he carefully answered in a nonchalant way.

    During the third period, Sophia came and most of the men in the class ogled her. She started to introduce herself.

    ¡°I am Sophia Samuv. My full name is Sophia Orn Alkyst Samuv, the wife of Rune. I will be your teacher for science. I will be talking about mixtures and potion making for this year. Any questions?¡±

    One person raised their hand and acted extremely dumb. If Rune was there, he would have whacked the teen with a bat to hit some sense into him and not mess with him.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you ditch that strange person and go out with me?¡±

    It was a playboy who had a lustful gaze on Sophia. Rena face palmed as she thought that there was a high likelihood that he would die. However, Sophia answered in a careful manner.

    ¡°Oh. Do you not know the title Rune carries?¡±

    ¡°He is a marquis, correct?¡±

    ¡°No no no. Not just a marquis. He is the Demon King who has killed five out of seven demon king candidates. The entire Majin continent fears him and the newly titled Majin Empress is hesitant near him whenever he meets with her.¡±

    ¡°Wut?¡±

    Everyone in the class except Rena voiced their surprise as she said this. The playboy chuckled a little with a bit of sweat going down his forehead.

    ¡°T-that can¡¯t be real, right?¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you see during gym?¡±

    Sophia had a scary expression and aura around her while smiling towards the student. Rena sighed and had to wait for gym to see what fate awaited the person.

    After third period, lunch was served by the three chefs that Rune hired. To many, it was an extravagant feast in which they had never had before. It was extremely delicious and they all ate until they were full of food.

    Sadly, after lunch, Rena¡¯s next three periods were boring with the married couple Mr. and Ms. Ryden talking about history and literature. Then the gnome known as Mr. Leio talked about the math they would learn.

    It seemed that the freshmen would learn about Human history, then Beast Folk in sophomore year, then Elven history in junior, then Majin history in senior. The literature would start with semi-easy books, but would get harder as they went from freshmen to seniors as well as learning grammar and different words. Math would teach them about foundations of math, then algebra I, then algebra II, then geometry. It seemed that the most fun class would be Rune¡¯s.

    Finally, the eighth period arrived and the playboy was sweating buckets. He was shaking uncontrollably as he saw Rune come out of the building. Rune quickly turned his neck to look at the person, whose name was Eli, and walked towards him.

    ¡°So, you doubt my strength and prowess, do you? Then watch and learn.¡±

    Rune called everyone into the bleachers in which they could see Rune. One of the gym teachers was setting up some cage in front of Rune to demonstrate his strength.

    ¡°In this class, we will teach you whatever kind of fighting you wish. I will choose eight people who I deem best to be taught under me for the Honor¡¯s fighting class. They will have special privileges such as staying up after curfew, being first in line to get weapons and armor, and the most special reward: to be one of the greatest fighters in the continent.

    I have seen what many of you people call ¡°strong¡±, but, to me, they are weak. I will demonstrate my strength.¡±

    Rune raised his hand towards the gym teachers next to the cage. They nodded and pulled a lever. There was a sound like metal on metal and the huge cage opened up. Inside was a Cerberus. It¡¯s three heads growled as it looked at Rune.

    Rune just looked at it with pity as it had to face him. It leaped in an arc and seemed like it was about to crush him, but he waved one arm.

    To many, it seemed like the arm disappeared and the Cerberus vanished. Then people could see that there was a huge indent in the ground as it something heavy slid across it and there, at the end of the skid marks, was the Cerberus.

    It¡¯s three heads were cut clean off and were next to Rune and, if nobody knew it was a Cerberus, they would have no idea what the huge lump of meat and blood dripping flesh was. People looked in fear at Rune who turned to the playboy, Eli.

    ¡°THIS!! This is why you don¡¯t mess with me!! My strength is over 9,000!! This is what a human Demon King can do!¡±

    Then he sighed and walked up to a stage in front of the bleachers. He cleared his throat and spoke.

    ¡°And, you see students, that is why I think that even the strong is weak. So. Is it not wonderful to be taught by a person who can end a city with a flick of the finger?¡±

    Several people in the audience realized that Rune wasn¡¯t going to kill them and they nodded with an open mouth, still starting at the carnage.

    Eli was shaking and was swallowing his vomit. Rena started to clap and several others clapped even though they were as pale as a ghost.

 Chapter 17: What About a Tournament?

    Rune was bored. He still went out to kill random monsters, but it just wasn¡¯t enough. The gods were growing bored as well. There was nothing to do. He lazed around on the sofa for a bit. It was saturday and he wanted to find something fun to do.

    He looked up at Sophia who was giving him a lap pillow and asked her.

    ¡°Is there anything fun to do?¡±

    ¡°...At the capital there are theaters and gladiator fights.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it!!!¡±

    He sat up quickly and stood up from the sofa. He gave Sophia a quick kiss for giving him an idea and he left.

    <hr>

    ¡°Lisbeth. I got it. We will make festivals and tournaments in this school.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It makes perfect sense. It¡¯s like those culture festivals the japanese do and all the tournaments in those anime. We gotta do it.¡±

    ¡°What? Anime? You actually watched those?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Anyways, let¡¯s prepare the plans.¡±

    ¡°Huh? I have to do it too?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That is final. Oh. Do try to contact the rest of the class while I am doing it. We have, what, a month until the meeting date? Let¡¯s just meet here!!¡±

    ¡°A-. Actually, that is a good idea.¡±

    Rune stood up with his coffee mug in hand and left the teacher¡¯s lounge. He wanted to start the tournament in one month. He had the perfect person to contact as well.

    He quickly grabbed some sheets of paper and started to scribble down ideas. He believed that he could create an actual arena as well as a training ground for the students. It would be a great idea if that could work.

    His plan was to create a building like a coliseum and have seats surrounding it so that people could watch. He also figured that he should make an inside area for the coliseum for something like a snack bar for refreshments.

    After an hour of planning, he had finished an outline of what he planned for and went to Ulf. Rune now had about 5,457 gold coins to spend on it.

    <hr>

    ¡°Hey, Ulf.¡±

    ¡°Oh, hey Rune!¡±

    Rune walked into Ulf¡¯s store after he teleported to the capital¡¯s front gates. The store was a building made of wood and had a sign with a hammer and chisel on it.

    ¡°How much would it be to build this?¡±

    Rune presented his outline to Ulf who looked over it carefully. Then he looked at a piece of paper and looked back at the outline.

    ¡°I suppose that it is possible to do this, but it may take a week or two if we had access to several carriages. We may need some help to build this.¡±

    ¡°I should be able to create the base using [Higher Transmutation]. My transmutation skill should actually be able to take care of the general shape, but it would be great if you got some guys together to help out the details.¡±

    ¡°Sure. It should be about¡­ 2,050 gold coins if you are able to do what you said.¡±

    ¡°Sure. Here you go. Let¡¯s try to finish as soon as possible.¡±

    After he left, Rune decided that he could go to the adventurer¡¯s guild to quickly change his class. He had been stuck with the Enchanter class for a while. He moved briskly along the streets and made it to the guild building.

    He entered and walked towards the front desk. Manning the desk was a different person than last time, but it likely wouldn¡¯t have mattered as no one would recognize him in his human form.

    ¡°I am here to change my class. Here is my guild card.¡±

    He pulled out his card from his storage and showed it to the person. She took the card and inspected it carefully.

    ¡°And who was the important person who recognized you?¡±

    ¡°King Leo Regis Domini.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    ¡°Anyway, can I do this quickly? I¡¯m kinda on a tight schedule.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes. This way, please.¡±

    She led him back to the room and opened the locked door. Then she turned towards him.

    ¡°We got a new job machine that can tell you which jobs you have completed the requirements for. This was made to help people get stronger faster.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Sure.¡±

    He placed his hand on the orb and names spewed onto a tablet. Some names had a checkmark next to it and he guessed that those were the ones with the requirements he had completed.

    The ones with the checks were:

    -Blacksmith

    -Cryomancer

    -Lightning General

    -Alchemist

    -Dark Paladin

    -Mage Killer

    -Mage

    -Warlock

    -Butcher

    -Rogue

    The unchecked ones were:

    -Soldier

    -Dark Hero

    -Death¡¯s Hand

    -Wizard

    -Thief

    -Samurai

    -Ninja

    -Hunter

    -Earthen GuardSupport creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    -Pyromancer

    -Berserker

    -Sorcerer

    -Water Spiritualist

    -Cleric

    -Assassin

    Then, as per what the person instructed, he took all the jobs that were already completed, then had to choose a job from the unchecked ones.

    It seemed like she wanted him to choose Dark Hero because there were too few heroes for the humans in the past couple centuries. Obviously, he was going to choose something that would better himself.

    ¡°I think¡­ I think I¡¯ll choose this one.¡±

    He tapped on Death¡¯s Hand as his job and the woman next to him sunk to her knees. She was muttering something about how he should have chosen Dark Hero.

    Death¡¯s Hand immediately gave him a magic known as [Gravity Control] as well as a skill known as [Deconstruct] to revert objects into their raw materials.

    He also gained [Cut], [Eldritch Blast], [Rage], [Electrocution], [Jab], [Modify Voice], [Unholy Smite], [Forge], [Freezing Aura], [Frostbite], [Gust], and a combination of the job Blacksmith and Dark Paladin to create a magic called [Create Cursed Weapon].

    <hr>

    Less than a month had passed until they finished the arena. There was only one day until the meeting of the class. Lisbeth had already told everyone to show up and they all were surprised when they found out that Rune was the founder of a school.

    Inside the coliseum, there were two rest areas. One was where the fighters could prepare and rest. The second was where people who were watching could get food and drinks as well as go to the restroom.

    Over the past week, Rune decided to have everyone participate in the tournament. Earlier he went over the plan with the three other gym teachers. They were Ms. Baklan, the ranged weapons teacher, Mr.Traiphum, the simple weapons teacher, and Mrs. Nortiore, the martial weapons teacher.

    When the other three teachers agreed, he prepared a speech during the gym class. Soon, when eighth period arrived, he gathered every student in the high school.

    Usually, they would be split up into whichever weapon they wanted to use and start training, but this time that was intervened by Rune.

    ¡°Ok. Everyone. I need to tell all of you about a new upcoming event. This event will be called the ALF tournament. It will be held once every two months to see which people¡¯s skills have increased or decreased. I have already hired builders to work on the arena. Right now, you all will be training to reach first in this tournament.

    If you win, you will prove yourself as the strongest student in the school for two months. Additionally, you will all get specially made weapons of your own designs using magic crystals. This event will start in exactly one week. Start preparing.¡±

    People became excited when they heard that they would get one weapon of their choice made of magic crystals. So, over the past week leading up to this point, people trained in gym and outside of school to be placed first.

    Rena and the rest of the Honor¡¯s fighting students were also encouraged. Erin seemed to be thinking about something more than just a weapon though.

    ¡°If I get that weapon, I can beat you. After all, it will be a weapon made of magic crystals, right?¡±

    Rune looked at him. He was a tall dragonborn who was wielding two huge greatswords. He pointed one at Rune while speaking.

    ¡°What is your strength?¡±

    ¡°It is 30. It¡¯s pretty high, right?¡¯

    ¡°Yeah. Compared to most. But didn¡¯t I say my strength is over 9,000? To be specific, it is 19,044. 1,044 over double of 9,000. Even with a weapon made of magic crystals, you can¡¯t hope to beat me. On top of that, every single one of my weapons use magic crystals.¡±

    Erin went silent as he heard the odds of beating Rune was basically about zero percent.

    The others trained against each other to become the best among them while the students outside of the Honor¡¯s group was talking about how they could become popular with the opposite sex or what weapon they would have.

    Rena yawned as she had dual kamas made of Dark magic crystals. Rune was sitting on the school roof looking down at them. Then he lied on his back and looked at the setting sun. He muttered quietly.

    ¡°There aren¡¯t any good enemies¡­¡±

    Something suddenly whispered in his ears. It sounded like five voices talking at the same time.

    ¡°You want a worthy opponent?... I shall give you some¡­¡±

    Rune sat up and looked around. He didn¡¯t see anyone, but knew that it was not just a voice that he made up. He wouldn¡¯t brush it off as nothing like some others would.

    <hr>

    On the day of the tournament, the rest of the class had arrived. They came in carriages and a couple flew in on wyverns. Stacy was actually flying with her dark, feathery wings.

    It seemed that a couple of his classmates had found boy or girlfriends over the past six months. To Rune, it seemed that the time he spent in Arborea went by in a flash.

    Tyler was actually riding up in a carriage. He was smiling with a stupid grin on his face. As soon as he came out, he introduced Rune to his girlfriend, Mari, a Cat Girl from Aymren village. It seemed that he had helped out the village a lot over the past months and was favored by most of them.

    He was slightly feared at first because of his tail, but told Hersker that he was Rune¡¯s friend. He was welcomed in a more friendly manner after that and created business. His business was like a clothing store. Now Aymren village was famous for something that Tyler called a ¡°mall¡± where he contacted other businesses to gather and start selling many products.

    His wife, Mari, was someone who was freed from slavery by him. He had bought her and used his cheat skill, [Ruin], to stop the magic that bound Mari as a slave. Mari then became his maid for a while before he asked her out on a date.

    To be truthful, he was actually very rich and was very charitable to the poor. The peasants liked his generosity, but he didn¡¯t hand things out randomly. He only gave to those who tried to help themselves.

    Stacy had become the queen in a small kingdom to the south and was managing it well. She was respected as the founder of her territory, which she called Fallen Rome. It was home to the unwanted people and even had some floating islands where people lived.

    Jared and Kelly started dating when they met at the last reunion. They were working on a prototype for multiple technologies, but no one wanted to sponsor them. They had a semi-hard time getting by.

    Rune heard them talking about this and went up to them.

    ¡°I heard that you are working on some modern technology in this medieval world, but you don¡¯t have enough money to do so. Why don¡¯t you work for me. I will give you a place to stay and good food to eat and even money for your projects. The catch is that I will use this tech to further develop my school.¡±

    ¡°R-really?¡±

    ¡°We gladly accept.¡±

    Jared was a Draegloth, but his current human form was that of something that looked like a dark elf or drow. Kelly was a lamia, but her current form was one where she had a snake tail and sharp ears.

    Ms. Flustern had come back from a village she had been in. The people there were poor and destitute and she was trying to help them. When she heard that Rune was running a school, she wanted to help.

    ¡°Ah, um¡­ Rune. I know that it is bad for a teacher to ask a student for help, but can you help me? I found this village of Bastets, or egyptian cat people, who are in dire straights. They will work for any kind of pay and the children are hungry. Can I count on you to bring them all in? I¡¯m sure you can-¡±

    ¡°Sure. I don¡¯t see why not. I just need someone to teach because there are only a few teachers here. Do you know anything other than math?¡±

    ¡°Well, I can read, write, I did well in the arts, I can cook, sew¡­¡±

    ¡°Home economics. Can you be in charge of that?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Thank you. Also, if it is not too hard to ask, why are you a human now?¡±

    ¡°Two factors. One was that I gained the power to shapeshift. The other is the Norse relic, Gungnir.¡±

    <hr>

    The class was sitting in a spot underneath the area where the Honor¡¯s class and the teachers were sitting. They were enjoying some popcorn from the refreshments area in the arena. Rune had found the specific type of corn that could be heated up to create popcorn. They also had orange juice from the oranges imported from the south.

    The first battle was going to begin between a greatsword wielder and a Fire magic user. They were on both sides of the arena and the entire school was watching. Some parents had also shown up to see how far their children progressed within a month.

    When the two competitors were ready, Mrs. Nortiore used a huge mallet to hit a gong. The sound resounded throughout the coliseum and the match began.

    The greatsword wielder¡¯s name was Lyne. He was a Majin who came when he heard of this school from the Majin Empress. She had told some people to spread fliers that some people could go to the human continent to learn in a school that doesn¡¯t discriminate.

    The Fire magic user¡¯s name was Ein. He was a High Elf who wanted to try out a ¡°inferior race¡¯s¡± school and came to the ALF school. He was surprised when he came to the school and was interested the education and fighting systems and the food was great.

    The battle began and the greatsword user rushed the other student. The Fire magic user moved back and cast [Fire Lance] which created a rod of fire that flew at Lyne. Lyne dodged and counter attacked with an overhead swing of his sword.

    Ein moved behind Lyne and cast [Flame Bearer] which summoned a gout of flames from his palm. The fire moved towards Lyne and he ducked just in time for the fire to go over his head and he lunged at Ein with his sword.

    In a single strike with ferocious precision, he struck Ein in the heart. Unable to continue with just a single attack, Ein lost the match.

    To prevent the students from dying they would have a thin, but strong barrier and the winning system would be decided by how strong the attack was and where it was placed.

    It was clearly evident from how far the man flew back as well as where it hit that Ein had lost. Lyne held his sword up in the air to symbolize his victory and it seemed like an auspicious day.

    He raised his sword as the cloud darkened and thunder was heard. It seemed like he had summoned the storm until he looked up in surprise at it.

    Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck the ground and there was a blinding light. People had to cover their eyes and, when they looked back, there was a blue dragon standing in the middle of the arena.

 Chapter 18: A Stormy Event

    To Rune, the lightning dragon was not very big because Rune¡¯s white dragon form was an ancient dragon and the current blue dragon was just an adult. Its scales were a dark blue and its stomach was gold.

    It roared as it turned 360 degrees around and it stopped its gaze on Rune. It opened its mouth and electricity began to spark inside its mouth. It seemed like it was going to use its lightning breath.

    Rune just threw his flare guard shield in front of him and held it in place. The dragon shot out a beam of lightning at them and hit the shield. The beam of lightning dispersed once it hit his shield and the shield shot out a blast of fire.

    The dragon roared in agony as the fire struck its left eye. The rest of the class held their hands over their eyes or tried to run when they saw the dragon attack. Rune looked over at his Honor¡¯s class to his right and spoke to them.

    ¡°Oi. Show your mettle and go kill it. If you do, I will give everyone who helped kill it a magic crystal weapon.¡±

    The entire class cheered as they jumped off the balcony area and onto the dragon. To many, it would seem like suicide to first jump off a balcony about three or four stories high and fight a dragon when you land, but this was the perfect plan to help them improve. They already were prepared to attack since they were going to fight each other.

    Rena was the first to jump off the balcony and took out her two kamas. Hika was right behind her with a katana. When they both jumped, they swung their weapons downwards towards the dragon¡¯s head.

    Both of them found their mark and struck into its head. Both of them didn¡¯t reach too far into it, but Rena¡¯s went in farther due to them being made of magic crystals.

    The bloodshed effect was still on and red blood dribbled down its head. It roared in pain as another six students dropped onto it.

    The dragon swiped at three people and they dodged easily. They counterattacked with a bow, a knife, and a scythe. Three arrows plunged into its leg and a scythe cut off a part of its tail. The knife was enchanted with an acid effect and started burning another leg.

    Its tail whipped around and went for Erin who used his dual greatswords to cut the tail right down the middle. The tail seemed to have become two as blood dripped down from it.

    The dragon used its wings to fly upwards and hovered over the coliseum. It started to use its breath attack once again and it launched lightning.

    Yula cast [Barrier] around the class which dispelled the breath. The lightning wasn¡¯t dissolved like what happened when Rune¡¯s shield interfered and it moved around the group and entered into the ground.

    It seemed that the lightning was hot enough to started scorching the ground and people in the audience were either screaming or not moving due to fear. Some had already run off after the first lightning strike.

    Mynn pulled out his bow and aimed at the dragon. Hyht started to enchant the arrow with an enchantment to increase gravity. The arrow flew through the air with immense accuracy.

    It struck the dragon in its mouth and its wings tried to beat faster.

    The dragon¡¯s wings faltered and it plummeted from out of the sky. Once it hit the ground, it made a huge cloud of dust around them and everyone around could hear a roar.

    The eight students from the Honor¡¯s class rushed into the smoke wielding their weapons in a ready position. There was a loud dragon¡¯s roar and then it went silent.

    The smoke cleared and the dragon had multiple piercings and slashes in it. It was lying on its side and one eye was missing. The stomach was coming out of the torso and Mynn started to pull the arrows from the various areas attacked.

    ¡°Well. It looks like you students have killed the dragon. Good job. Hand in your designs for your weapons sometime. Have some of the staff use the hovering platform to move the body into the freezer in the lab. I¡¯m going to go check on something¡­¡±

    Rune stood up from his chair and teleported to the king¡¯s palace. He remembered that there was something like an assassination attempt where the king replaced his guards with dolls and he made an illusion of himself.

    He wanted to ask what happened and if there were frequent dragon attacks in the area. It was unlikely because he knew that dragons were rare creatures and it would be even more rare if they were adults or ancients.

    He had teleported to the front gates of the palace where one of the two guards jumped in surprise. He fumbled for his spear and tried to aim it at Rune. The other guard rushed to stop him.

    Once he stopped him, he bowed and motioned the other to do the same.

    ¡°Sorry about this, mister Rune! If I may ask, what are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°Ah. I need to ask the king if dragon attacks are common here and why a lightning dragon would randomly attack.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Of course. I will call an escort right away.¡±

    The guard who bowed first moved into his booth and touched a communication stone. He closed his eyes for a bit, then moved to meet Rune again.

    ¡°There will be a knight in black and white armor escorting you. Please look for them for the time being.¡±

    <hr>

    After a couple minutes, Rune put down the small knife he was working on. He wanted to try and fuse as many magic crystals into one item while still keeping the same size and shape. The mass would definitely change and the weight would be heavier, but Rune could carry it with his 19,000 strength.

    He had put it down when he saw a knight with a checker patterned helmet with white and black colors. At their side, they held a golden and silver sheath with a sword in it. The hilt was fancy with a dragon design on the golden hilt.

    They moved towards him after looking around and moved in front of him. Rune was a bit surprised when he noticed that the knight was smaller than him. The knight spoke in a loud and high pitched voice indicating that the knight was a woman.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°You are Rune, correct? My king has allowed you to see him. I shall bring you to him.¡±

    She turned around and moved towards the throne room. They moved rather quickly until they reached the room and the doors opened after two knocks. The king was sitting on his throne with his iconic white armor.

    When the king saw him, he got up and moved around the throne towards his back room. There were more guards than before, about forty, who were equipped with three different weapons, a spear, a shortsword, and a crossbow.

    The black and white knight moved Rune towards the back room and they entered after the king. The king was already seated at the table when Rune entered and sat down.

    ¡°So you have experienced an attack by Tiamat¡¯s Heads. Last time you came here, a young red dragon had attacked. I immediately saw this coming when three of my scouts told me a dragon was coming, They aren¡¯t very stealthy. Anyway, I believe I know their new cause.

    They want your power as a Demon King to move forward their cause of causing destruction to this world. Tiamat¡¯s Heads is a cult group for dragon who worship Tiamat. Each head of Tiamat represents a total of five different colors, fire for red, blue for lightning, white for cold, black for acid, and green for poison.

    If at all possible, I would like for you to defeat this cult group before they decide to bring Tiamat to this world. I also have heard that they involve honorary dragons like generals with the strength of heroes. They even use otherworldly beings.¡±

    ¡°What? Like Aliens?¡±

    ¡°No, beings from other astral plains.¡±

    ¡°I see¡­ And if I were to kill them?¡±

    ¡°Then you would be compensated for your actions as well as being the most powerful being in the Chaotic Plains. You would also be the most respected person on this world.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I think that sounds like a wonderful proposal. It would certainly be a great punishment for that lightning dragon interfering with my tournament.¡±

    ¡°Good. Elisa, go with him. You are our strongest knight wielding Excalibur. He has Gungnir.¡±

    ¡°Ehhhh. I do, in a way, but I really don¡¯t¡­¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?!!¡±

    ¡°Things happened and I kinda absorbed it like I did with Iram.¡±

    ¡°What?!?! That was our most sacred treasure!!¡±

    Elisa was yelling at Rune for doing something like absorbing Gungnir which was a priceless treasure.

    ¡°Calm down. If he puts it to good use against Tiamat¡¯s Heads, then it will be used right.¡±

    ¡°I-I see¡­ I will accompany him, but I don¡¯t want him slowing me down.¡±

    ¡°Ha. You should worry about slowing him down. He is the Demon King after killing five out of seven demon king candidates and the other two gave up.¡±

    ¡°But I have 50 for strength, 54 for dexterity, 54 for constitution, 40 for intelligence, 35 for wisdom, and 16 for charisma.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ I have 20,736 endurance, 13,456 for mobility, and 19,044 for strength. My stats are fundamentally different than yours, but I can certainly say that I am much stronger than you. I don¡¯t even know how you guys have surpassed the past Demon Kings when their power was so high.¡±

    The king just laughed while Elisa blanked. She just gawked at the impossibly high numbers presented to her.

    ¡°So, where do we start?¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°Well, the king said to start at the Pytium Cave. It is a place where many people avoid because it is a dragon¡¯s nest. Well, it is one of the two locations we got.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I cannot disobey my king. We shall go and fight these dragons. I hear that this is home to many poison and acid dragons.¡±

    The two of them were standing in front of a cave talking to each other. There was nothing else nearby other than the cave entrance due to the dragons clearing things out.

    There was a road behind them, but it was not visible from where they were. Elisa had removed her helmet to take a good look and Rune could see her face,

    She had light orange hair with a small hair clip in the shape of a sword. Her eyes were different colors with the one on the left being yellow and the one on the right being a light blue. He hair was cut short as to not get in the way of the helmet.

    The two walked into the cave and Elisa held Excalibur at the ready. Rune was walking regularly through the cavern.

    They seemed to be walking for a while before Rune noticed movement and held his arm in front of Elisa.

    <Stay quiet. I see something moving.>

    He had used telepathy because he could take the chance of accidently having something hear them. He moved forwards to the thing moving to find a tail. It was a long, green tail that had many scales on it.

    Suddenly, something turned towards Rune and he found himself face to face with a large poison dragon. Its eyes seemed to scan his entire body before looking over Elisa. She was holding her sword in a position that she could swing it easily.

    The dragon seemed to rise up as it sat on its haunches and looked at Rune.

    <Why have two humans entered my territory? My children need to rest.>

    ¡°I have come seeking information of Tiamat¡¯s Heads. Do you know where they are and how to track them?¡±

    <If I say I do?>

    ¡°Then I would like the information. All of it.>

    <And if I refuse?>

    ¡°A Demon King dare not fall before a dragon.¡±

    <Let¡¯s fight then. One on one. Follow me.>

    The two of them followed the dragon through the cavern. It moved slowly as it soon entered an open area. There were many green and black dragons around them that were either sleeping or talking. There was an area in the center where no dragons occupied and the green dragon they were following led Rune there.

    <We shall be fighting here. If you win, then you will learn all I know of Tiamat¡¯s Heads. If I win, you will be my food.>

    ¡°Sure. I don¡¯t see why not.¡±

    <Let¡¯s begin!!>

    The green dragon started with a breath attack against Rune and Rune put up his flare guard. The fire from it moved towards the dragon that blocked with its paw. The fire was immediately extinguished and the dragon moved quickly towards Rune.

    It struck with its tail, but Rune moved easily and punched its stomach. The dragon was thrown into a wall and slowly moved out.

    By then, Rune was rushing towards the dragon and it breathed poison. Rune held his breath and put on a helmet with storage. This was just a reaction though.

    He still had an immunity to poison, psychic, and Dark attacks. He kept his first two immunities from the armor and the Dark attack immunity from being the Demon King.

    Quickly, he launched three punches at the dragon and it started to cough up blood. In anger, it roared at Rune and knocked him back with its tail. Rune moved his arms to block it, but the force was greater than he anticipated and he was moved back a few feet by the force.

    Suddenly, one claw attacked in his blindside and he jumped out of the way. In the air, the dragon swiped at him with another claw and he was pummeled into the ground. He made a large crater with his body and moved ot of the impact.

    The dragon used its wings to create air pressure against Rune so that he couldn''t get up, but Rune put up a barrier of Earth and fired off three spells in succession. [Wind Strike], [Fireball], and [Gravity Control] were sent at the dragon and all three struck its body.

    It seemed that it couldn''t move its wings, but it could still move its arms and [Wind Strike] and [Fireball] had almost zero affect on the beast. However, Rune wasn''t done yet and he charged at the dragon.

    It tried to swipe him while he was running, but the claw seemed to pass through him. Suddenly, his image disappeared and fizzled out of existance. He was using the abilities from Gungnir to create an illusion of himself. He was actually above the dragon and slammed into it from above.

    The dragon collapsed and Rune got off from its back. It was coughing up blood and couldn''t move, but Rune could tell that the dragon would live.

    <You¡­ Have won¡­ I thought that I would have won¡­ I am much stronger than any ancient dragon¡­>

    ¡°Well. It is time to tell me about Tiamat¡¯s Heads.¡±

 Chapter 19: Knowledge

    Rune was sitting on a mat next to a semi-calm Elisa. Her helmet was placed beside her and her sword, Excalibur, was resting on her lap. She was trying to stay calm in a situation that wouldn¡¯t allow it unless you accepted the strange.

    She was trying to cope with how Rune had won in a fight against a green dragon that was more powerful than an ancient dragon. In fact, the dragon said that it was a dragon whose age surpassed 5 centuries and became a Guardian Dragon.

    They were like the Demon Kings of dragons because their strength was squared just like his. Guardian Dragons were supposed to protect their kin from those who would want to hurt them.

    On the other side of the mat was that same Guardian Dragon that Rune had beaten in a fight. Elisa was ready if the dragon attacked for she would counter with her Excalibur she had in her lap.

    ¡°So, Guardian Dragon, tell me. First, what is your name. I can¡¯t just address you with ¡°Guardian Dragon¡±.¡±

    <It is Rouna.>

    ¡°Ok, Rouna, please tell me where to find and kill these worshippers.¡±

    <Obviously, Tiamat is the leader of the group. With her five heads, she is basically immune to most magic attack as well as all non-magical attacks. She is far stronger than you or I as we are now. She steals the younger dragons to help her own selfish ways and tries to find a way to bring herself here from the Limbo where she wanders.

    There are five leaders of Tiamat¡¯s Heads. One for each of her heads. Each is a dragon so powerful that they can kill me in one swipe of the claw. Each dragon is categorized in five castes. One is the regulars, the lowest caste where the dragons range from wyrmlings to ancients. The second lowest are the Guardian Dragons. We are much stronger than the regulars, but we are still weak. Even one caste above another means that the higher caste is exponentially stronger than the last.

    The third weakest caste are the Noglavirs who have enough strength to annihilate an entire cities, but they are usually neutral. Tiamat¡¯s Heads usually consist of the two strongest castes. The second strongest are known as the Hierarchs. They are the foot soldiers to the strongest who carry out orders until death and are as powerful as one hundred Noglavirs.

    The strongest caste consists of only ten dragons. Only three of which are good, two are neutral, and the other five are the heads of Tiamat¡¯s Heads.>

    Elisa was still confused on some parts of it and Rune understood the main gist of it.

    ¡°So¡­ Why haven¡¯t they shown themselves so much?¡±

    <As a secret group, they only work to help Tiamat and do it as secretly as possible. If people knew, they would likely oppose. The strongest caste, the Irregulars, have decided that they would promise each other a contract.

    The terms are to not get in each other¡¯s way, to remain secret, and to work together to bring Tiamat to Arborea. They decide things in secrecy, but I know of it due to my unique skill, [Envision]. It is the ability to see all that I wish, be it past or present.>

    ¡°Why can you not see the future?¡±

    ¡°Elisa!! It¡¯s pretty obvious that the future always changes due to decisions. One can see the past for it is set in stone and the present is nothing but the past being set in stone. The future is yet to be seen, an unknown force that none control.¡±

    ¡°Why are you being so poetic?¡±

    <No. That is what happens. One cannot determine the future for it is not certain, but one can predict. Such is why the art of betting and gambling is common with lower folk.>

    Elisa sighed as she was lectured by both dragon and Demon King. She just wanted to get back to the castle and get a nice, refreshing cup of mead. She didn¡¯t want to go on an adventure where she could die as easily as an ant being squished by a shoe.

    ¡°Any locations regarding where they are?¡±

    <I have five places. Each is on the other side of the world.>

    ¡°The Majin continent?¡±

    <No. The five continents you know just make up half of the world. On the other half, there is one large land mass where dangers lurk around every corner. The monsters there are roughly 30 to 100 times stronger than the ones here. Although there may be some recognizable monsters there, many are strange and different.

    There are no forests, mountains, or even a grassy plains. There is only the barren wastelands of sand. I have seen villages there, but they seemed to be only filled with beings that have monster traits within them. There are plants to harvest and crops to eat, but only in the villages.>

    ¡°Why hasn¡¯t anyone found it yet?¡±

    <It is a huge land mass surrounded by some of the strongest sea monsters in the world. By the time people have seen the land mass, they have likely died by sea monsters soon after. Nobody could even report it with a communication orb because even the strongest ones only have a range of half the Human continent.>

    ¡°This is good information. Thank you. I will be dropping by sometime later.¡±

    ¡°Why would you come here again?!¡±

    <Yes. Why would you. Just ask me everything now and be done with it.>

    ¡°I think that it is already dinner time and I really want to go home. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll create a protection barrier and a small fort outside.¡±

    <I¡¯m stronger than a fort!>

    ¡°True, but I want to know what happens and when something does in case of an emergency. I don¡¯t want my source of information dying so soon.¡±

    <I said to call me Rouna.>

    ¡°Anyways, Elisa, do you need to get to the palace now?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±

    ¡°Ok, one sec.¡±

    Rune grabbed her shoulder in his left hand and helmet in his right. Elisa started to grab her sword when they both teleported to the front gates of the palace. Elisa was starting to get up when that happened and she fell on her face.

    The only witnesses were the two guards and Rune as she fell. Teleportation messed with people¡¯s balance and they tended to flop over or try and brace themselves against something soon after they teleport. Rune did not lose his balance at all because, as a Cursed Armor, he did not lose his balance and, when he became human, he had already become used to teleporting.

    ¡°Ok. Tell the king what happened. Bye.¡±

    Rune had realized that the sun was already setting when he teleported back to the cave. Waiting at the cave was a small girl who had a grown-up aura around her. When she noticed Rune, she jumped back, lost her balance, and fell on her rear.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think you would be coming back so quickly!!¡±

    ¡°Who? Nevermind. I thought I went to Pytium Caves.¡±

    ¡°Um, but you did. I am Rouna.¡±

    The small girl announced with pride. She had already stood up and her hands were on her waist. She was tilting her head upwards to try and look down on Rune who was 6 feet and 4 inches while she was about 4 feet and 2 inches.

    She frowned and crossed her arms.

    ¡°Do you not remember me?¡±

    She had green hair long enough to touch the ground and light green eyes with pupils that changed shape like a cat¡¯s. She had a green tail that seemed to grow from her back and two small dark green horns protruding from her forehead.

    ¡°I am Rouna.¡±

    ¡°Well. I can tell now. You have a tail and horns. Plus, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m extremely surprised. I can do that too.¡±

    ¡°You can turn into a different animal? Ohhh. I have only seen four other dragon shapeshifters, but I have heard tales of many who can change into different animals.¡±

    She looked in awe as she expected Rune to change into some small animal, but he decided to do the opposite of what Rouna did. He became his Ancient White Dragon form.

    His arms grew muscles as they elongated and his torso grew in width and length. His head changed into that of a reptiles and he grew a tail and wings from his back.

    His dragon appearance had changed from before because, this time, he was changing from a human. He turned into a dragon that had scales instead of metal and a head that looked natural for white dragons.

    ¡°Oh!! I thought you would change into a white fox or something, but you completely destroyed my expectations. Tell me, is that not your natural form?¡±

    <It¡¯s not my natural form. See I can even turn into this.>

    When he spoke his line, Rune¡¯s head became more like an upside trapezoid and grew four eyes. His lower legs became tentacles and his wings receded. He still kept the same white color scheme as he turned into a leviathan.

    ¡°Ahhh!!!! I don¡¯t like that!!!! Turn back!!!¡±

    He did so and calmly stretched his arms.

    ¡°Yeah, it is natural for people to either dislike Leviathan¡¯s form or tentacles or both.¡±

    Rune figured out that the creatures that he turned into had similar features to the humanoids that he shapeshifted from. If he changed directly from Cursed Armor to a Dragon, then the dragon would look like it was made of armor, but if he went from a Human to a Dragon, the Dragon would look like a regular dragon. However, the color scheme of the creatures never changed.

    If he went from Cursed Armor to a Human or humanoid, it would not affect the humanoid form what so ever. It also worked the other way around as well.

    Rouna shuddered as he turned back and moved towards a chair made of rocks and sat down. She started playing with her fingers when Rune realized that he should say something.

    ¡°About the fort¡­ Eight of my pupils will be coming so please welcome them. They are three Majins, one Aasimar, one Half-Elf, one Dragonborn, one Human, and one Cat Man. They are to build a fort to the left of the cave. Thanks and goodbye.¡±

    Rune teleported back to his coliseum where he came from. He noticed that there was only the helping staff there still trying to remove the dragon. He walked up to them and waved them off. The bowed and left the arena.

    Rune did have plans for the corpse, but now he needed to get stronger with whatever possible. He absorbed the corpse as it wasn¡¯t living anymore, and gained the ability to shapeshift into an ancient version of the adult blue dragon.

    He teleported to the lab and sat down in a chair. Out of all the chairs in his home, this was his favorite chair. It had a cushion with fur on it, an armrest, and even a back to it.

    He opened up his status and looked through it. He noticed that his [Heal] and [Cure] had turned into [Heal Greater] and [Cure Greater] due to his Cleric job that he had gotten. He hadn¡¯t noticed it before because they kept the same first word in it and he had been rushing through it.

    Although, when he looked closer at his status, he couldn¡¯t see anything new except his [Shapeshift] now contained Blue Dragon now.

    If the monsters in this unknown continent are truly as strong as she said, then I can level up quickly there. It has been way too hard to do so with all the easy pests. I wonder what kind of things I could turn into! Ah, but first we need to advance our technology. I assume that Kelly and Jared are in the basement with¡­

    His thoughts were interrupted when Rune heard Sophia¡¯s voice and three footsteps.

    ¡°And here is the lab. It is set so that one second out here is two hours in here. Oh!! Rune!¡±

    Sophia was showing the house to Jared and Kelly. They had already gone through the dining area, kitchen, bathrooms, and the the guest room. Since they had no other place to stay, Rune let them stay in one of the guest rooms.

    Ms. Flustern had gone to gather the Bastets and everyone else had gone back to their respective places.

    ¡°I was wondering¡­ Would it be ok if Kelly and Jared worked in this lab?¡±

    Ryune thought about this for a moment before answering.

    ¡°As long as you two don¡¯t touch my stuff or go in the freezer. Especially not the freezer. I am serious. You will see some very messed up things in there.¡±

    Rune pointed to a large door on the far side of the lab. There were about fifty signs telling people not to go in unless they were mentally prepared.

    ¡°A-and why is that?¡±

    Kelly was the one who asked. She was holding onto Jared¡¯s arm tightly as they walked towards Rune.

    ¡°Oh, you know. Just corpses, bodies, and organic materials. Things people shouldn¡¯t see unless they had psychic damage immunity. Oh! I wanted to ask you two. Is it possible to create a device like a radio, but using magic to make it stronger?¡±

    ¡°Well, if we had the magic from a magic user, then we could, yes.¡±

    ¡°Great. I¡¯ll send a list down to you guys of students with specific magic spells. I want you two to start creating a radio whose range surpasses everything else built so far.¡±

    ¡°Understood¡±

    The two of them replied and Rune continued looking for ways to make himself stronger.

    <hr>

    In the meantime, Rena had finished eating dinner. It was a great pork cutlet with a side of cauliflower. It seemed like food royalty would have and it was delicious to the poor students.

    Rena started from very humble beginnings when Rune found her because both her parents died when she was young and the only one to support her was her grandfather who begged people for things and, surprisingly, got a lot of nuggets made of strange metals. She basically had nothing and thought that she was going to die by a disease until Rune cured her.

    She was eternally grateful for saving her as well as giving her a place to stay. Her now dead grandfather had watched her in happiness before he departed to Bytopia, the paradies for the dead.

    After putting her plate on a table, she walked to the library where she and her other Honor¡¯s fighting classmates would design weapons. She found that the couple, Yula the Aasimar and Mynn the Half-Elf, sitting at the table, They were talking to each other with smiles on their faces.

    Hika was in the corner muttering about how normies should die. She didn¡¯t have a boyfriend yet and neither did anyone else in the fighting class. She was in a bad mood just from watching the interaction between the couple.

    Erin and Hyht came in after Rena and sat down at a table. Rena had already sat down, but was patting Hika on the head to console her. She was shaking and silently crying as she hugged Rena.

    Then Akta and Nija entered the library and everybody sat down at a large table together. Rena handed out two pieces of paper to each person and they started drawing their designs.

    Rune had actually taught his students how to draw blueprints for buildings as an extra on top of weapon blueprints. Everyone started to work on their weapon designs.

    Erin worked on a design for dual greatswords with a chain connecting them with a wind attribute. Hyht was designing a knife that could extend or shorten with a lightning attribute. Akta worked on a serrated scythe that used the ice attribute to freeze enemies. Nija was working on designing a gauntlet with a buckler attached and a long sword which both used the light attribute. Hika was designing an aerodynamic blade that used the wind attribute to make it faster.

    The couple worked on a bow for Mynn with the dark attribute and two gauntlets for Yula with the dark attribute. Rena was thinking about creating a chain or rope to connect her two kamas and it used the wind attribute to control how it moved.

    The class was really pumped for their new weapons, So much so that Erin voiced a loud cheer and the librarian came over to tell them to be quiet.

    Rune had hired a librarian to watch over the couple thousand books related to the students¡¯ classes, monsters, weapons, what certain jobs did what, and some daily living books, He wanted the students to be independent when they left and he provided things for them. So, if a student was in poverty or bad at their job, it wasn¡¯t Rune¡¯s fault.

    After an hour of decisions and re-editing, they took their designs to Rune who was in the lab. He looked them over, gave his opinions, and asked if this was what they really wanted. He acted like a parent making sure his child wanted something before he got it.

    Then he went into a back room. There was a small window in the door that was not very see through and light shined through it. One minute later, he came out.

    ¡°Here are your weapons. I have even put the self-repair enchantment on them. Also, I need you eight to go to a specific place. Don¡¯t worry. I think it should be fine¡­¡±

 Chapter 20: Ready for a Trip?

    Rune opened his eyes. Even though he had become a human about three months ago, it felt good to sleep. Also, he could now go on the bed without breaking it. He sighed as he stared at his ceiling.

    He heard a yawn to his right and he looked over. It was Sophia who was trying to sit up, but kept falling down. He chuckled a little.

    ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡±

    ¡°No no. It¡¯s nothing. Anyway, good morning. Want to get some breakfast?¡±

    ¡°...Sure.¡±

    The two of them got up and changed clothes. Rune now had seven pairs of basically the same exact clothes and Sophia wore a white blouse. She put on some slippers and leaned on Rune while yawning,

    ¡°Ok. It¡¯s time to go to the dining room.¡±

    Sophia nodded as Rune held her against him and walked through the halls. He was thinking about what food to get when they reached the room and sat down. A maid came over to ask them what they wanted.

    ¡°I will have some toast and bacon, please. Sophia will have¡­ The same.¡±

    She had her eyes closed and was breathing lightly. She seemed like she would fall over at any moment. Rune shook her slightly and she peeped open an eye.

    ¡°You have to be awake for food. I know you eat a light lunch and work on your alchemy right after, but it¡¯s kind of unhealthy to not eat.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for your order, master, misses.¡±

    ¡°Oh! Do you know where Roxana went?¡±

    ¡°The young miss went to eat breakfast with her friends.¡±

    ¡°Ah, thanks.¡±

    The food came out shortly and the couple thanked her as she left. They grabbed their utensils and started to eat. Suddenly, the door burst open and Rouna appeared. Sophia did not know her as she strode up to Rune.

    ¡°Hi again. Remember what we did yesterday?¡±

    Sophia was instantly awake and looked at Rune and Rouna. She looked at Rune with criticizing eyes.

    ¡°Yeah. We talked about how Tiamat¡¯s Heads want my power or whatever. There is no need for you to barge into my home and create a misunderstanding for my wife.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Is that what it was?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Her name is Rouna, a dragon. I had to go see her on the king¡¯s orders.¡±

    Sophia¡¯s eyes instantly softened and she continued to stuff her mouth. Rune sighed and quickly finished the food and got up. He left the room and Rouna followed.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know you had a wife.¡±

    Rouna spoke in a teasing voice as she looked at Rune. The two of them were moving at a brisk pace towards the lab.

    ¡°Well, we haven¡¯t had a ceremony yet, but apparently people don¡¯t do that here. It¡¯s too expensive.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t even have a mate.¡±

    She licked her lips as she stared at Rune¡¯s.

    ¡°Yeah, no. I don¡¯t have any plans for polygamy or harems.¡±

    ¡°Ha-rum?¡±

    ¡°No. Ha-rem. It is when one guy is surrounded by multiple girls.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    They entered the lab and Rune pulled up two chairs to a table, one on either side. Rune gestured for Rouna to sit and the both sat on opposite sides of the table.

    ¡°So, I want to know what monsters are in the sea.¡±

    ¡°There are many beasts, but the most dangerous ones are known as Aboleths who roam the ocean and eat random beings to gain their knowledge. Other than them, Coastal Dragons are a nightmare to deal with because they ruin your ship all the time.¡±

    ¡°What about those five places you mentioned?¡±

    ¡°The five places are five areas that the Irregular Dragons¡¯ underlings usually run. The first place is home to white dragons where a Hierarchs control regular dragons to get information and items. They are usually kept in the dark and have no idea that they are being used to help Tiamat. This place is underground in an arctic environment known as the Frozen Tunnels.

    The second place is controlled by a Hierarch Dragon who is using a mind control device to control blue dragons to do what she wants. The area is on an island in the sky where storms surround it.

    The third area is a volcano where four Hierarch Dragons talk amongst each other about how to help the Fire Irregular Dragon. The forth is a town that worships a single black Hierarch Dragon.

    Lastly, the fifth place is the most heavily guarded fortress. It has a single Irregular dragon that uses the lightning element. Every guard is a Hierarch Dragon whose total amount numbers over one thousand. I wouldn¡¯t recommend going there.¡±

    Rune shifted a bit as he heard where the bases were. It was now clear to him that he was only the strongest in one half of the world.

    ¡°So, why are Dragons rare if there are so many there and in your cave?¡±

    ¡°Dragon sightings are rare as we aren¡¯t seen very often by people. We usually hang out underground in secluded caves. People don¡¯t go near our caves and think that there is only one or two dragons in it. To be truthful, many of us dragons lurk in the caves for a couple centuries. I think the last time I left was about twenty odd centuries ago when the most powerful Demon King appeared. Or second most powerful. I believe that you have a bit more strength than him.¡±

    ¡°So why leave your cave if you don¡¯t want to?¡±

    ¡°Your ¡°pupils¡± were going into the caves and trying to ask me questions. I made my apprentice substitute for me as the protector and Dragon to ask questions. Those ¡°pupils¡± could probably take him out in one go, but I think I can beat them all, even if they came at me all at once.¡±

    ¡°I think it would be good to have a person who can see the present and past on our side is good. Want to join?¡±

    ¡°First of all, it is not omnipotent for I can only know about places that aren¡¯t covered in a magic more powerful than I as well as the fact that I can¡¯t hear anything. People who are powerful enough cannot be observed directly. Also, what do you have to offer?¡±

    ¡°...Not killing you and technology. Two of my staff are working on creating instruments to contact each other at far ranges.¡±

    ¡°Humanity has gotten far, haven¡¯t they.¡±

    ¡°No. Not really. Compared to my first world, this humanity is living in poverty. Even lower class people in that world had access to information about almost anything.¡±

    ¡°First¡­ World? Are you a world traveler?!¡±

    ¡°No. Well yes. My soul and not my body. My body couldn¡¯t come after it turned to ashes. That Lathander god is pretty nice to let us keep living, even if we are entertainment.¡±

    ¡°I remember that world travelers only appear if the gods wish it. I know many of their descendants are on the unknown continent. They either work for themselves or for Tiamat¡¯s Heads.¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    ¡°...Well that sucks.¡±

    Rune got up from his chair and moved towards the gem on the table. He removed it from a necklace a while ago to keep the masochist imprisoned. She was pretty lonely only talking to Rune any time he walked into the lab.

    To be quite frank, she was useless. Only her information had a small bit of value. This time, Rune decided to ask her about the continent.

    <What do you know of the unknown continent?>

    While he looked at the gem, Rouna butted in on their conversation. Apparently, anyone with telepathy picked up whatever someone else said when they used it. At least within a certain range.

    <Didn¡¯t I just tell you about it?>

    <Not talking to you. Oi, Hela, what do you know? I¡¯ll let you out if you know anything good.>

    <Ah!! Really!? Then master can punish me!!>

    <Nevermind.>

    He quickly put her down and turned away and started walking towards the door. Rouna started to turn as well and followed him as the two of them started to move out of the lab.

    <No!! Wait!! It is known as Hell¡¯s Gate. There should be several ports around the coasts. The best one is found if you sail directly upwards from the human continent. I¡¯ll guide you!!>

    <Oh? Really...>

    Rune walked up to her and looked down upon the gem as she started to moan in pleasure. Apparently, she liked to be looked at with eyes that said that they would kill anyone who got in their way. Then he picked up the stone.

    <Stop being a masochist. Seriously. It''s annoying.>

    <But master!!>

    Rune promptly broke the stone which caused her to become quiet and Rouna¡¯s face turned into shock as he crushed it in his hands. He dropped the dust on the floor and, after a moment, the gem liquified and turned into a humanoid.

    She had black hair with purple stripes vertically. Her eyes were covered by her hands to block the light that she hadn¡¯t experienced in several months. When she removed them, the two others could see her pink eyes. Her hair was tied up in a twin tail style and she was wearing some strange black clothes that exposed a lot of skin.

    ¡°Oh my!! I thought I would die being cramped! Why did you leave me there?!¡±

    Rune ignored the question as she stretched her arms as she closed her eyes tightly. She took a step forward and fell face first into the desk in front of her as she hadn¡¯t walked in several months. Rune picked her up by the scruff of her collar and dragged her up to her feet.

    ¡°Ah. I¡¯m Hela Cania, the succubus servant of my master.¡±

    She bowed as she placed her arms at her side. Rune was feeling tired from dealing with two people that were slowly draining his stamina. Rouna looked over Hela as she spoke and snorted with a face that basically said that Rouna was far superior to her.

    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m going to meet up with two people. You two talk to each other or whatever.¡±

    Rune waved at them as he left the room. He was going to meet up with Kelly and Jared to see their progress. He needed to get the radio technology to contact others while traveling. He could teleport between the two if he had some party members on both sides, but he needed it in case something happened to those that could not teleport.

    He was starting to move towards their guest rooms when he saw them turn the corner. They were headed towards Rune.

    ¡°Oh, hello. We were just about to head into the lab and finish up the radio.¡±

    ¡°Really? If you can be finished with it in about a day, then I should be able to get my group and supplies ready. If you are done, please work on something else, like a gun or something.¡±

    ¡°Uh, you do know that guns are hard to make, right?¡±

    ¡°Then make something with the same usefulness.¡±

    With that, Rune left and walked towards Sophia. He knew that she was in the study that Rune had designed for her alchemy.

    He entered the room and Sophia turned around. There were ten shelves around the room with books filling them all. One table was pushed to the side with papers and open books littering it. At her desk, there were empty potion bottles and she had four jars of multicolored liquids in each of them.

    ¡°Oh!! I didn¡¯t know you were coming here. If I did, I could tidy up this room.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I was just going to travel to Aymren and wanted to see if you wanted to come.¡±

    She was a bit startled at the sudden declaration and unintentionally made a surprised voice.

    ¡°Eh? Uh, sure!!¡±

    Sophia quickly put down her jars and started to put some books away. She picked up her white and yellow coat and placed a healing vial in her pocket. As soon as she finished, she fished some keys out of her pocket and locked the door behind them.

    The two of them left the house and walked to the entrance. As soon as they did, Rune pulled out his hovering platform and got on. He pulled Sophia up onto it and it moved over the land.

    <hr>

    Rune jumped down from the platform with Sophia in his arms. She was clinging onto his neck. They had arrived at the front gates of the village. It looked like it had changed very much.

    The buildings had changed from wood to cement. The walls had went from large, sharp wooden logs to high stone buildings. It even had a metal gate for the entrance. There was a huge line in front of the gate.

    There were carriages and wagons with all kinds of materials in them. The guards that were stationed looked thoroughly through each carriage.

    Rune was walking up to the gate with Sophia clinging to his arm when a guard moved in front of them. He held his arms in front of them and looked carefully at both Sophia and Rune.

    ¡°Oh, yeah! You guys wouldn¡¯t remember me in this form, but I am Rune. Here. See?¡±

    Rune pulled out his helmet from his storage and showed it to the guard. He seemed skeptical for a while, but realized that the girl next to him was Sophia and basically everyone in the village knew her appearance. He moved aside quickly and bowed.

    ¡°Please enter. Much has changed since you were last here. Your friend, Tyler, has helped with our growth.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I am here to see him. Can you point him out?¡±

    ¡°I will go look for dad.¡±

    The two were about to split up to go to their destinations, but, when Sophia walked down a cobblestone path, several people tried to hit on her. Rune wasn¡¯t going to let them do so and he ended going with Sophia to see Hersker.

    ¡°I guess I¡¯ll go after we see him.¡±

    ¡°Ok!¡±

    Sophia was smiling as they moved along the street. She was quite clingy with Rune and was hugging his arm while walking. There was no doubt that many males were grinding their teeth and getting jealous at Rune.

    After some time, they could see Hersker with a huge grin on his face. He seemed to be talking to Dina, Sophia¡¯s younger sister. They were both holding cups in their hands and Hersker started laughing.

    He was wiping the tears from his eyes when he had laughed too hard when he noticed Rune and Sophia. He turned and smiled at them as he greeted them on his porch.

    ¡°Rune! Sophia! How have you two been? How far have you gone?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s¡­ not talk about that last bit. So far, we¡¯ve been good. You?¡±

    Rune spoke first as to avoid talking about his night life with Sophia. Next to him, Sophia blushed as she thought about how far they had gone. Dina was looking between Rune and Sophia and was giving them a sly smile.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. We were just talking about how amazing it was that Tyler had moved up in society so quickly. He is very friendly and helpful, such a good friend you have.¡±

    ¡°Are you still the village chief?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but I am a mayor in this new town. Things have been bustling and people have been expanding this village into a town. All thanks to that mall.¡±

    ¡°Mm. We should have brought Roxana.¡±

    ¡°Honey, why don¡¯t you go get her quickly. Here. Create a party with me.¡±

    They formed a small party and Rune teleported to his home and looked around. It took some time, but he found Roxana in her room. She was sleeping in her room.

    Rune shook her a bit and she opened her eyes. She yawned a little before smacking her lips. She had woekn up to eat a bit of food before going back to sleep.

    ¡°Do you want to go on a trip?¡±

    ¡°...n¡­¡±

    ¡°Ok. Get dressed first.¡±

    Rune teleported with Roxana who was slightly awake when they arrived. Sophia was sitting on a couch opposite of Hersker and Dina. Rune put Roxana down on the couch and Sophia placed her on her lap.

    ¡°This is Roxana. Rune saved her during a Devil invasion and was promoted to the rank of marquis. Say ¡°Hi¡± Roxana.¡±

    ¡°...Hi¡­¡±

    ¡°Ahh. My first granddaughter. When will you two make my second?¡±

    ¡°Uhhh, what about Dina?¡±

    ¡°I think I¡¯m good. I am working in the mall to gain some experience. I¡¯ll focus on love when it affects me.¡±

    ¡°But daddy wants to have some grandchildren to play with.¡±

    ¡°You should phrase that better. Maybe less like a criminal.¡±

    Hersker was acting childish and whining about how he was bored. He was most bored when Dina went to the Tyler''s mall to work as a cashier.Roxana was snoozing lightly and Sophia was patting her on the head. Rune was sitting on the side of a sofa being ignored.

    ¡°Oh. Rune. How did you become a human?¡±

    Dina¡¯s face changed from calm to confusion as she looked at Rune. She looked at him carefully as soon as Hersker asked.

    ¡°What do you mean ¡°become a human¡±?¡±

    ¡°I was Cursed Armor until I absorbed Gungnir and an ancient white dragon¡¯s bones. I¡¯m actually able to become any humanoid.¡±

    ¡°A-a white dragon?! Ancient?! Wait, big sis wrote to us that you got promoted to marquis. What happened in the past six months?¡±

    Rune told the general gist of the story. By the end, Hersker and Dina¡¯s jaws had already dropped and were staring wide eyed at him. By then, Sophia had gotten up and made some tea for them. When they finally settled down, the five of them talked about things like how Dina''s job was goin or how hard Hersker was working by being the mayor.

    ¡°A-anyway, thanks for checking up on us.¡±

    ¡°T-thanks.¡±

    ¡°Ok. Goodbye. It¡¯s time to go meet Tyler.¡±

 Chapter 21: Time to Prep

    Rune returned Sophia and Roxana back to the house and entered the mall that Tyler started. The door was made of glass and metal and looked extremely fancy The walls were cement with white paint over it and there were windows put in the wall every several meters.

    He walked through the door and found that the floor had a carpet path and there were a great many people in the mall. People bustled about, talked to each other, and carried around large bags. There were several benches around the large hall and chandeliers with fire burning on it.

    The stores had no doors and windows. They had candles inside to show people what there was in the store. There were two floors and only one store was larger than the rest.

    Rune moved to a desk near the entrance where a woman was holding an orb. He waited in front of the desk for a while before she finally opened her eyes.

    ¡°Oh! I¡¯m so sorry, sir! Were you waiting for long?¡±

    ¡°No. Do you know where Tyler is?¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about president Tyler?¡±

    ¡°...Sure.¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t usually meet with customers. I can tell him that you were looking for him. What is your name?¡±

    ¡°Rune.¡±

    The woman put her hand back on the orb and closed her eyes. After a while, she opened her eyes and seemed confused. She looked back at the orb, then at Rune.

    ¡°Um, you will meet in five minutes. Someone will escort you there.¡±

    Soon after she said that, a pair of people with swords at their sides and black armor walked over to him. They stopped in front of him and bowed their head a little.

    ¡°We are here to escort you, Mr. Rune.¡±

    They started to move and Rune followed. There was a smaller hallway where the bathrooms were and, even farther than that, was a door to go downstairs to the offices. They moved down a single flight of stairs and entered an area where cubicles made of thin wood were placed in rows.

    The guards took Rune down one row and they ended up at a door that had a name written on it in gold letters. It read ¡°Tyler Orun¡± and one of the guards knocked on it. Slowly, it opened and a head peeked out.

    It was Mari, Tyler¡¯s girlfriend, who opened it the rest of the way. She looked up meekly at Rune.

    ¡°A-are you Mr. Rune?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°P-please come in.¡±

    Rune walked past Mari into the room and she closed the door behind him. The room was lit up by a light similar to sunlight and it was clean everywhere. Rune was surprised by the state of the room and how clean it was as he knew that Tyler was a slob. Mari likely cleaned up the place.

    There was a desk in between two shelves that had multiple books and black boxes. There was a chair in front of the desk, one pushed to the side, and another that Tyler was sitting in.

    ¡°Thanks for letting my friend in, Mari.¡±

    Mari smiled and sat in a chair to the side. Rune stepped towards the unfilled chair and sat down. He turned to Tyler and started to speak.

    ¡°I am going to go on a trip. It will likely take a very long time, but I need you to do some things. First, look over my school. I am not telling you to run it, but to watch over it to see if anything goes wrong. The second thing is that I want you to have Kelly and Jared develop as many powerful weapons as they can while I¡¯m gone. It doesn¡¯t matter what it is, just have them try and make it. Lastly, I need supplies and a ship. Do you know to get them?¡±

    ¡°Ok. Hold up. Write it down, then I¡¯ll see.¡±

    Rune pulled out a paper and a quill and ink.and scribbled down his instruction. He handed the paper over to Tyler who looked it over. Then he nodded.

    ¡°Ok. I see. I can get some food and some water, but you have to pay me 200 gold coins. I¡¯ll deliver it in two days. I can definitely watch over your school and tell Kelly and Jared to work on some stuff. The ship will be kind of hard, but I know a guy named Marq. Go talk to him. He usually is in the food court with a long blue coat.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. Here is the money.¡±

    He reached into his storage and pulled out a bag of coins. Mari gasped as she saw this and Rune ignored her as he put the money in front of him.

    ¡°Deliver it in two days or I¡¯ll come back.¡±

    Rune left the office floor and walked up to the second floor. There, he saw a large crowd of people standing in long lines. There were four restaurants that sold food and every table and seat were filled up.

    People of all races were all together and had all kinds of clothes and equipment. The seats were made of wood painted white and the tables were made of a wooden frame with a stone table top.

    Rune looked around to see a person matching Tyler¡¯s description. In the middle of the table area sat a man with a long, blue coat with a fur collar. His hat had two blue feathers in it and was much larger than his head.

    After squeezing through the large crowd of people, he found himself standing in front of the man¡¯s table. He looked up with a huge sandwich longer than his arm in his hand. Even though Tyler had said that he was usually found in the food court, he was most definitely not fat. In fact, he was the opposite with a skinny stomach.

    ¡°And who might you be?¡±

    ¡°I am Rune. I heard that I should come to you about finding a ship.¡±

    ¡°I can do better than that, boy! I make ships! Now what kind of ship do you want?¡±

    ¡°One that can survive hundreds of monster attacks as well as carry a large amount of supplies. Can you make that?¡±

    ¡°If I had enough man power and enough money, then yes. I could. Do you have 3,000 gold coins? With that much, I can buy an old battle cruiser and renovate it.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Where should we meet?¡±

    ¡°There is a port city all the way north of here. I will be there at the huge docks on the east side of the city. Go there in a week and be prepared to tell me what you have in mind.¡±

    Then the man took an impossibly large bite of his sandwich and Rune left. He was going to go check in on Kelly and Jared. If they were in the lab, then they would have finished it by now.

    <hr>

    Lying on his back, Rune looked up at the sky. He was currently on the roof of the school in the afternoon. Clouds rolled over the plains around the school and the sun was slightly covered by the clouds. There was a slight breeze moving throughout the school on this sunday.

    The deliveries were supposed to arrive in two days. He sighed as he thought about how far he had gotten in the past several months. He had thought that he used to be the strongest person in the world, but apparently there was a whole other continent that was stronger than him.

    He was, however, excited about getting stronger than the other continent because he really did not have anything else to do other than be at his school. He was already an adult in this world and even had an adopted child. The only things he could do were very limited.

    He sat up and looked to the horizon. He noticed that there was a huge cloud of dust that seemed to get closer. He stood up and pulled out his hovering platform. After stepping on, he moved towards the cloud.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    The grass under him moved around like water when a ship passes over it. Soon, he reached the cloud and realized what it was.

    There were two carriages with horses running at full speed and a large thing underground making the ground churn as it moved. Rune could see some parts of the creature that had a sand colored exoskeleton.

    One of the horses tripped and that carriage flipped on its side. The flipped carriage tripped the other carriage and both spun out of control. Then they skidded to a stop and Rune could see the horses bleeding as they whinied. The carriage walls broke and bags, chests, and several people fell out of it.

    The beast under the ground surfaced and Rune could see that it was basically a large centipede. It had large mandibles that looked strong enough to crush a car and its legs as well as its speed made it extremely fast and dangerous.

    Rune, however, was bored and wanted to kill something. He drew his wind and lightning chain cleaver and aimed it at its head. Carefully judging the distance, he threw it.

    It spun four times in the air with tremendous speed before landing perfectly in the center of the large insect¡¯s head. As it did so, Rune cast [Water Ball], [Water Control], and [Lightning Grip].

    Water appeared and turned into a string. Rune put his hand in the string and electrified it. Connected with water to the chain cleaver, it started to turn it¡¯s gears and blood spurted from its new laceration.

    The insect fell with a thud and Rune absorbed it after placing his cleaver back in his storage. Jumping from his platform, he could see five people looking dazed and two of them were curling up in a ball.

    He moved towards them and several of them flinched as they saw his figure.

    ¡°Who are you five?¡±

    They stayed silent as they eyed his movements. He stood in front of the nearest person and stared them down.

    ¡°Who. Are. You?¡±

    ¡°I-I am N-Nerem.¡±

    Nerem was scared when Rune glared at him and started to stammer. The person had a small, wispy mustache and his eyes were a dark green color. His hair was blond and was cut short. He wore red and yellow clothes and had a shortsword at his side.

    It was evident from the small stature and immature air about him that he was still a boy. He looked up at Rune with eyes full of fear and terror.

    The four other people had dirty blond hair and wore butler and maid outfits. They were looking at Rune warily as if he was going to kill someone.

    ¡°So, Nerem, what are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°I-I¡­ We are here to trade some goods with a nearby village. It is called Aymren.¡±

    ¡°What are you doing here then? Aymren is that way!¡±

    Rune pointed in the opposite direction of where the two carriages were travelling. They turned to look at where he was pointing.

    ¡°Well, yes. We know. It¡¯s just that this insect appeared when we passed by a shortcut. The place was labeled Death Dunes.¡±

    Rune face palmed as they said ¡°Death Dunes¡±. It was painfully obvious that no one should go through or even near a place with such an evil and dangerous sounding name.

    ¡°Why!? Why would you go to such a place?!¡±

    ¡°I-it was a good shortcut from where we were.¡±

    He sighed loudly and turned around. Nerem got up quickly and rushed towards Rune.

    ¡°Wait!! Please, help us!¡±

    Rune turned his head and glared at him with enough ferocity that he fell backwards. He felt a cold shiver go down his spine as he fell.

    ¡°Why should I do that?¡±

    He spoke in an aggravated tone as he glanced over the rest of the people. They shivered, one by one, as his gaze fell over them.

    ¡°We would like to stay in your residence for a while before we head out again. Um, this is an order from a baron¡¯s son?¡±

    The four others smirked as the boy said this. One of them even hid a smile under their hand. Rune responded with a firm tone that told them that he didn¡¯t want them to anger him any more than they had already.

    ¡°I out rank you because I am a marquis.¡±

    All of them immediately stopped smiling and their jaws hit the floor as they stared at him. Rune was flashing a smile that said that he would kill them if they annoyed him enough.

    ¡°Best be on your way. Here. I¡¯ll even give you this. But now you owe me.¡±

    Rune took one of their carriages and transmuted it to fix its basic structure. Then he enchanted it with floating and going in a direction the user wanted it to go.

    ¡°So what is the name of the baron that owes me now?¡±

    He shoved his face right in front of Nerem and he started to have cold sweat roll down his face. He looked away towards his servants and they gave him a thumbs up.

    ¡°It is Baron Luxfreed.¡±

    ¡°Tell him he owes Marquis Rune Samuv about 150 gold coins or materials worth that much. Now leave.¡±

    Rune turned around and plucked his hovering platform from the sky. The five of them watched as he placed it in his storage and teleported himself. Dumbfounded, they slowly got up and packed the undamaged merchandise on the carriage and went back to their fief.

    Rune had teleported to his house where he walked in to find Rouna, Lisbeth, and Sophia sitting together in the foyer. They were drinking tea and chatting with one another, but it looked like Lisbeth was getting frustrated and Rouna was trying to suppress a smile on her child-like face.

    Rune started to move around the three sitting at the coffee table when Lisbeth saw Rune out of the corner of her eye and turned to him. She sprang up from the sofa and bounded over to him. Quickly, she hid behind Rune and crouched on the ground.

    ¡°*Sniff* Please, save me. *Sniff* Rune, Rouna¡¯s being mean!¡±

    ¡°Hmm? What are you doing to Lisbeth?¡±

    ¡°Nothing much. Just talking about how she will forever be alone.¡±

    ¡°Uh, I don¡¯t think you should do that. How old are you?¡±

    ¡®I am 5,467 years old. Why? You shouldn¡¯t be asking a maiden about her age.¡±

    She wagged her finger in front of his face as she said that with a wide grin on her face. She had her eyes closed and was kneeling on the sofa.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t torment her about being alone in her 16 years of life when you have been alone for 5,467. I rest my case.¡±

    ¡°W-what?! You don¡¯t know that!!¡±

    ¡°You told me a while ago that you didn¡¯t have a ¡°mate¡±.¡±

    Her face started to turn red as she hid her face with her hands. She slowly sank and lied down on the sofa with her face in a cushion.

    ¡°There you go, Lisbeth. Now, I¡¯m off to the lab. Rouna, Sophia, we¡¯ll head out in half a month.¡±

    He walked down the hallway to meet up with Kelly and Jared in the lab. To be truthful, they were likely only coming out to go to the bathroom and to eat. Rune had already prepared a bed and blankets for them to sleep there.

    He opened the door and walked in through the thin barrier that separated the world with regular time with a small pocket world with slower time. In essence, this room where time went from one second to 2 hours, there was another smaller world inside the current one, Arborea.

    He entered the room to see Kelly busy working on something. It looked like she was welding metal together. Jared was connecting wires together and connecting it to a capsule.

    ¡°Hey. How¡¯s it going?¡±

    ¡°Good. It¡¯s been, what? 80 days?¡±

    ¡°Um, one day.¡±

    ¡°Ah, well time is very different from here to the outside. At least our bodies change at the rate of the outside.¡±

    ¡°True. What have you finished in the meantime?¡±

    ¡°We completed the radio in the first 5 days. In the rest, we have been trying to recreate weapons from our world, but we haven¡¯t figured out how to create missiles or anything like it. In fact, guns are a bit more difficult, but we have come up with the idea that muskets run on.

    If we put in the fire power outside of the bullet and in the gun itself, we would be able to launch the projectile. In this world of magic, we can use a magic tool that causes explosions as well as one that can withstand as many explosions as possible.¡±

    ¡°Oh. If you make the frame, I can add any enchantment you guys want. Just ask.¡±

    ¡°Really?! Please, enchant this with what we just told you!¡±

    Kelly handed Rune a gun shaped object. It had a trigger, barrel, hammer, frame, muzzle, and a cylinder. It was basically a magnum without the bullets. He looked it over and handed it back to her.

    ¡°Can you take it apart first?¡±

    ¡°Oh. Sure. Here you go!¡±

    She placed all the parts on the table and even took out six metal bullets. They seemed to be in the shape of bullets, but they didn¡¯t have gunpowder in it and were just metal. Rune first looked at the hammer and enchanted it so that it would cause a small explosion that had a large amount of force. He had been practicing his enchantment skills in case he needed them and it was now [Enchant All] with the ability to give any enchantment to inanimate objects.

    He then enchanted all the gun parts to be extremely durable, enough so that explosions wouldn¡¯t even scratch the gun. He made the bullets sharper and to cut through the air in front of it. Then he made it so that there was no recoil and that the gun was light.

    Kelly and Jared watched in amazement as green light appeared and blue writing formed on the objects. Then it disappeared as soon as the light went away and Kelly quickly put the gun together.

    She placed the bullets in the chamber and was looked for something to shoot. Rune sighed, plucked the gun from her hands, and threw an explosive disk. This new disc was one where it would detonate on impact to the top. Kelly was startled when Rune nabbed the gun from her hands and looked at him in disbelief.

    Rune aimed the gun with the skill he gained from getting the Mage Killer job, [Physical Enhancement], to aim the gun perfectly at the desc and shot it. The explosion propelled the bullet through the air and is spun until it hit its target. Then the disc exploded in a blaze of glory.

    ¡°Good job. It works.¡±

    Rune turned on the safety on the gun and placed it on the table. He wasn¡¯t about to toss the gun as it had the possibility of exploding if it hit the ground. Kelly picked it up and unloaded the bullets.

    ¡°Can you try enchanting some more?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ Sure?¡±

    Then Jared and Kelly moved the table and Rune could see several types of guns. He froze as he saw all of them and the amount of rounds there were underneath. Then the two of them spoke in almost perfect harmony.

    ¡°Please enchant all of these!¡±

 Chapter 22: Leaving

    ¡°...ne¡­¡±

    Rune groaned as he heard noise and his brow furrowed. He turned his body to avoid hearing the sound.

    ¡°...Rune¡­¡±

    He heard a sound once more, but was too tired to listen to it properly. He turned to the other side and tried to ignore it again.

    ¡°Rune. C¡¯mon. It¡¯s time to get up!¡±

    He opened one eye into a slit and looked around. He saw that he was under a white blanket with an ornate pattern and a curtain was pushed to the side to reveal the sunlight pouring into the room. Under his head was something soft and smooth, a pillow.

    There was a delicate hand on his chest that was shaking him awake. He looked up to see Sophia smiling as she saw his sleeping face. Her hair was disheveled and she was wearing a night, but she was still gorgeous.

    ¡°Rune. It¡¯s monday. You have to wake up for breakfast.¡±

    He slowly sat up in his bed and yawned. He stretched his arms and legs. Then he cracked his fingers and neck and got out of bed. He went into the bathroom to take a shower.

    When he was fully dressed in his usual attire, Sophia had gotten out of the shower. She had only a bath towel that was extremely revealing and kissed Rune.

    When both of them were ready, they left to grab something to eat on the go from the dining room. Luckily, the chef had cooked their meals beforehand, like they did every weekday, and it was placed in something like a bento box.

    This world, although very similar to medieval Europe, they used bento boxes to put meals into because of convenience. They figured out that, using this method, they could remove the hassle of eating in a restaurant as well as keeping the food looking neat and delicious.

    They grabbed the food that were in bags and headed off to the school. Obviously, it didn¡¯t take long for them to reach it and many students were coming out of the dorms as well. For breakfast, they had chefs prepare food for them and delivered it around the time when people usually woke up.

    The couple moved down the pathway and entered the school. Many students, mainly guys, thought that Sophia was beautiful and wanted to date her, but were far too afraid of their principal/teacher to do so. On the other hand, there was a small group of women who liked Rune and wanted to date him because of his cool and reliable personality, but were afraid of Sophia who said that she would attack those who came onto Rune.

    In all situations, they couldn¡¯t take either of them out on a date. In fact, three of the teacher were liked by the students, not including Rune and Sophia, and students occasionally made move on them.

    Of course, many of the students who did not have a boyfriend or girlfriend were extremely jealous of every couple in the school. For example, Hika growled every time a couple came near her.

    School was the same as it always was. Study hall, classes, lunch, more classes, and gym where you learned to kill things and survive. The tournament was rescheduled to be in one month from since the last one a month ago. However, there would be a small school festival next week where classes would set up some kind of event.

    There were some clubs, but they were not things you would normally find in a normal high school. However, this wasn¡¯t a normal high school and it had five clubs. The Spell Creation club, the Forging club, the Survival club, the Design club, and the Cooking club. However, these individual clubs weren¡¯t doing anything for the festival.

    About a week ago, Ms. Flustern came to the school with about fifty Bastets, cat people, and Rune had those older than 18 work as the school staff while those under 18 would go to school, but would all be placed in the freshman year as no one was well educated. The jobs were mainly cleaning and learning to cook. Some were even writing down books for the students, like dictionaries and such.

    Ms. Flustern started to work as the home ecs teacher on saturday. There were four blocks where different classes would go to see her for lessons. She taught them to sew torn clothes, cook good food, and clean things in the house.

    There were also four blocks where each of the designated four classes could either go to the forge or spend their time doing what they wanted. There were only these two classes on saturday occurred. Other than that, people did what they liked.

    The forge was a two story high building on the left side of the high school where Rena spent her free time. Although she could only create weapons for two hours on saturday, she still liked to watch what other people made. Of course, the Forge club could go there after school for three hours, but Rena was in the Design club where people focused on creating more efficient weapons.

    Rune was in charge of overseeing Rena¡¯s class because they were in his first teaching block. They were apparently trying to decide between a cafe and a weapon shop. In the end, a cafe won and a bit over half the people cheered. Rune was trying hard to keep his eyes open as he watched the class choose something.

    All he had to do was say whether or not what the class was doing was allowed. He nodded his head a bit to indicate that a cafe or a weapons shop were perfectly good choices that he allowed.

    Rena wanted to have a weapon shop, not just because she was pretty good at designing weapons, but because the majority of the class who wanted a cafe, mostly men, also wanted the girls to dress up in waitress or maid outfits. Thus why many girls didn¡¯t want to choose a cafe.

    Rune was focused on going to the port city that Marq had talked about. He turned to look out of the window when he felt a push. He turned to see someone with a red face bowing to him. It was one of his students, Friya, a Half-Elf girl, who had bumped into him and was apologizing rather quickly.

    ¡°Ah, I, uh, I¡¯m sorry. Uh, I, please forgive me!!¡±

    ¡°Hmm? It¡¯s fine.¡±

    She returned to her friend group and seemed to be whispering angrily at them with a face as red as a beet. She seemed to be fidgeting with her hands and was clutching something close to her chest.

    Rune looked down at himself to make sure that whatever she had in her hand wasn¡¯t stolen from him. However, the only thing he had on other than clothes was a small notepad in his jacket pocket that was still there. He sighed and turned to look back at the window.

    Then he jolted at a thought. Quickly, he moved his hand through the air to click on his world map. He tried to find the unknown continent, but he could move the map past a certain area in the water. He tried to look at he journal about the map.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    He read it in his head as it said, ¡°The map is shown in the circle icon that says ¡°Atlas¡±, but the map only shows areas of the world that the gods have control over. Areas not seen on the map are controlled by other gods or powerful beings.¡± He read it over once again and sighed. At least he now knew that his map wasn¡¯t bugged to not see Hell¡¯s Gate.

    He closed out of it and looked at his students who were smiling as they worked. They had split up to work on different sections of the cafe. Some people were writing the menus, others were working on furniture, and the rest were sewing outfits. He looked at this scene and thought to himself, The Japanese were really smart to have a culture festival where students can work without bothering me!!

    <hr>

    The next day, Rune was teaching his class. His students were mostly writing down notes about what not to do when they entered a forge and what tools were supposed to do what. He was waiting for the delivery of food and water to come, but had four staff members handle it at the front gates. They were also going to contact him when it arrived. He still had 13 days left until he was going to leave, but the festival would come before that.

    He had spent the majority of yesterday¡¯s afternoon inside the lab with Kelly and Jared. They had worked on weapons for about 20 days inside the room where he transformed into Cursed Armor just to work nonstop. He had produced about fifty different guns with hundreds of millions of bullets with different enchantments.

    He sat down in his chair as his fourth class finished writing their notes. Personally, he thought that this class was the most quiet amongst the rest of them. They seemed tired, but also had an air of boredness hanging around them.

    Suddenly, the orb on his desk glowed blue and he reached out to touch it. His eyes closed on their own and he could feel a connection with another person.

    <We have received the package. It is pretty large, but we can manage if two more people help. Is that all right?>

    <Yes. Have one person grab those two people and bring it to the front of my house. I will pick it up from there.>

    <Yes sir.>

    The connection was terminated and he opened his eyes. He noticed that his entire class, except one person, was looking at him as if they were curious of what just happened. Rune just looked at them and they turned back to their notes.

    The one person not looking at him was busy drawing something in their notebook. They were the most expressionless person in class with the least amount of enthusiasm. Her full name was Riika Toum, a Bastet transfer student. She was first approached by many guys because of her beauty, but she gave them the cold shoulder. She didn¡¯t have any friends and always did things by herself.

    Her skills in combat were far from perfect, but she seemed to be able to analyze a situation quickly and adapt to it. Her strategic mind was one of the best in the school. Rune could only use strategy to see what order to kill in and how to do so as he wasn¡¯t a military general or someone with a strategic background.

    He waited for the bell to ring and all the students left the room. Everyone except Riika who always lagged behind. Rune got up and walked over to her and she looked up at him.

    ¡°Do you think you can help me with a mission?¡±

    ¡°?¡±

    ¡°Basically, I will be out for a while to work on a something and I want you to help provide me with a strategic outlook where I¡¯ll be going. I would like you to be there to help.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ I¡¯m sure you won¡¯t like someone like me being there...¡±

    ¡°No. In fact, I believe that you would be the only one able to help me in this case. Your strategic thinking ability surpasses mine.¡±

    ¡°...Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°When does it start?¡±

    ¡°In 13 days, we will head out and I need you to train as hard as you can when you can. I''ll be counting on you.¡±

    He started to leave the classroom and gave her a wave before he left. She gave a small wave back and picked up her bag. She left the room and headed towards her dorm.

    Rune hurried to his house to pick up the delivery of food and water. He rushed out of the building and ran to his house. He could teleport because of how close he was to his home.

    In front of his large, white house were multiple large crates where stacked in front of his front porch. There were also several large, metal cylinders with a lids on top. They were probably vats of water that Rune asked for. He put them in his storage to preserve them as anything in his storage didn¡¯t age or rot.

    The boxes left an indent in his grass and he sighed as he looked at it. Then he walked up the steps and inside his home. Now he just needed to wait five days until he could meet with Marq to talk about the ship.

    <hr>

    Rune was sitting on a bench in a building near the docks. Marq¡¯s secretary told him to sit while he waited for Marq to get back. It seemed that he was out getting an abundant amount of food.

    Marq¡¯s metabolism was far faster than anyone else¡¯s and he had to eat food constantly just to not die from starvation. He was grabbing lunch at a bakery where he usually got 50 pieces of bread to eat for lunch and between lunch and dinner.

    Rune had arrived on his hovering platform after searching for the large town on his map that covered half of the world. He couldn¡¯t teleport as he hadn¡¯t been there before and it took him two hours to search for the port town known as Porte.

    After twenty minutes of thinking about his plans for the ship, Marq entered the building with a small wagon of bread. He was munching on it when he turned to Rune and stopped chewing. He gulped down the food in his mouth and spoke.

    ¡®Hi. You here to talk about the ship?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I have the money. You got the ship?¡±

    ¡°I bought it when I got here last night. It is large and sturdy. Great for what you want. Come. Let¡¯s talk more in my office.¡±

    The two of them walked into a pantry room with a desk on the side. The man put his wagon on the side of the room and pulled up a contract.

    ¡°Here is the deed. Give me the money and I will bring 50 people to work on the ship.¡±

    ¡°Ok. However, I have some conditions. I want metal plates as the frame of the ship as well as small windows on both sides of the ship. About 20 on each side with metal shutters.¡±

    ¡°Ok. I would think that it would sink, but whatever floats your boat. It will be about 500 gold coins more.¡±

    ¡°Ok. Here.¡±

    Rune took out two bags, one with 3,000 gold and the other with 500 gold, and placed it on his desk. Marq looked wide eyed at the money and scrambled for his drawer. He took out an orb and quickly told people to go and buy enough metal sheets to cover a battle cruiser and to bring 50 people as fast as they can.

    ¡°Ok. That is done. Let¡¯s get to work.¡±

    Over the next several days, Rune stayed at Porte and helped with the boat. It was huge and long. It looked to be larger than the gargantuan leviathan that Rune killed.

    He had went back for the festival, but didn¡¯t really do much other than check out the classes with Sophia. He asked her opinion about the trip and she agreed that it was necessary to go if this organization, Tiamat¡¯s Heads, was going after Rune for his power.

    The metal sheets were added and Rune welded and fused the sheets so that there were no cracks to the metal. There were 20 circular holes in each side of the ship placed periodically. They were wide enough for a man to crawl through and opened inwards with three latches and locks on each. They were made so that they could row in dire circumstances or shoot projectiles from them.

    There were four large sails on the cruiser and the two in the middle were taller than most trees and thicker as well. There were two anchors on either side of the vessel and even three three floors. The lowest floor was underneath the water, but it stayed dry. Rune had enchanted everything with self repair and protection.

    There were seat on the second floor where the oars were placed and the windows were located. The lowest floor had ten rooms on either side of the ship and had multiple hammocks in each. There was a kitchen located on the highest floor and the ship captain¡¯s cabin was built there as well. The steering wheel was placed above it as stairs led up from the top deck.

    After the 15th day of the month, Rune was ready to set sail. Rouna, Sophia, Riika, some staff members, and all of the Honor¡¯s fighting class were ready to leave as well. Rune had put Hela into an amulet to take her to the continent. eeThey were all put into Rune¡¯s party and they teleported to the ship. It was large enough and extravagant enough to call it a landmark even though it could move.

    They all climbed aboard the massive vessel as they waved off Marq as no one else could make it in time or had a ride back. They set forth to the unknown continent, Hell¡¯s Gate.

 Bonus Chapter 2: The Festival

    Rune woke up in the shipwright''s building to see water rolling into the shore in waves and he could hear birds screeching. He was in Porte on his third day, a Wednesday.

    It was the day of the festival and he had until Monday to finish. His ship was already progressing faster than anticipated and he had promised Sophia that he would go to the school festival with her.

    The frame of the ship was already done and all he had to do now was to reinforce the ship¡¯s surfaces and replace all the wood with metal. There were some minor hiccups when several steel beams skewered a couple builders, but he had healed them with [Heal] before they died.

    He climbed out of his hammock that the secretary had set up for him and he walked over to Marq¡¯s pantry office. He opened the door to see shelves of food and a man in a blue coat stuffing his face with bread.

    The man, Marq, turned to look at the noise produced when Rune turned the knob and opened the door. Then he turned back to his work as soon as he saw who it was.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to be gone for a day. There is no negotiation with this.¡±

    ¡°Ok, but are you sure you don¡¯t want to be a shipwright. Your skills are awfully useful.¡±

    Rune teleported to his home without answering. It was still early in the morning when he woke up and the school festival started when school usually started.

    Sophia was smiling strangely as she hugged a pillow with her entire body. She was still asleep, but was unconsciously rubbing her face on the pillow.

    Rune wanted to wake her up, but he also wanted to watch this cute scene a bit longer. To be specific, he watched for about five minutes until he shook her awake.

    ¡°Nn? Rune? What *yawn*, what time is it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Sometime before the festival starts. Let¡¯s get ready to go. Remember that I promised to go with you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    She slowly started to wiggle out of the bed and almost fell on the floor when Rune caught her. She started to cling to his neck and started muttering incoherently.

    <hr>

    The two of them walked outside after eating breakfast with a tried Roxana. She had plans to go around the festival with Lysp and Enya.

    The couple left the house while holding hands and were talking about what to do during the festival. The students had planned it during homeroom, which was before their first learning period, study hall, and for an hour after school.

    They worked extremely hard on it all and had tried to make as many things as possible happen. Even the younger children had small events.

    Also, some merchants that Rune had met at Tyler¡¯s mall would be selling some items in stands in the gym area outside. To eat, people could go there or to the cafeteria and, in both places, people had to pay for food.

    People from around the continent came to see the children and what they were doing. Of course, Rune had put up some guards to protect the children and students.

    Parents and guardians could attend free of charge, but others had to pay a small fee of 10 silver coins. It was Rune¡¯s way of earning money greedily. He didn¡¯t need it because the school was self-sufficient, but he had more plans for this school.

    He had yet to put a proper room for Home Ec because they worked in either the school kitchen or the cafeteria. The tools were limited as they didn¡¯t have enough string and needles for everyone at the same time.

    Roxana had left the house a tad bit earlier than Rune and Sophia to meet her friends who were waiting in front of their house. They had already finished eating breakfast a couple minutes ago and were excited to look around.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    Roxana was already really close to the twins even though they hadn¡¯t been together for very long. Ulf, the twin¡¯s father was happy to hear that they were getting along well.

    The school year was 270 days, including weekends, which allowed for students to do what they liked for 90 days. They had three choices. To go home and come back after a quarter of a year, to practice a trade or career in the capital, or to stay at the school.

    Staying at the school meant that they would have a learning advantage against everyone else and would be taught techniques for fighting, cooking, surviving, and other things. Rune was thinking about bringing those that stayed out to the mountain known as Bear Den to hunt and train.

    Ulf wanted Roxana to come visit his house to see Lysp and Enya. Rune agreed to it if Roxana stayed out of trouble for the last month of school.

    He only did this because he knew that students back in Earth were extremely rowdy the last month or two and he wanted to make sure that she wouldn¡¯t turn out like that.

    Since people became adults at the age of 14 or so, he wanted the younger children to experience a good childhood before having to endure reality¡¯s harsh environment.

    Even though society considered them adults, people¡¯s life spans differed between each race, but the shortest one was humans with one hundred years.

    However, even with a lifespan of one hundred years, they usually died before then from famine and disease. There were also raiders, attackers, and bandits to worry about, not to mention accidental deaths like dying from steel beams skewering their lungs.

    Half-Elves lived to be a couple hundred years old even with a human parent and Tiger People were supposed to live about 500 years if they weren¡¯t injured or killed before then.

    Rune and Sophia had wedding rings that halted their aging process and allowed them to become whatever age they wanted. Rune originally was an immortal being when he was Cursed Armor unless he was killed, but Sophia was a Beast Folk whose lifespan was 150 years.

    Rune would give Roxana one when she turned 15 and she didn¡¯t have to wear it if she didn¡¯t want to. He planned to, if she wore it, give a ring to her spouse if she got one.

    The three friends moved along the sidewalk to go to their classroom. They were first going to pin up poems that they wrote, then walk around. Of course, each student was given a small charm that prevented them from getting hurt or being attacked by people in other ways.

    The small charm was shaped like a small rectangle with a button that could be pressed to activate it. When protected the child, it sent the child¡¯s thoughts of what was happening as well as everything in a five foot radius to a screen. There were security guards, Bastets, who were stationed in two different areas. In each room, there were three guards with tasers that used Lightning magic.

    There was also a long black case in each room where a small caliber pistol was kept. They were given two rounds in each box as well as a teleportation crystal to instantly go to an area in the school. However, the rest of the guards stationed in and around the school would be notified when and where they teleported to.

    Rune believed that there was no such thing as too much security. In fact, he had several barriers around the school to protect everyone in it from control magic and mind distortion magic.

    <hr>

    Rena was in her dorm room with Hika who was her roommate. They had become friends in the first month despite Hika being Human and Rena being Majin.

    There were two beds in each room and a shared bathroom. It was basically a small hotel room without a kitchen, but it had a table and two chairs to eat at.

    They had gotten up early to go and prepare their cafe. There were eight blocks where each of the four classes had two blocks to do what they wanted. The other six blocks were there to have students work at their events.

    Luckily, Rena¡¯s class was going to be free during the second and sixth block where they could have time to see three events occurring.

    There was going to be a ¡°fireworks display¡± which no one had any idea of what it was and two performances by Sophia¡¯s class. They were going to perform a play of some sort.

    <hr>

    Rune was sitting on the roof with Sophia leaning on his right side. Behind him was Roxana with her two friends who were talking and laughing with each other. To. His left was Rena, Hika, and Rouna who appeared in the middle of the festival.

    Everyone was under a large blanket that Sophia made for picnics. They were waiting for the fireworks display as Rune had said to follow him up to the roof.

    No one other than him, Ms. Flustern, and Lisbeth knew what was going on, but they waited for it to start.

    Suddenly, they heard a crackle of fire and something shot into the sky. Many people were startled by it and even more so when it exploded in green and red colors.

    No one had seen anything this amazing before, nor even the people from Earth, because these fireworks used magic and gunpowder.

    It was amazing and people stopped to stare at the sight. They oohed and aahed at the sight as the fireworks exploded in beautiful explosions.

    Sophia pulled down Rune and kissed him before he realized what was going on. She pulled away and smiled. Rune did so as well and he turned to look at the others.

    They looked in amazement as they smilied towards the sight. Runethought that this kind of event was nice once in a while.

 Bonus Chapter 3: The Wedding

    It was the day of the wedding and Rune had come back from the Demon King Candidate mission. He had turned into a Human several days before and Sophia wanted to have an actual wedding to commemorate their wedding adn the fact that she could now actually kiss Rune.

    Rune held Sophia in his arms as the carriage made its way to the church. In the world of Arborea, one would not know when or how they would die and many did so abruptly and well before their total lifespan.

    There would usually be no ceremony nor a party, but just the two of them and a priest. The priest would marry them to each other like how any other would on Earth, but the church revered and worshipped the gods who were good and stood on the side of life. However, Rune decided to invite Lisbeth, Rena, Roxana, and Hecate as she would be around for a few more days.

    The churches were actually set up so that there were statues of every god that they deemed good in the church and they were all of equal sizes. They each depicted a humanoid being with his or her flag with their symbol on it.

    Rune was wearing a tuxedo that was white in color and he had an uncomfortable bowtie on just below his neck. Everything on his person was white except for the light blue flower with red tips on his chest. It was on the left side of his chest and there was a pocket right above it.

    In the pocket, he had crafted a box and the two rings inside of it. The box was made of obsidian and had a nice, sleek look. It reflected images like a mirror and was square save for the rounded corners. The inside of the box had a velvet layer and cushion in which the two rings stood.

    The rings were enchanted with an effect to stop the aging affect and to allow the user and wearer to look any age they wanted to be. It was bascially a ring of immortality, but it didn''t stop anyone from dying from anything other than old age.

    The bases of the rings was a metal known as Orichalcum which withstood magical and physical attacks. They were shaped like a regular, flat ring except for the design on top of it. The design was that of the Spear of Odin which looked like several zig zag patterns.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    On top of the rings stood a gem that had a light blue color and was slightly see through. They had no grand effect except minor auto repair. However, if sold, it would be several hundred gold coins, but the two of them would never sell something so important to each other and themselves.

    Sophia was wearing a white wedding dress with frills at the ends of her clothes. The dress covered her entire chest and there was a detached collar on her neck. On her arms, seh wore a long pair of gloves that went up further than her elbows.

    Her hair that usually only went down a little past her shoulders were tied up in a bun that was placed above the back of her neck. It was tied with a hair band to keep it from coming apart. Her pale blue hair looked clean and healthy with the soap she had recently purchased a couple days before.

    The church was near the palace and was quite big. It was painted white on the outside and had steps leading up to a porch. There was about half a staircase length to walk up.

    It was slightly hard for Sophia to walk up the stairs in her gown and Rune placed the hovering platform on the ground. She timidly stepped on the hexagonal sheet of forged magic stones as if it was unstable. Rune got on beside her and the platform started to move slowly up to the porch.

    They door opened in front of them as the couple stepped off the platform. The carpet in front of them was red with golden outlines. There were pews where more than just the four people that Rune invited sat. They were all people that he knew from Aymren village who were there when Sophia secretly told them.

    Sophia smiled when Rune saw and he grinned back at her. Sophia hooked her arms through Rune''s and they walked through the aisle while some people threw pink flower petals into the air. The smell of the building was sweet and had a minty smell as well.

    When they reached the end of the aisle, they stood in front of the priest who was wearing a white robe. He seemed to be nervous as this was the first time he married people with other people watching. He carefully opened up a manual on what to say at weddings since he was too nervous to memorize the lines. He stood behind a stand and started to speak.

    The lines were quite short and to the point as not many people felt like standing for too long and he was used to saying just a few words at the weddings he went to. He began when people stopped chattering to each other about how they didn''t expect that the wedding would be this fancy.

    "We gather here to commemorate the two newly weds, Rune Samuv and Sophia Orn Alkyst. Do you two each swear to be with each other for the rest of your lives? If so, please announce it."

    "I do."

    The two of them said it at the same time and they both blushed at the same time.

    "You may now kiss the bride."

    Rune put his hand on Sophia''s cheek and kissed her. The crowds in the pews cheered and even more flower petals flew down from the sky. Rune and Sophia both felt as happy as they could be.

 Chapter 23: Travels

    The ship lurched back and forth as Hika clenched her mouth. She didn¡¯t do well on ships ever since her father brought her entire family on a fishing trip to a minor lake.

    They were having a good time when something hit their boat. Every member of their family turned to see a dead body. It had a huge cavity in its side and was being slowly eaten by fish.

    Neither the parents, nor the younger brother, nor Hika wanted to see something like that again and, every time they saw a large body of water, they would gag. Hika has thought that she would be fine as they would land on shore, but she kept thinking about that experience.

    On the other hand, Erin was having a great time watching the sea. He had loved it since he was a kid and his father was a fisherman who brought him on trips.

    He laughed as Hika ran to the side of the ship and vomited her breakfast. Hika glared at him and kicked his shins hard enough that he tumbled over. He wasn¡¯t prepared for the sneak attack.

    ¡°Hey!! It¡¯s not my fault that you can¡¯t hold your stomach!!¡±

    ¡°Well you shouldn¡¯t laugh at a person¡¯s misery!¡±

    Rune chuckled a little at this encounter and Hika turned to him. She stomped up to him and started pestering him.

    ¡°Hey, hey. I¡¯m just laughing at his misery.¡±

    He put his hands up in a defensive position to say that he wasn¡¯t a part of their argument. Hika turned back to Erin and started to yell again.

    It was their third day at sea and all they could see around them was salt water. Of course, Rune could transmute the salt out of the water, but it would still taste terrible.

    He had caught fish and stored them in his storage to keep some food in case of emergencies. He thought of cooking them right then and there, but decided against it as he wasn¡¯t desperate enough to see a fish lose all its moisture in front of him.

    The voyage so far wasn¡¯t too tough as they had smooth sailing, but they were encountering the area that Rune could see past in his map.

    Rouna had said that that was the point where some evil sea gods controlled the water and Tiamat was in charge of them. They went over hundreds of procedures to prepare everyone for what to do for a monster attacking. One of the procedures, known as Procedure 15, was for everyone to hide on the second deck while only Rune killed the monster.

    People were beginning to become bored and they had nothing to do other than exercise by lifting weights, running laps around the decks, and climbing up and down the mast. This may seem like a dangerous thing to do on Earth, but it was even more dangerous in Arborea where modern medicine was not created and people contacted infections quickly.

    Sophia was working on alchemy in the second deck and Rouna was watching. She seemed to be well versed in the use of herbs, but did not have any experience with creating a potion. She wanted to learn but was puzzled by how complex it actually was as she didn¡¯t know any of the sciences.

    Riika was working with the radio to try and get a hold of how it worked. Everyone had received an earpiece with a microphone in it to talk to each other over the distance of the length of the entire Human continent.

    Kelly and Jared were staying behind to work with Tyler on products. Rune and Tyler¡¯s goal was to modernize at least Rune¡¯s school so that they could relax.

    Originally, Rune liked t watch anime and read manga on Earth, but now that wasn¡¯t an option. He wanted to progress technology to the point where television sets were common and he absolutely wanted to have video games.

    It was something like a far off plan, but he wanted to see it come to fruition. In fact, he had talked to some of his classmates before the tournament was interrupted and they said that they would love to have air conditioning as some of them were living in the desert area.

    Rune, Kelly, and Jared only worked on two types of things. Communication devices and guns were the only things created, but those alone could revolutionize Arborea as they could each help take down a country in their own way.

    Riika was looking in front of the ship when she started to yell. She looked panicked and ran up to Rune in a frenzy.

    ¡°There¡¯s a monster!!!¡±

    Rune stood up quickly and ran to the spot where she had come from. In front of the ship was a huge shadow under the water. It seemed to surface in multiple places and it had mottled blue scales covering it.

    Suddenly, bubbles came up from the ocean and a massive head rose. It had two yellow eyes that looked around for a moment before locking onto Rune. It had red fins on its back that started to close up.

    Its jaws were open and have two rows of extremely long and sharp teeth and a pinkish tongue. It roared at Rune and everyone else decided to follow Procedure 15 and fled downstairs. It turned its head and moved towards Rune with two of its arms grasping the ship¡¯s railing.

    The sky above them darkened as it roared and it started to rain. Above its head was a swirling pool of water that rain drops added to. It grew to be the size of a small shack and it roared again.

    It looked up at the water as if it expected it to move, but it didn¡¯t. Rune was controlling it so that it wouldn¡¯t move and he sent it down on the beast and impaled it¡¯s left eye. Blood started to pour from the wound and the water further destroyed the creature.

    It¡¯s head was right over the deck and blood puddles formed from the red rain dripping from the beast. Rune had made the water enter through it¡¯s eye and used it to crush it¡¯s brain.

    The monster slumped over and started to fall into the sea until Rune placed it into his storage. Suddenly, the ship rocked and moved forward as water rushed in to fill the now empty area.

    ¡°That must¡¯ve been a large monster.¡±

    ¡°It was. It was one of the Noglavirs whose lair we trespassed upon.¡±

    Rouna was next to him with her tail splashing blood around the deck. She noticed that her green tail was being stained, but by then it was too late and she pulled it out. She started to pout and she went to the washroom to clean it.

    Then he could hear Riika¡¯s voice in his right ear. She was already using the radio in the lowest deck.

    ¡°What does the beast look like?!¡±

    Rune tapped the button on the earpiece and spoke.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    ¡°It looks dead. Anyway, let¡¯s push on ahead. You stay on the radio and connect everyone to automatic use. Send one person to steer the ship and I will defend it. We will rush to Hell¡¯s Gate now.¡±

    ¡°Roger.¡±

    Riika turned the radio to have every noise that the earpiece picked up sent to everyone. This way, everyone could talk without having to press the button. She sent a staff member to turn the wheel and would give him instructions. There was a small screen next to the radio that showed the view of what was in front of the ship.

    ¡°Let¡¯s begin.¡±

    <hr>

    Waves of sea monsters started closing in on them and Rune cut them down with the water around them as soon as they got close. There were huge turtles that were the size of ships, serpents whose tails were longer than his school, and even some large flying reptiles that seemed to be fishing for food.

    The ship tossed and turned through the churning waves and they pressed onwards. The staff member manning the helm and was shielding his eyes from the rain as it fell around them.

    Most of the staff members who were not busy were carrying submachine guns at the ready to defend themselves. Sophia, Rena, and Hika were all in one room in the lowest deck trying to not die.

    Some of the Honor¡¯s class was confused about the situation, but soon found shelter in another room on the lowest deck. There, they found a closet that was making more noise than usual.

    Erin was in the that room and pulled out a sword and carefully opened the door. A body tumbled out of the closet and it¡¯s armor clanged together as it fell.

    Hyht was the first to react and quickly pulled out a long length of rope. Then he tied up the person who was covered from head to toe in armor.

    ¡°We found a stowaway in one of the closets. They seem to seasick and have a full suit of armor on. What should we do with them?¡±

    Rune was kind of busy killing several pterodactyls that were dive bombing the ship. Whenever he skewered one, two more showed up in its place and he just kept sighing.

    He ended up just absorbing most of the corpses as they crashed onto the deck. The whites of their eyes showed as blood dribbled from their mouths.

    Blood spilled from the beasts onto the deck and it looked like a crowd of people were mowed down with a harvester. The secured seats and tables were stained with blood and the metal floor became slippery with the thick, red substance.

    To get past the fatigue, Rune had turned into Cursed Armor and was chopping away. He had also taken out some guns and was shooting the flying creatures, but they still had a ways to go before they could fell the beast in one shot.

    When he heard about the stowaway, he just shouted quickly before going back into the gore.

    ¡°Just tie them up and keep them there until I can come down.¡±

    <hr>

    Rune wiped his forehead after he turned into a human. He needed a shower desperately as the foul-smelling blood was covering him from head to toe. His white hair had turned red and, every time he opened his mouth, he got blood in his mouth.

    They had reached a small island with no monsters around it and they put up a barrier around it. All the large barriers they had with them were stationary and would not help the ship when it was moving.

    There were some beautiful women on the small island, but they tried to use charm magic on Rune. He was able to see what would happen if they came any nearer by using a title¡¯s skill from Pride¡¯s Chosen. It was the ability to look into the future by three seconds three times per day.

    His titles were shown below:

    A -Slayer: Knows attack patterns of monsters that title carrier has killed and knows their strength and weaknesses. User also gains knowledge of weapons used a lot.

    S -Holder of Iram: Highly resistant to ice and cold damage and can use [Iram¡¯s Grip].

    SS -Envy¡¯s Chosen: Send out Bloodlust or crush enemies weaker than owner anytime.

    SS -Gluttony¡¯s Chosen: Ability to eat anything one touches that is weaker than user.

    SS -Greed¡¯s Chosen: Steal anything user can carry in one¡¯s sight three times per day.

    SS -Lust¡¯s Chosen: Charm or persuade anyone who is not aware of it with no condition immunities against charm or persuasion three times per day.

    SS -Pride¡¯s Chosen: Ability to see three seconds into the future three times per day and gain respect faster.

    SS -Sloth¡¯s Chosen: Paralyze anyone or make them sleep three times per day.

    SS -Wrath¡¯s Chosen: Deal explosive blows and enough force to destroy adamantite with one hand and is active at all times.

    Unique Titles:

    SSSS -Demon King: The one being either worshipped and feared by Majin and has every ability score squared.

    He had received seven titles from absorbing the seven Demon King crystals. After he used one of them, his head hurt and he grew dizzy, but it wore off after a moment. This time, when he used Pride¡¯s Chosen, he felt some discomfort, then cut down the women.

    They were sirens who had taken the shape of women and, when they died, they turned into hags with sharp fangs, a fish tail instead of legs, and had gills in their necks. To be truthful, they were awfully disgusting.

    He absorbed them and gained [Sonar] which allowed him to sense vibrations in fluids that he came in contact with, like water. He really didn¡¯t want to touch the extremely repulsive creatures, but his desire to gain power was far greater.

    ¡°Oh my god!! How could you touch something so gross??!!¡±

    Hika looked at the things that he touch and promptly threw up in the only bush on the small island. The island was less than one eighth of the size of the ship.

    ¡°Well, let me look at that stowaway.¡±

    ¡°Here you are, teach.¡±

    Erin came down from the ship on a ladder while holding the person in one arm. He shifted the person on his shoulder when he got onto the sand. He placed the person in front of Rune and it looked like they were dying.

    It seemed like a green liquid was slowly moving down from inside their helmet and they were teetering from side to side. Their armor was black and white and Erin threw their weapon to Rune.

    He opened it up to see Excalibur. No doubt about it. It was Elisa.

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    She didn¡¯t answer and he took off her helmet. Then she threw up the food from her stomach. Rune teleported to Sophia faster than the vomit could reach him and he moved to Elisa¡¯s side.

    ¡°So, ELisa, what are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°I-I¡­ I am here to¡­ help¡­ king sent¡­ me¡­¡±

    She threw up again and Rune frowned.

    ¡°How did you survive in the ship without food?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ h-had food¡­ in a¡­ bag¡­¡±

    She shook her head and Rune untied the rope. He handed back the sword and she snatched it from his hand quickly. She started to move towards the water and cleaned out her helmet.

    ¡°Ok. Let¡¯s head out now. We should be able to reach the coast within a day.¡±

    Elisa stopped moving and swiftly turned her head to look at Rune. Her eyes were full of fear as she seemed to not be on the water anymore. She started to argue and Rune explained to her how it would be better to reach the continent in one day than to return in three.

    Everyone climbed back aboard and Elisa dragged her feet as she slowly climbed the ladder.

    <hr>

    ¡°You know, I think that killing this many monsters should make me famous. How many have I killed so far?¡±

    Rune had become Cursed Armor again to kill the monsters that pestered the ship. He was getting quite fed up with just cutting down the creatures.

    He had started to get excited when he saw a large creature that was at least five times the size of the ship. It looked reptilian and had some tentacle whiskers above its mouth. It had six yellow eyes that looked in every direction. One of those directions was Rune¡¯s cruiser.

    It had four arms that made small hurricanes whenever they moved. The water behind the giant was churning and large waves splashed about. It had five large fingers with thin skin between them because they were webbed.

    It had three fins on its back and spike jutting out from it like long spears. It had teeth as large and long as two people stacked on top of each other. It had two tongues, one behind the other, that moved out of its mouth.

    However, it was disappointing when it started to leave and Rune ran to the ship side. He stretched out a hand towards the beast and sunk to his knees when it left. It was a great loss for him as soon as it left. He could have used it for weapon materials or gaining power.

    ¡°Umm, Mr. Samuv? You should get up. I think I can see a port.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

 Chapter 24: Sphinxes?

    Rune got up from the floor of the ship and wiped away the blood and guts from his shoulders. He turned to look ahead of them and he thought that he could see a silhouette through the fog. It looked like there were multiple buildings in the distance.

    He started to talk to Rouna.

    ¡°We haven¡¯t encountered Aboleths yet, right?¡±

    ¡°No, we have, but I think that you killed them.¡±

    ¡°What did they look like again?¡±

    ¡°Strange tentacle beasts with a huge maw and no eyes. They have large gills next to their mouths and their color is a murky white.¡±

    Rune nodded as he heard this and started to focus on what was at hand. Mainly the fact that there was a port in front of them.

    As they neared, he could see that there was a huge dock in front of hundreds of buildings where it looked like people were gathering. Rouna, Sophia, Rena and the rest of the Honor¡¯s class, and Elisa were looking upon the people in front of them.

    The ship set down both anchors in front of the docks, but wasn¡¯t connected to it. Rune signalled for everyone else to stay onboard and he hopped down. People started to crowd him and ask him questions.

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Are you here to help?¡±

    ¡°Buzz off! I want to ask a question!¡±

    ¡°Why won¡¯t you answer us?¡±

    ¡°Do you speak a different language?¡±

    ¡°Um, no. I don¡¯t¡­¡±

    ¡°He talked! It is a he, right?¡±

    ¡°Obviously.¡±

    The people were bombarding him with questions as he moved along the docks. The people around him were unusual as they had animal ears like a lion sprouting from their heads, but they also had wings of the same color.

    There seemed to be two different types of people as one had sandy colored wings and ears and another had pure white wings and ears. They seemed to be against each other as none of the people with the same colored ears pushed each other, but they most certainly pushed the other people with the other colored ears.

    He wanted no part in this separation though. He just wanted to go kill things.

    The entirety of the docks were filled to the brim with people as they tried to interact with Rune. Suddenly, a path opened up and two people moved along it.

    One had pure blue eyes and the other had pure white eyes, but both had no pupils. The one with blue eyes had sandy colored hair, wings, ears, and a tail. The other with white eyes had pale white hair, wings, ears, and a tail.

    They were both females and were walking side by side. Each of them put on fake smiles that were quite obvious and they occasionally judged each other with their elbows.

    The two of them stopped in front of Rune and started to speak. He noticed that they wore tiaras that were the same color as their hair and three different colored necklaces around their necks.

    Their clothes were both different in style and what material they used. The white haired one was wearing a cape that used white fur around the collar and the rest seemed to be made of a cloth material. She had a revealing shirt that was much like a crop top. Her pants covered all of her legs and was tight on the skin.

    The girl with sand colored hair was wearing a long scarf that seemed to flow around her. It¡¯s color was like the sand. She wore a long sleeve shirt with a detached collar that seemed to just be made of cloth and a string that tied it together. She wore a skirt that was way too short and covered only about half of her thighs.

    The two of them looked up at Rune in almost perfect harmony and asked him the same question before starting to push each other.

    ¡°Want to come with me?¡±

    ¡°Are you two the leaders?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am the leader of the Weiss.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am the leader of the Dunes.¡±

    The Weiss were the white haired group while the Dunes were the sand colored hair group.

    ¡°Where shall we meet?¡±

    Both replied in synchronized harmony again after they thought for a moment and answered.

    ¡°Let¡¯s meet at my house. Just the two of us.¡±

    Then they flared at each other and started to argue about whose house they should go to. Rune felt as if he was ignored when the two argued because he was.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we meet at a cafe or something. The four of us.¡±

    ¡°Four?¡±

    Rune used telepathy and called to Sophia. She understood what he said and quickly climbed down the ship and jumped into Rune¡¯s open arms.

    ¡°As you can see, I am already taken. So, now let¡¯s go.¡±

    <hr>

    The two of the grumbled as Sophia cling to his arm and gave the two of them a grin that said that Rune was only her¡¯s. The two leaders started to sulk as they walked.

    Rune could only chuckle a small bit when he saw this as he didn¡¯t want to offend anyone. People stopped to stare at the group of four as they passed by the houses and, some, even stopped fighting for a moment.

    The two leaders led them to a restaurant as they didn¡¯t know the meaning of ¡°cafe¡± and they wouldn¡¯t have any if they didn¡¯t know what it meant.

    The restaurant was huge with several tens of tables with two to eight chairs around each. There was a cashier at the entrance who took the group to a table and sat them down. This town seemed more sophisticated than several of the places that Rune had heard about.

    There were two menus at the table and the waiter poured them some tea. The two leaders both shared one menu while Rune and Sophia took another.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Rune was wearing the clothes that Sophia had made for him, his black and grey outfit. Sophia was wearing her usual style of clothes. It was like a white jacket with small iron pauldrons and the sleeves grew wider the farther it went down. Her jacket was open, revealing a white t-shirt. She wore pants similar to jeans, but they were more flexible and not made of cotton.

    Her hair was let down currently, but it didn¡¯t touch the floor as it only went down slightly below her shoulders. The front of her hair was cut shorter than that so that it wouldn¡¯t reach her shoulders. Her Anubis ears were standing tall as she smiled at Rune.

    There was food that Sophia had never seen before, but Rune recognizes some of it. There was poutine, fish and chips, where the chips were french fries, and even burgers. They ordered food and Rune started to ask them questions.

    ¡°Excuse me for asking, but how was this town created?¡±

    Both of them set down their tea cups and started to talk at the same time. Now that Rune realized it, they had very similar voices that one could barely distinguish from the other.

    ¡°It all started a long time ago when a lone adventurer with his imp on one shoulder encountered a den of monsters. To be exact, they were Sphinxes. Each one was the color of the night and they had beautiful, jet black wings on their back. There was no difference between them except the markings on their faces.

    The adventurer started to talk with them through telepathy and they were amazed by this. They took a liking to him and allowed him to live near them. He provided them with food, water, and even helped defend them when they needed it. He was their savior.

    However, they still felt a distance from him as they had the body of lions and he was a human. One day, a girl decided to turn herself into a human and she experimented night and day to to do.

    After months of devotion, the girl was able to produce a potion that allowed her to become a human. She drank it and her body was engulfed in light. Then the light split into two and out came a white child and a sand colored child.

    They were both identical in all ways except hair color. Her age was slightly less than the adventurer¡¯s but she was still young. She set out to look for him and found him sleeping underneath a tree. The two of them shook him awake and he helped in surprise.

    Then he accepted their story and their love and he married both of them. The other sphinxes decided to drink the potion, but each turned into either white haired or sand colored hair humanoids.

    The adventurer told them how to live outside of the cave and they started to move towards the coast. They built a town and the next generation decided to increase more. The adventurer showed them recipes from his world and how to do certain things. He was a genius and the people praised him.

    But he decided to go into the Hall and blocked himself from the world when the two lives of his life died in a monster attack. Stricken with grief, he boarded up the room and no one has been able to set foot In it ever since.¡±

    The two of them started to cry as they told it and ended up hugging each other before shoving each other. Sophia was wiping the tears from her face and Rune was stroking his non existent beard.

    ¡°Where is this ¡°Hall¡±?¡±

    ¡°It is in the Advent Fort. Currently, it is underground after a Wyrm attack. It has been down there since the adventurer created it several hundred thousand years ago. But we only live to be up to three hundred years.¡±

    ¡°So are you two twins or something?¡±

    ¡°You realized! People from the outside are so smart!¡±

    ¡°N-no. It¡¯s pretty obvious.¡±

    ¡°My name is Lacht and my sand hair sis is Nacht. We are descended from the adventurer.¡±

    The waiter brought them the food that they ordered and they ate in a silence that was soon broken by the twins. Sophia was happily munching on the fries from her fish and chips.

    ¡°So who are you?¡±

    Rune told them he general gist of what he was doing in the continent and explained that he and his crew mates had come in the cruiser because it was much too dangerous to come in a smaller ship.

    They soon finished eating and Rune asked to go to the Advent Fort. They agreed to go as his tour guide.

    ¡°Is it ok if I go inside the Hall?¡±

    ¡°If you can, then yes. But no one has done it yet.¡±

    They moved from the restaurant into a small hut made of sandstone and there was a door leading into the ground. They opened it and moved down.

    What Rune and Sophia found was that there was a huge cavern of stone and a building inside of it. The twins opened up the double doors and led them inside.

    They soon found themselves at a doorway that was blocked off by metal.

    ¡°This is the Hall. They say his corpse is in here. Can you break it?¡±

    Rune punched it and the metal crumpled under his fist. Then it started to freeze and he punched it once more. Frozen chunks of metal flew around them as the four stared in amazement in the room.

    They could see a sofa, a rug, three doors, and a coffee table. Sitting on the sofa was a man with black hair and brown eyes. Around him were two extremely cute girls that were identical. The three on the sofa stared at the four in the doorway as both side gaped at each other.

    The man with black hair opened his mouth and waved.

    ¡°Uh, what¡¯s up?¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s how you were able to break through! I thought I reinforced it so that I could keep my piece and quiet with Nya and Mya! This is quite a find! And another World Traveler! How long has it been since I came down here?! Four hundred thousand years?!

    Well, I do have the [Infinite Regeneration] cheat! I could easily have resurrected them on the spot, but we wanted some time to ourselves! It¡¯s a great thing to basically have immortality to live with a lover forever!¡±

    The adventurer, Henry, was transmigrated from Europe during the early 1900s and he was fascinated by how far the world had come. He was also extremely scared of the two World Wars that occurred.

    He said that he was one of two transmigrated people who both came to the unknown continent. They didn¡¯t have anything to do after they killed the Demon King and so they went their separate ways.

    Apparently, Nya and Mya were the first ones to transform and the rest were descended from them. Lacht and Nacht were surprised when they were hugged by their great times about 1,350 generations grandparents.

    Henry patted the twins¡¯ heads as soon as he found d out and he was overcome with joy as he found out that they ¡°inherited the cute genes¡± from Nya and Mya. They were actually Nya¡¯s, the white haired Sphinx, relative directly and Mya¡¯s nieces.

    It turned out that Mya¡¯s child had decided to go on an adventure. He had come back with information and had a child with a cute Sphinx girl. Her relatives were now managers of restaurants, the bank, and other things.

    ¡°What did you do for fun when you were in here?¡±

    He chuckled while looking at Nya and Mya who were licking their lips. He turned back to Rune.

    ¡°A lot of things. I also wrote a journal of how events happened. I can¡¯t be bothered to remember everything from several hundred years ago.¡±

    He gestured to Rune the large pile of paper on the table that was sorted into five groups. According to him, four of them were to recount their life above ground and he last one, which was the largest, was the list of the things the three of them did over the past several hundred thousand years.

    They had made clothes, food, as they had a fabricator in a back room, and other things. They also did a lot of other things, but Rune decided to not read about it.

    ¡°I have, like, five copies of the events. Take them and share them. I guess it¡¯s time to go up as well. I want to see how much the town has changed. Ohh!!! Has It become a country yet?!¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    The two twins answered in synchronization again and Henry smiled at how cute they were. Rune wanted to ask him a question.

    ¡°Do you know anything about Tiamat¡¯s Heads?¡±

    ¡°Yep. Evil bunch really, but they are fine if you leave them alone. They only seek power to let out Tiamat. As long as you aren¡¯t a king or queen and aren¡¯t the Demon King, you should be fine. They only want the Demon king¡¯s gems and to get the Legendary Weapons. Especially Gungnir and Excalibur. I think they already have Gram and Zeus¡¯s Lightning Bolt.

    As long as you don¡¯t have any of those or aren¡¯t any of those, you should be fine.¡±

    ¡°Um, then I think I¡¯m in trouble.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me, you have a legendary weapon.¡±

    ¡°Uh, I don¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t lie.¡±

    ¡°I have Gungnir, another person on the ship has Excalibur, and I am also the Demon King.¡±

    Henry swore. He sighed a deep breath and started to talk just after face palming.

    ¡°Just¡­ protect the village if dragons come.¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Yeah, sure. I¡¯ll kill a dragon.¡±

    Henry, Nya, and Mya followed the four of them as they made their way up the ladder and exited the hut. People started to stare at the three people and crowded them.

    They asked many questions about who they were and, soon enough, people knew who they were and were regarded as legends to be worshipped. Henry was perfectly content without being worshipped and was trying to get Nya or Mya to help him out to no avail.

 Chapter 25: Frozen Tunnels

    Rune has the Honor¡¯s class and the others get off of the ship and people began to ask a lot of questions. It was actually quite annoying at how many people asked questions.

    Some people were scared of Rouna at first, but Henry made a remark about how a loli dragon couldn¡¯t hurt anyone. That made him the prime targetof Rouna who prmoptly punched him in the stomach.

    Henry had actually learned a lot of terms and things from the other summoned person, but he wasn¡¯t told about the history of Earth. Apparently, that person came from the year 2017 and was a very big otaku from Japan.

    They had actually met god on the way to Arborea who gave them cheats. He also gave the other person the ability to understand common while Henry already spoke English as he was British in origin.

    The staff remained on board the ship while the rest of the crew traversed the town. Rena and Hika decided to go to the restaurant together and the other two Majin girls followed behind.

    Erin was in a pub, drinking with the intent to become as drunk as he could with the delicious ale. Hyht and his girlfriend were also there to bring him back to the ship when he would inevitably become blackout drunk.

    The village was a port village because they fished a lot of the time as the shores of the continent were actually quite peaceful as long as you stick close to it. They had multiple small row boats with nets and fishing rods in them.

    There was a farm behind the village where they grew wheat, corn, and other crops. The people also hunted animals for clothes and food.

    They used magic in almost everything that they did as there were no Sphinxes in the village that couldn¡¯t use magic. They cooked with it, cleaned with it, and even used it to help grow their crops.

    The houses were all made of sandstone and were connected with a sticky substance that hardened almost immediately as it touched the air. They usually made the substance on top of the sandstone bricks for convenience.

    They hadn¡¯t really changed their way of life since the adventurer, Henry, had helped them out. Riika was impressed with the architecture and the culture of them as they didn¡¯t worship any gods, but they recognized them as a powerful existence in their world.

    Rune was sitting at a table with Henry and Rouna to decide how they should tackle the problem of Tiamat¡¯s Heads as it wasn¡¯t something them could just charge at head on.

    They decided that the best course of action would be to leave some people t this villfrom the ship at the village to protect it. He would give the staff, two of his Honor¡¯s class, and Sophia enough weaponry to destroy the Human continent for defense purposes. Some people, mainly everyone on board the ship, thought that that was way too much weapons for a group of people to have.

    Rune disagreed and started to talk.

    ¡°You see, everyone, my main priority is for everyone here to not die which is also tied for first with the plan to kill everything evil on this continent and take their corpses. I¡¯d say that you guys who are staying here need to survive while the rest of us go out and kill some stuff. Sound good? Alright, meeting over.¡±

    Some people tried to speak against him, but he already hopped off the ship and returned to Rouna and Henry. He had quickly teleported over to his shipmates who were playing games and talking to each other. There were no Sphinxes allowed on board for precaution.

    He moved over there in the middle of their conversation and took about a minute before he teleported back to Rouna. He was already setting things into place.

    ¡°Um, I didn¡¯t mean to do it now¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s done now.¡±

    ¡°...sure.¡±

    ¡°Anyways, let¡¯s have you and the people going with you tackle the Frozen Tunnels. It should be relatively easy for you as there are mainly just regular dragons.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. So how do we get there?¡±

    ¡°Just go that way and there should be an abyss somewhere some distance away.¡±

    Rouna pointed in the direction opposite of the coast. Then she looked at Rune and started to speak in a serious tone.

    ¡°It really will be tough. We might not even be able to make it out of there alive. Even if they are regular dragons, there will likely be hundreds with a Hierarch dragon leading them. If we make even one small mistake, we fail. That¡¯s it. No more life.¡±

    ¡°Well, I mean, I should still be able to live.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    The two of them looked at him as if he was crazy.

    ¡°Well, I did ¡°die¡± once and came back and killed the guy who did me in. Although, I only set up one thing really quickly this time, but it should be enough.¡±

    They just stared at him as if he was crazy and insane. It would make sense to think that he was, especially if they didn¡¯t know that he was originally Cursed Armor. However, even if they knew, they would still probably think that he was insane.

    ¡°Ah. I have something to tell you guys.¡±

    He told them his story of how he got to the world and how he came to where he was now. He left out most of his lessons and things that he had done with Sophia. Henry seemed astonished at the entire story and Rouna was in awe at the parts he forgot to tell her before.

    ¡°Ahem. Let¡¯s go to that cold cave or whatever.¡±

    ¡°Frozen Tunnels.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ That.¡±

    The meeting was adjourned so that everyone could sleep first. They had reached the village after lunch and Sophia, Rune, Lacht, and Nacht had already eaten dinner when they were talking.

    Currently, it was about nighttime when they had finished the meeting and Rune walked into the dark outdoors. There was a slight breeze as he walked through the empty streets and made his way to the ship.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    His students and Elisa were already sleeping while Rouna and Sophia talked with each other. Their main discussion was what they were going to do once the trip was over. Rouna had wanted to have her assistant take over her job of protecting while she traversed the world. Sophia wanted to settle down with Rune and have a peaceful life.

    If they went back to the Human continent, they would each do just that and try not to get into any other adventurers that would get them killed. So far, things were tough enough in the sea that they wanted to go back, but needed Rune to help them do so.

    Rouna had to be there to navigate the area and Sophia was there to help analyze materials and to investigate areas. She was able to use [Quick Thought] to quickly figure out what happened during different events and what likely made something happen. She could also understand traps that used gas and liquids and how to disable them.

    The two of them were on the deck of the ship when they noticed Rune climbing on board. He was too close to teleport to the ship or the people in his party as the cafe was just on the edge of the teleportation limit and he also wanted to see the scenery.

    ¡°Rune! Let¡¯s go to sleep!!¡±

    She jumped up and ran to Rune. She hugged him and started to rub her face into his chest. Round looked uncomfortable as she saw the scene play out and she started to leave for her room.

    <hr>

    The next morning, Rune stood in front of seven students, Rouna, and Elisa. He was going to lead them into the enemy territory to kill the dragons and gather information. The top priority was to try and find out where the Irregular Dragons were and how to kill them.

    Although he did want to take their corpses, like usual, he was going to wait until after the interrogations were done to do so. He didn¡¯t want to kill their sources of info before they had a chance to be useful.

    The plan was for them to travel further into the continent and look for a massive hole in the ground that would be the Frozen Tunnels that Rouna talked about. She could only figure out an estimated distance from the Sphinx village, Nerys, to the gaping hole in the sand.

    She saw that there would be many obstacles in between where they were and their destination, but Rune was there to act as the bodyguard and leader. He would definitely murder some random monsters on the way.

    Henry was staying behind to protect the village and to take a look at the guns they had on board the ship. He was fascinated by how far technology had come, but Rune tried to point out that the guns were made with magic which is something they didn¡¯t have on Earth. He was a bit sad after that, but looked at all the other modern objects that used magic, like the air conditioner.

    The ten people going on the trip could fit five in each carriage with the two carriages from the stables they bought. Rune had no use for horses and decided to hook one onto the other like a train and he made them both enchanted.

    The carriages would move due to a stick and handle and whichever way it was pointing in. The carriages were made of a wood grown in the village, but it was unusually dense due to the environment it was in. They could survive on just the moisture in the air alone, but became more solid and denser the more water was given to it.

    They became even sturdier when Rune enchanted them to do so. They also became able to heal those inside the vehicles and to move through the sand silently and without much vibrations and bumps.

    If he sold it, he would make a fortune on the vehicle alone, but he wasn¡¯t thinking too much about selling it as a product as much as he was thinking how many corpses they could hold. He estimated about twenty humanoid bodies of you crammed them together tightly, but he accidentally said part of this aloud.

    ¡°... I think 20 bodies¡­¡±

    ¡°Wut?!¡±

    Nine people abruptly turned their heads to face him as he muttered his words. He looked around and realized that he said them it loud. He apologized and said why he was saying that which, incidentally, didn¡¯t make the situation any better.

    They moved through the large desert and encountered some large ten-legged lizards. Rune cut them down with zero hesitation as they started to run at the vehicles.

    Behind one of them was a small group of what was thought to be its children, but he decapitated them as soon as they came in his range. Elisa retched at him doing so and some people held heir nose as she did it on the sand in front of them.

    Rune absorbed the bodies and noticed that he was now level 24 as he had gained large amounts of experience points from the monsters that he had killed. His skills seemed to not level up past level 10.

    He had gained one skill and some magic to use from his jobs:

    C -Lv 1 [Nerve Strike]: When striking a nerve, paralyze them for a while.

    A -Lv 1 [Dispel Magic]: Make a creature in sight unable to use magic for five minutes that is weaker than user.

    F -Lv 1 [Eldritch Blast]: Send a beam of energy at an enemy.

    F -Lv 1 [Quick Step]: Move quickly up to five times in a row for one minute each.

    B -Lv 1 [Thunderstorm]: Generate a cloud of thunder above user and control lightning.

    He seemed to be able to gain skills and magic from leveling up his jobs, but they gave little amounts of skills and magic to use. He had only gained magic and skills from his Warlock, Mage Killer, Lightning General, Rogue, and Dark Paladin jobs.

    <hr>

    It had become midday when they reached a large hole that looked like it had no end. There were no living creatures near it and no birds flying overhead. The sides of the hole looked like they were rigid ice walls.

    The hole was not a perfect hole, but it was extremely close to one and it was extremely wide and long. There were several large puddles nearby and hundreds of large icicles lining the abyss. It seemed that some of them were melting and some of the puddles were changing shape into large spikes and were freezing over.

    The group looked down into the hole and Rouna seemed to get too close to the edge. Some of the sand shifted and she yelped as she fell into the hole. Some students were voicing their cries until they saw her flying back up.

    ¡°What? I am a dragon after all.¡±

    Some people sighed in relief as she flew with her wings to the side of the hole. She folded up her wings and started to speak.

    ¡°So, I can¡¯t see what is down there, but I know that the depth is too deep for someone to jump in and survive. Even for Rune, he has a chance of death.¡±

    ¡°Ok. I¡¯ll go now then.¡±

    People looked at him in surprise as he ran to the edge and jumped. Elisa was so taken aback that she fell over on her rear. Rune turned into an Ancient White Dragon in midair and started to slowly descend. Rouna jumped in and followed him.

    The two of them went down and down further into the abyss and, soon enough, they could see lights coming from the ice walls surrounding them. It glowed a light blue and Rune and Rouna could see three different vertical tunnels. Rune decided to descend down the middle one and Rouna followed. The light in the walls lit up the way so that they could see the pathway.

    Shortly after going down the tunnel, they found themselves in a nest. There were white dragons everywhere. There were holes in walls where they were slumbering and those that were on the floor who seemed to be talking with each other with telepathy. Rune could catch some words as they were still quite a bit of ways away.

    <...poker¡­ bets¡­ lost¡­ screwed up¡­ lost my life savings¡­>

    Rune frowned as best he could in his dragon form as he heard the dragon talk about losing his life savings in a poker game. The other dragon put its paw on his shoulder and shook his head.

    Some of the dragons who were near them turned their eyes to look at them lazily and some were starting to stand up.

    They were glaring at Rouna, the Green Guardian Dragon, and were starting to approach her. Before they knew it, they were surrounded and five gargantuan sized dragons blocked off their exit. Rune turned his head from left to right and noticed that even those sleeping in the holes in the walls were looking down on them.

    <Who are you two?! This Green Dragon dare to enter our abode?!?!>

    A large white dragon, larger than the rest, was looking down upon them as he jutted a finger at them in accusation. As it started to breath heavily, Rune could see that fog came from it¡¯s mouth and nostrils as if it had liquid nitrogen running through its nose and mouth.

 Chapter 26: Shall We Fight?

    Rouna had a finger pointing at her and she clicked her tongue. Then she turned around and started to charge at the five dragons blocking the exit. The huge dragon behind them unleashed a massive cold breath that hit Rouna¡¯s wings.

    She had already started to fly, but now she was grounded and she ran through the exit. Rune followed right behind her as they moved through the tunnel.

    As they moved, they could hear large footsteps hitting the ice and some stalactites shattered as they hit the ground. Rouna started to move slower and slower until she collapsed an she turned into her human form.

    Rune quickly scooped her up in a paw and started to move, but realized it was an inconvenience. He decided to take a serious action and shoved her in his mouth. Her entire body fit inside and he was trying to not accidentally swallow her or gag her up.

    He moved down the tunnels and tried to teleport. A light started to shimmer around him to start his teleportation, but it suddenly went out and he found himself still in the tunnels.

    Of course I can¡¯t teleport out of here now. I can¡¯t even escape properly now because I got lost trying to escape, but they likely blocked off the entrance. I need to get Rouna some healing. She is shivering like crazy and it does not feel good in my mouth.

    He moved down some corridors and he found himself face to face with three white dragons who turned the corner. They started to charge at him and he used [Gravity Control] to crush them into the ground. Then he stepped on their heads and shoved them in his storage.

    He kept running until he reached a dead end. He looked left and right and started to punch the wall in front of him. He crushed a room sized hole in it and barfed up Rouna into it. Then he turned into a human and climbed in.

    Quickly, he cast [Master Illusion] and made it look like there was no wall. He started to transmute the walls to surround them and now the two of them were stuck in the hole with the only way out being to break it.

    He grabbed some wood from his storage and put it on the ground. Then he cast [Fireball] and set it on fire. Rouna¡¯s temperature was becoming colder as time went on and he needed to heat her up.

    She was shivering on the ground and was coughing and wheezing. Her breaths were shallow and her eyes were closed tightly as her face told him that she was in immense pain.

    He set down a blanket and wrapped her up in it and placed her next to the fire. He sat down and started to grab out a shotgun. He started to start creating shotgun shells made of magic crystals and enchanted them to be explosive and to have the bloodshed effect on those wounded by the bullets.

    After a moment, he heard thumping outside of the closed off room and heard something sniff around them. Using the illusion magic, Rune erased their tracks in the room and also made the room not smell.

    The sniffing went on for a while before he heard the crunching of snow as it stomped off. Rune turned towards Rouna and saw that she still looked pale. He started to cast [Heal] on her as well as [Cure].

    Her complexion came back and he found that she was breathing regularly again. The fire crackled as she breathed and Rune was leaning against the wall, shotgun in hand. Soon, Rouna¡¯s eyes opened up quickly and she bolted upright.

    She tried to at least, but she was still wrapped in several blankets that covered here feet to her neck. The blanket constricted her movements and she could barely move. She ended up trying to sit upright, but her back flumped back onto the ground.

    ¡°Um¡­ What is this?¡±

    ¡°You got hit by a cold breath from a dragon. It¡¯s a blanket.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. So where are we now?¡±

    ¡°In the caves. I suppose that we should use this time to think of a way to escape. I can¡¯t teleport out nor use telepathy to get to the outside. You know what? I think that I can kill the dragons here first.¡±

    ¡°That large dragon¡­ he was a Hierarch Dragon. The rest were wyrmling to ancient dragons. It would be hard for me to fight them in my state.¡±

    ¡°Ok. Then we¡¯ll go in stealthily. I¡¯ve played assassin games and I¡¯ve hunted down things before. I should be able to do it.¡±

    He decided to carry Rouna who thought that it would be a princess carry, but it ended up in a fireman¡¯s carry over the shoulder. Thoroughly disappointed, they trudged through the ice and snow in front of them.

    When they made their first turn, there was an adult dragon guarding the area. He looked like he was alone and the perfect candidate for Rune to test his stealth attacks on.

    Rune quietly moved behind the dragon and quickly electrocuted it until it started to char. Then he absorbed it and all that was left were a few pieces of ash scattered on the ground.

    He shifted Rouna on his shoulder and kept moving down the corridor thinking about how to kill the next one. Fortune was looking down upon him as he saw yet another dragon alone.

    He quickly decapitated it and it¡¯s head cleanly slid off of its neck. He then absorbed the body and the blood left in the snow.

    <hr>

    He had ended up killing thirty seven dragons by the time they reached the main hall once again. He quickly hid behind a stalactite as he saw them. There were dragons littering the area and some turned towards him as they sniffed the air.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    He quickly set Rouna down and pulled out his shotgun. He held it in his left hand as he held an extremely long chain in his right. The dragons started to charge at him and he quickly pumped the shotgun in one hand before firing.

    The bullet spread for the bullet put in was rather wide, but it had he homing attribute and every chunk of magic crystal embedded themselves in the dragons¡¯ heads. Twelve of them flopped over, dead, while the other two that were hit were fatally wounded.

    He used the chain to hit the dragons that flew in the air that were within his range. They hit the ground and created large indents in the ice. With the chain, Rune wrapped it around a dragon and threw the dragon into the wall where it exploded.

    Using his [Gravity Control], he let go of the chain and it started to flail around and hit Dragons. With his now free hand, Rune pumped his shotgun and fired consecutive shots at them. The bullets spread out all over the area and annihilated the enemies.

    Their bodies lay in front of him, ridden with bullet holes and leaking blood. Some of them were sliced apart by the chain with it¡¯s properties being sharp, bloodshedding, life draining, and weakness. Everytime the chain touched something, it diced it up and an immense amount of blood leaked from their wounds.

    Soon enough, hundreds of dragons lay in the snow, blood rivers flowing from the stomachs and disemboweled bodies. There were five white dragons still alive, but too injured to move. Two of them were limping in front of three others.

    <Sure. I can be reasonable. As long as you tell me everything you know about Tiamat¡¯s Heads and where that Hierarch Dragon is.>

    <O-of course. Thank you, thank you so much.>

    One of the two dragons walked up in front of Rune as he picked up Rouna. They started to tell him about the different whereabouts of Tiamat¡¯s Heads. In return, Rune didn¡¯t kill them and they left the room.

    Apparently, the White Irregular Dragon¡¯s lair was in the Arctic Mountains. It was placed farther in the center of the continent where there were three mountain peaks. Each one was capped in snow and Rouna could not see them as they were covered with a mist that blocked magical perception.

    This was the only place the dragon knew of and they told Rune about where the Hierarch was likely to be. There were three different tunnels in the beginning and one of them, on the side, went directly to the Hierarch¡¯s lair. The other tunnel was just a pitfall.

    The Hierarch¡¯s Lair was placed directly in front of the treasury where thousands of riches were stored. There was also a library branching off from the lair.

    Before they left, Rune stored the bodies in his storage. He looked around the room to see if there was anything else good to take, but he couldn¡¯t see anything.

    Rune and Rouna quickly traveled to the lair and went through the tunnels. The dragon had also said that the tunnels connected to everything underground. The only problem with going through the tunnels underground instead of going through the main tunnels was that they could get lost easily and Rouna could freeze to death.

    They both found themselves in front of a large boulder of ice that was far larger than any of the ancient dragons. Rune quickly walked up to it and gestured for Rouna to come near him.

    He stabbed the boulder with his gauntlets on his hands. The boulder started to crack and he stabbed it again. The boulder started to produce more cracks from the gouge in the ice boulder. It started to break off pieces and it was soon destroyed when it completely fell down around them.

    Suddenly, a breath of freezing air came upon him and he threw his flare guard in front of him quickly. The shield expanded and fire burst out from in, shielding the duo from the ice. Soon enough, the shield stopped blazing the air around them and Rune looked at the source of the breath.

    In front of him was a dragon whose size was much larger than two times the size of a gargantuan Ancient Dragon. It had eight horns instead of the regular two and they curved in every direction, but they were symmetrical on both sides.

    Its eyes were glaring at him with the yellow eyes and the pupils were now in slits. Its open mouth contained hundreds of large teeth and it had spikes on its back moving from its head to the back of the tail.

    The color of its skin was a slightly dirty white with a whiter and clearer underbelly. Its wings were opened up and there were multiple holes in them.

    It looked down on the two and started to rush them. Rune grabbed Rouna and hauled her to the side where he set her down.

    ¡°Stay here. Have a gun.¡±

    He placed a machine gun next to her, in the snow, and she picked it up with ease even though it was extremely heavy. Then he tossed two rounds her way and ran at the Hierarch dragon.

    ¡°Hey, fool! I¡¯m over here!¡±

    <You dare call me, a Hierarch Dragon, a fool!??!>

    Then it opened up its mouth and started to fire off a cold breath at him. Rune reached into his storage and pulled out a satchel of fragmentation grenades. He pulled out one of their pines and chucked it into the dragon¡¯s mouth.

    He threw it from such a short distance that the creature couldn¡¯t evade and it landed in its mouth. It exploded and smoke started to come out of its mouth and several fangs flew out. The dragon was repelled backwards and its head slammed into the wall.

    It looked back down on Rune and started to cast magic. Suddenly, Rune was covered in ice and he was imprisoned within it. The dragon drew nearer and swallowed up Rune quickly.

    He went down its gullet rather quickly and it turned its attention of Rouna who was holding the gun. She moved across the lair and fired at the dragon with the homing bullets.

    Most of the bullets that glanced off of its hard scales, but some found their way in between the scales and entered its hard body. It started to bleed and the dragon roared.

    The dragon moved up to Rouna and she thought that she was done for as it opened its mouth to fire off a cold breath. She tried to run, but her feet were stuck in ice. All she could do now was wait for a miracle.

    And a miracle did happen. Rune made sure of it. Suddenly, the dragon started to cough out blood and it looked down at its stomach. When he did so, swords erupted from its entire body as if it were a pin cushion.

    Blades popped out of its eyes, mouth, legs, back, and tail and they rooted themselves in the ground around the dragon. The dragon now couldn¡¯t move and the life started to leave its eyes.

    It soon died and something cut its stomach open with a chain cleaver. Its internal organs fell out as something escaped from its body. Rune hopped out of its body and was licking his lips.

    He had blood covering his entire body and he seemed to have been drinking its blood. Then he turned and absorbed the Hierarch Dragon and the blades. Rouna was shaking from fear as she saw a creature far stronger than her die by blades coming out of its insides. It was a traumatic experience that made her think about what might have happened if she had swallowed Rune in the fight they had.

    She shuddered at the thought and handed back the machine gun. Rune absorbed the blood on him and stored the machine gun in his storage.

    ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s leave.¡±

 Chapter 27: Crossing Deserts

    Rune and Rouna flew out of the Frozen Tunnels in dragon form and came to the surface. They found that the others had already set up a camp and it was nighttime when they came out.

    The camp consisted of three tents and the unused baggage was kept in the hovering wagons. Eight people were sitting on barrels around a cooling device shaped like a dome that Rune had made. It allowed for people to cool down in hot weather.

    While the two of them flew down towards the camp, Rouna asked Rune a question. She seemed rather curious about something that had happened in the caves.

    ¡°Why did you drink the blood of that Hierarch Dragon back there? Was it a trait of the Demon King?¡±

    Rune thought for a moment while stroking his non-existent beard. Then he answered.

    ¡°When I was in its stomach, some of its blood went in my mouth and I swallowed it. It actually tasted pretty good and, after I killed it, I ate a chunk of meat while inside it and, to be honest, it tasted great.¡±

    Rouna eyes squinted a bit and her mouth was open as if she wanted to say something, but, in the end, she just turned her head at a 30 degree angle. She just stared at him in confusion and disgust as what he said was processed through her mind.

    Elisa pointed towards the two of them in the sky and shouted something. Then Hyht notched an arrow on his bow and aimed at them. Rune quickly turned back into a human and fell slowly as he controlled his gravity on the descent.

    Rouna was still in the air and saw that, after Rune transformed, Hyht sighed and put his arrow back in the quiver. Rune walked up to him and he was scolded for trying to shoot him down.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you see me transform earlier? Rouna as well!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry teach. It¡¯s just a little nerve racking waiting next to a Dragons¡¯ Nest.¡±

    ¡°Well, now there¡¯s only five dragons. They likely won¡¯t bother us anymore as they¡¯ve seen what I could do if they went against me¡­¡±

    Several students shuddered as they remembered the Cerberus that Rune turned into mince meat after the first day of school. They were acutely aware of how strong he was and they did not know how much he had grown, but they knew for a fact that he was not to be messed with.

    Rouna landed on the ground and turned back into the small figure of a girl with green hair, horns, wings, and a tail. She bounded up to the group and promptly hopped onto Elisa¡¯s Lap.

    Startled, Elisa jumped a little bit before relaxing as the barrel had almost lost its balance when she was on it. Currently, she was eating a sandwich that was made of cheese, hard bread, and turkey. There was a refrigerator in one of the carriages and, despite how small it looked, it could fit much more than what it seemed.

    The rest of the group had finished up their sandwiches and were listening to Elisa¡¯s tales of monsters that she had fought and quest she had been sent on. She talked more than she ate and, by the time she told the first story, everyone else finished their food. When Rune had come back, she was in the middle of telling her fifth story.

    Rouna leapt with tremendous precision at Elisa¡¯s lap and she took part of her meat slice. Then she hopped off of her and went to the fridge to get her own sandwich. Elisa was too slow to react and, by the time Rouna was a the fridge, all she could do was hold out her outstretched arm towards her as if reaching for her stolen meat.

    After eating, the group decided to stay at the area for the night as it was now much more safe than before due to the death of a couple hundred dragons. Rouna, Riika, and Elisa stayed in one tent, Rena, Hika, and Yula stayed in another, and, in the last tent, Erin, Mynn, and Hyht stayed in it.

    Rune had become Cursed Armor again and stayed as the lookout. He noticed that, whenever he transformed from Cursed Armor into a human, he felt refreshed and ready to go. This was due to Rune being Cursed Armor at a time when humans would sleep and his Cursed Armor form was giving his human form stamina and energy.

    In other words, it was like he was sleeping while awake in Cursed Armor.

    Rune sat on his hovering platform above the camp. He could see everything around him. The camp below him, the stars above him, even the occasional wandering monster that moved about the desert. He tilted his head upwards at the two moons above.

    <hr>

    Nothing happened during the night and Rune had turned back into a human. The others complained that it was really cold during the night and that they should have brought a heater.

    Rouna was slightly affected by the cold, but not as much as Erin who practically froze. They were both cold-blooded creatures, but Rouna¡¯s scales helped to regulate the heat in her body.

    Incidentally, Elisa came out of her tent with her face as red as a tomato. When several people asked her what was wrong, she shook her head and walked away. Rouna had found another source of heat in the tent and clung onto Elisa during the entire night.

    Breakfast was eggs and bacon that seemed to scramble and cook themselves when the sun started to rise. Everyone ate while asking Rune and Rouna for the details of what happened in the caves and they replied quickly.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    Then, as a precaution, Rune handed out fully automatic rifles to everyone and five rounds each with a different enchantment. The five enchantments that were given to the magic crystal bullets were sharpness, homing, explosive, blood shedding, and paralyzing.

    Each person gladly took one as it was a powerful weapon even with regular bullets. When all of the weapons Rune handed out were owned, the group of ten started to deconstruct camp and head to their second destination.

    It was Menigure village which was a bit south west from where they were currently. There was quite a bit of distance between them and Menigure, over three times the distance it took them to get from Nerys to the Frozen Tunnels.

    The two wagons were quite large and they placed the cooling device in the middle of them. Rena, Elisa, Riika, Rouna, Hika, and Yula stayed in the wagon in the front with the weaponry and the massive communication radio that Riika operated. Erin, Hyht, and Mynn stayed in the back wagon with the food and tent supplies.

    Rune was operating the wagon and was sitting at the front with the lever. He wasn¡¯t with the girls as there were two separate areas in the front wagon. He moved the lever according to Rouna who checking in on him from time to time.

    Some of the girls talked about their lives before they went to ALF. They started with Elisa.

    ¡°Ahem. I was born 18 years ago in the New Calender of Regis in the year 3272 as it is currently year 3290. I was born to the Rinh noble family who were all made up of extremely powerful knights. My family was sworn to protect the king at all costs and now my older brother, the black knight, is his majesty¡¯s personal guard.

    I was raised to use magic in combat and know how to cancel magic as I am now a Mage Killer. I can dispel magic of those weaker than I and I am level 14. I am a bit stronger than an A class adventurer. What about you, Rouna?¡±

    ¡°It all started a very long time ago, 5467 years ago to be exact. I was born in the Calendar of Zekar in the year 4823 and it changed when the Human king¡¯s family changed. I was 2,177 years old when it happened.

    I grew up to a family who only used violence when it was necessary. We hunted to eat food and lived in a clan made of Green Dragons. One day, a ¡°messenger¡± arrived saying that he brought salvation to us. He wanted us to all help him bring Tiamat to Arborea.

    Of course, me and my entire clan refused almost immediately and it started to kill us all, one by one. It was the Green Irregular Dragon who deemed it necessary to gather information via us Regular Dragons. I wasn¡¯t a Guardian Dragon at the time. It killed almost everyone, but my parents found a way for me and another child to survive. We were put into the forgotten tunnel system of the village and we crawled through it to survive.

    Our clan was one of the most strange and peculiar as everyone in it developed the power and ability to change into a human. We often stayed in those forms unless we hunted or were attacked by intruders. This was the only reason why the Irregular Dragon didn¡¯t follow us. That and the fact that we were only children at the time.

    Both of us had no place to go and we decided to split our own separate ways. He is now one of the best blacksmiths in the Human Capital while I was busy protecting other Green Dragons that I went out and found.

    I was there for a long time and busied myself with looking at the outer world. So many things happened over the course of 5,447 years and it was all new to me. I was interested at all the marvels and everything, but that interest soon fell apart and I decided to train some people to take my place and guard the others.

    That was when I met Rune and Elisa. It seems like I can¡¯t try anything on Rune, but I can mess around with Elisa.¡±

    Elisa voiced a small cry as she heard the last thing that Rouna said. She looked at her as Rouna licked her lips and scanned her entire body. Suddenly, Elisa tried to cover herself and Rouna pounced.

    Rune could hear a small kerfuffle in the back, but decided to ignore it. He was more focused on the large shadows he saw a minute earlier.

    <hr>

    Rune looked up at the sky to see three enormous white dragons like the Hierarch he saw earlier. He was actually extremely concerned as he had eight easy to kill targets sitting behind him. He quickly pulled out a sniper rifle and used [Physical Enhancement] to aim the rifle at their eyes.

    He fired five consecutive shots and reloaded quickly. The three dragon were similar in a way, but also different. Their backs either had no spikes or a large amount, their horns twisted in different direction, and their pupils were different shapes, a square, oval, and a star.

    They quickly reacted and only two bullets hit home and one other lodged itself in a wing after being deflected. Rune fired off five more shots and put the gun away. When two dragons descended and another fell out of the sky, one was completely blinded and the other two were half blind. Two of the bullets was in one¡¯s hand and the other had a wounded tail.

    The one that fell was the one that was blind and had been shot in the wing. He was getting up off of the ground and roaring. Rune quickly ran over to him and popped something down his throat. Then he ran to the next two and tried to stab them.

    It seemed that their scales were too hard and durable and he tried to electrocute them. They felt the sizzling as they swiped at him with all that they had. The blind one was trying to figure out what was going on.

    When each of the half blind dragon tried to bite him, he quickly shoved several things down each of their throats. Then he backed away as the others started to come out of the wagons. Some of them were quite frightened at the three dragons in front of them and Rune fished out a button.

    Several people looked at that button as he pressed it and the dragons exploded in a fiery gore that spread intestines and internal organs everywhere. It seemed that these dragons were weaker than the first Hierarch Dragon he encountered. Not just because he grew stronger and faster, but also because they seemed to be slower.

    Rune examined the remains and saw that only the underbellies of the beasts were opened up as the rest of the scales stayed together. He absorbed two of them and stored one of them. Then he scoured the area and absorbed the remnants of meat and scales around the wagons.

    They quickly moved on and everyone got back into the wagon. They traversed the sands and occasionally set up camp along the way.

    Many people were extremely bored and tried to stretch as much as they could when they rested. About two days passed before they caught sight of a village in the distance. They neared the village and they saw the village in more detail.

    There were no walls and a huge arch at the start of a road. There were multiple buildings that were only one floor high. There was only one building taller than the rest that had two floors. It looked like all of them were made of sandstone, but were more crude than Nerys¡¯s buildings.

 Chapter 28: More "People"

    They passed through the arch and entered the village. There were not many people roaming the streets as they thought there would be and they saw people with red hair and tails that seemed to have multiple spikes sticking out of a stinger at the end of it. They all turned to looked at Rune and his group as they passed over the road.

    Suddenly, a group of people came out of an alley in between two buildings. They were carrying hoes, shovels, and daggers and were headed their way. Rune glanced at them quickly and kept going.

    His thinking was that, if they started attacking, he would disable them and hurt them starting with their fingers. He was thinking that a Yakuza style way of taking fingers would be more than appropriate in this occasion.

    There were seven of them and they changed their course to head towards Rune. They stopped in front of him and Rune kept driving the carriage. Some of the people in front of him started to sweat as the wagons edged closer to their faces.

    One of them piped up as Rune had zero intention to stop whether or not people were in his way.

    ¡°Hey!! Stop!! This is our turf!! Hand us your stuff as it will go to the rebellion!!¡±

    Rune looked down upon them and stopped his wagon. Then he got down from it and told everyone inside something using telepathy.

    <Stay inside. Beat anyone up who tries to attack.>

    Then he hopped down from his perch and walked up to the man who talked. He was a bit smaller than Rune, but looked like a delinquent while tapping his shoulder with a shovel. He sneered as if he was superior to Rune.

    ¡°So what do you want?¡±

    Rune answered in a grave tone that said that he would kill anyone who got in his way. At the same time, he also used the skill given by the title, Envy¡¯s Chosen which stated ¡°Send out Bloodlust anytime or crush enemies weaker than owner three times per day¡±. An immense bloodlust was sent to all directions and everyone took at least two steps back.

    Even in the carriage the groups shuddered and even some of the bystanders around them jumped and accidentally bumped into each other. The one who had talked was now a couple yards from Rune.

    ¡°I-we need those supplies to help us fight the oppressor!!¡±

    ¡°And do you know the supplies we carry?¡±

    ¡°F-food and drinks and health potions?¡±

    He was surprisingly optimistic for someone who was taking in a large amount of bloodlust. Rune smiled as he heard his words.

    ¡°No. We have enough weapons to blow you off the face of this planet and then some.¡±

    It was a pretty large bluff, but they did have enough weaponry to destroy a continent. It he had wanted to, Rune could likely have made a device powerful enough to destroy a planet, but he was on that planet and didn¡¯t want to be on it when it was destroyed.

    ¡°T-that¡¯s better!! We¡¯ll take that then!!¡±

    ¡°So, shall I give of a knife in your stomach?¡±

    ¡°N-no. N-n-nevermind.¡±

    ¡°So, what is this ¡°rebellion¡± fighting against?¡±

    ¡°Uh, um, it is to fight the oppressing Dragon. We worship this fake god and we follow his will. We can¡¯t do anything about it¡­¡±

    ¡°And you want to take action by steal my stuff?¡±

    ¡°Uh, yes?¡±

    ¡°Then I will see what this is about. I have come to free this suppressed place from the dragon. We will kill him for you. Just tell us where he is.¡±

    Rune grinned as he spoke while thinking about getting a Black Dragon¡¯s corpse.

    ¡°Um, excuse me, but, uh, what are you thinking about now?¡±

    ¡°Corpses. Just corpses.¡±

    That was extremely unsettling to everyone who heard him. Luckily, he spoke in a soft enough tone that only those who were part of the ¡°rebellion¡± heard. The person talking to him backed up another yard.

    ¡°So, tell me, what is your name and where is the dragon?¡±

    ¡°I am Ogyi. The son of the mayor. However, I do not know where the dragon is now, but I know that he comes into the town once a week. Unfortunately, he came yesterday. He will come back in one week.¡±

    The person started to back away from him and head back into the alley that they had come from and Rune hopped back onto the wagon. Currently, his objective was to find an area to park.

    <hr>

    Rune and his group were moving towards where Ogyi was. Rouna was able to track him as soon as Rune told her the person¡¯s name and his features.

    Before they started to move, they interacted with some sort of police that helped them out, then said that they should worship some god that Rune believed was the Black Dragon. It seemed that travelers were very rare, but not unheard of as other villages of different races came to trade.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Their village produced crops and fruits. Their buildings were not too neat as they had no clear architecture. The people living in the village were all descendents of Manticores from a couple hundred thousand years ago.

    Back to Ogyi, it was extremely obvious that he had red hair and a tail with stingers at the end, but he also had blue eyes, skin on the pale side, and was rather young looking. He was also carrying a shovel and surrounded by people with knives, shovels, and hoes.

    It seemed that they were in an abandoned building where the there were two basements. They used candles to light up the place and the bottom room seemed to be for sleeping. The middle floor was where the kitchen and dining area was. Their bathrooms were outside and the first floor was just a foyer and maybe a family room.

    They moved towards a building that was at the edge of the village. They had separated into three groups of three or four and set out through the streets. Everyone was using a portable communication system and were all moving in different paths to reach their destination.

    Rune¡¯s group was made of Mynn, Hyht, and Yula. They planned to go through the alleyways as all of them were experienced in quickly moving from place to place as Hyht was a knife wielder, his girlfriend, Yula, used close combat techniques, and Mynn used a bow.

    Rouna¡¯s group was made of Riika and Erin as Rouna and Erin needed to protect Riika. They had decided to travel through the market on their way to the location.

    The last group, led by Rena, was made of Hika and Elisa and they decided to travel through the main road.

    It seemed that nothing could be gathered regarding information about the Black Dragon god. The only thing of help was the guard officer who told them that they should join their religion and the young teen, Ogyi, who talked about when the dragon would come.

    Everyone reached the area without any incident and Rune¡¯s group parkoured up to the roof where they crouched down low. There were small walls on top of the houses that were great for hiding and Rouna went up to them with Riika in her arms.

    Then, Rune spoke to everyone using telepathy before the mission started.

    <We all know our roles, right? Good. Find the kid and, if he puts up resistance, tie him to a chair. I¡¯ll interrogate him personally.>

    Rena started to pick the locks. The building that they were near was surrounded by houses on all sides and the only entrances were the alleyways in between the houses. No one would see them entering the building. There weren¡¯t even any guards around the place.

    Rune crouched down and looked around the roof. It was quite bland with the walls being made of sticks and wood. There was a hatch that was closed and led into the first floor. The other roofs had strange shrines on them with small figures of a dragon with eight curved horns and its wings were outstretched.

    Rena had finally unlocked the door and pushed it open slightly. She peeped inside and took a look. Then Rune heard something on his radio. It sounded like someone whispering. It was Rena who was talking quietly while surveying the building.

    ¡°Route is clear. Heading in.¡±

    This feels like one of those covert military operations were they break in to steal intel or something.

    ¡°There are five sofas around a huge circle table with papers on it. They all seem to talk about how to kill the Black Dragon and what they noticed the dragon doing.¡±

    ¡°What has it been doing?¡±

    ¡°People take their sons and daughters, when fourteen, to the temple in under the capital building. It seems like people become hypnotized to think that the dragon is a benevolent god. For now, all they have written other than that is just scribbles on a town map.

    Oh, I found the stairs. Wait. There is a light coming from the next floor. We might have to take some people out. Rune, can I have one of those invisibility amulets?¡±

    The people around Rune looked at him in confusion as he fished around his storage and pulled out two necklaces with a white gem inside. He crawled over to the edge of the roof and dropped both of them to Hika who promptly headed over to Rena.

    ¡°Thanks. I will head down now. Hika will be behind me to cover me¡­ There are four people hunched over a table. Each had a shovel or hoes at their side. I can¡¯t see the table though, but their clothes seem to be regular clothes, but have hoods sewn into them.

    I can hear them talking about something¡­ ¡®We should go in from the side. The priests won¡¯t notice us if we distract them from the front.¡¯ ¡®What about those new people? I heard that they had a lot of weapons.¡¯ ¡®They don¡¯t look like they came from any nearby villages¡­ I wonder who they are.¡¯... They stopped talking after that. They wrapped up some papers and went to the floor below.¡±

    Hika spoke up while looking around the floor.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t see before, but it looks like there are many tables along the wall and there are many posters and papers hanging from the walls. The table is full of papers talking about attack plans on the large building we saw earlier.¡±

    Rune was getting tired and urged them on. He was going to send four people in as loudly as possible to scare the people inside. First, though, he had to tell Hika and Rena.

    <Move into where they all are right now. I am sending in people when you are set.>

    A while later, Hika spoke into the microphone. She seemed somewhat anxious.

    ¡°Uh, we are set. It seems that everyone in the building is in this room.¡±

    Rune jumped off of the roof and called over Elisa, Rouna, and Erin with him as he walked up to the door. He creaked it open and headed down to the next floor. He moved down the stair with the other three and noticed a door at the end of the staircase.

    He promptly kicked it open as loudly as possible and started to run down the next flight of stairs. His plan was to scare the rebels and force them to hole up in one room where Rena and Hika would capture them.

    Rena started to describe the pandemonium around her as she and Hika crept around the group.

    ¡°They are running around and are scared. They are locking all the doors and covering up their plans. We can get them now.¡±

    <Then do it.>

    Rena took out her chained kamas and easily wrapped up over half of the people in the room. Everyone was startled at the chain suddenly appearing and a rope, used by Hika, wrapping around the rest of them.

    Rune walked down the last flight of stair and encountered a boarded up doorway. He reached out towards it and froze it. Then he threw a light punch and it shattered. He noticed that the people who were wrapped up were scared of the wood freezing over and it exploding.

    ¡°So, tell me, what is this scheme to kill the Black Dragon. If it is good, I will help in a weeks time. If it¡¯s bad, well then, I guess I¡¯ll kill it myself.¡±

    The person, Ogyi, was bound in a separate chain where he was sat in a chair. He saw Rune and started to speak.

    ¡°We-I can show y-you if you help!¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    Rune released the chains around him and made him talk.

    ¡°I-in one week, the ¡°god¡± will come and we have a small chance as this will be the time that it hypnotizes people into believing in itself. I am scheduled to go in two weeks ¡®cuz I¡¯m turning 14 soon.

    We will stop it then. When it is busy hypnotizing, we will kill it ¡®cuz it will be too busy to attack or defend. It focuses solely on hypnotizing. We can kill it there.¡±

    ¡°Good. Let¡¯s do it.¡±

 Chapter 29: Infiltration Part I

    Ogyi started drawing on a map of the capital building. There were two floors above the ground and five below. The last and lowest level was the tallest and largest made out of an unknown material.

    There was a small pool on the lowest level where it was four feet deep. The fluid filling up the pool looked like water, but it was a fluid that made minds susceptible to mind control.

    Priests surrounded the areas and had the town guards protecting each member. There were only ten priests and only two of them had keys to the lowest floor, but they switched keys to other priests everyday.

    All of the priests usually stayed on the third and forth lower floors. The guards were highly trained cream of the crop of the militia that the village people started. The rumors were that they could each kill a small dragon in one attack.

    Then there was the mayor who likely knew everything as Ogyi was his son and he overheard him talking about different things. He was usually in the lowest floor and had three of the most elite soldiers that were the cream of the cream in the militia.

    ¡°I would also like you to let me guys go.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    Rune moved his hand upwards and Rena and Hika let them out. They all moved away from the eight people around them as Riika and Rouna were on the roof.

    They crawled behind their leader, Ogyi, and Rune could tell that they seemed to be less than 14 years old. They grabbed their chests as they now had bruises from the chains or the rope. They whispered something in Ogyi¡¯s ear and Rune could hear it by enhancing his hearing with [Physical Enhancement].

    ¡°How can we trust them? For all we know, they could be on the false god¡¯s side.¡±

    Rune moved up to them and the person whispering fell on his behind and scooted back. Rune looked at him for a moment before addressing the entire group.

    ¡°I want to kill the beings that this ¡°false god¡± works for. I¡¯m sure that we can come to an agreement.¡±

    Rune walked over to the map that Ogyi was drawing on and analyzed it. There were circles that seemed to be entrances to the building, but one circle was on one of the blueprint¡¯s walls. Rune pointed at it.

    ¡°What¡¯s up with this one?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? That is a secret entrance in the wall. However, there is only one and it goes straight down to the second floor. There is a tunnel connecting that entrance to the well next to the building. I¡¯m not sure where in or around the well the entrance is, but we can look for it.¡±

    Rune nodded.

    ¡°So, until this week ends, is there an inn or something to stay in?¡±

    ¡°No. All of the people that visited us left as soon as they finished trading. If you want, you guys can stay here¡­¡±

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll do that. We will case the area tomorrow and we will rest for now.¡±

    He walked up to the second floor and turned into his Cursed Armor form. He was out of sight from the rebel children already and was now standing over a table with papers full of strange attack plans on them.

    Rune moved the papers to another table and placed down some white dragon scales. He was now level 29 after he killed the dragons and monsters. He was able to gain the skill [Cold Breath] after he had absorbed multiple white dragons. He wasn¡¯t able to gain all the skills that something had or all of its attributes every time, but he was able to gain all of the attributes from small objects that he absorbed.

    Rarer skills and magic was much harder to get because that was how the gods forced limits upon his cheat skill. He didn¡¯t notice it at first, but soon became aware once he had killed and absorbed the White Dragon Hierarch. He hadn¡¯t gotten any of his high grade Ice magic nor his cold breath that he wanted from the Dragolich.

    He placed his hand on the three scales that he had taken out. They were piled up on top of each other and were each as wide as plates and were at least three times as thick. He transmuted them into two different styled knives and one katana.

    One was shaped like a machete with the handle directly forming into a blade. The second blade was a trench knife with a blade attached to brass knuckles with small spikes on each knuckle. The third blade was a long odachi, a katana that one wields with two hands and is much longer than a regular katana, with a guard that had small spikes on each of the four corners to catch blades.

    He started to take out every type of magic crystal and infused one of each into each of the three blades. He also created a sheath with the Light element so that the blade can become invisible when the user wanted it to, but the user would still be able to see it. Then he enchanted them with far reach, sharpness, auto repair, and blood shedding. Since they were infused with the magic crystals, they were able to produce any elemental effect if the user wanted to.

    He put the trench knife in his storage and held onto the other two blades. He walked up to the first story and noticed that Rena and Hika were sitting at a table together playing a card game that one of the heroes from long ago created known as slapjack. They had also ¡°created¡± other games, but they weren¡¯t playing them at the moment.

    Riika and Rouna were now inside, but Riika was leaning against the radio in a blanket. She was sleeping soundly. Elisa was sleeping upright on a sofa with Rouna using her thighs as a lap pillow.

    Erin was leaning against a wall while sitting and was sleeping. Hyht and Yula were leaning on each other while sleeping on another sofa. Mynn was leaning against a wall and was on the verge of sleep.

    It seemed that Elisa, Yula, Hyht, and Riika had changed clothes into something more casual than the armor they had been wearing. Rouna had only wearing a pink blouse throughout the trip so far and she kept it on.

    Rune walked up to Rena and Hika and placed the machete in front of Rena and the katana in the magic crystal sheath in front of Hika. The machete didn¡¯t have a sheath, but it could easily be attached to a belt or rope.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    The odachi was much longer than the table by at least a feet and a half. She was surprised when the massive weapon was placed in front of her. She looked up at Rune in shock.

    Rune started to speak with telepathy as to not wake anyone up.

    <Here. They are rewards for tying up he ¡°rebels¡±. New blades, but you will have to train with them to get used to them. For Rena, you get a machete to train with and, for Hika, you get an odachi which is a katana much longer than yours.>

    Rune turned around and sat on a sofa. He crossed his arms and laid back. The cushions were quite comfortable and seemed to be the same type of cushions found in the Sphinx village.

    He pretended to sleep as he thought about what weapons he could make in one week. His thoughts were interrupted when three, what seemed like, 12 year olds, came up the stairs.

    Rena and Hika and there rest of the group were already asleep and were behind Rune. To get to the group, one had to pass Rune first.

    They all carried hoes and were approaching Rune¡¯s group. He could hear them talking.

    ¡°We¡¯ll teach ¡®em not to mess with us.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s whack them good.¡±

    The kids were somewhat curious about how the armor that Rune was appeared, but they shrugged it off and thought hat Rune was just wearing the armor. The three kids wanted to attack Riika first as she was the most vulnerable, but Rune just knew that they would attack someone other than him.

    They neared the group and Rune watched as them started to move the hoes above their heads to strike down on them. As soon as they stepped past Rune, he stood up and looked down at them.

    ¡°¡®Let¡¯s whack them good¡¯? That¡¯s not a very good idea, fool. How about I whack the brains out of your skull with my sword?¡±

    The three suddenly fell back as they saw him stand and say exactly what one of them said. They tried to scoot back when Ogyi came up the stairs. It seemed like he heard everything.

    He stood in front of Rune and started to plead.

    ¡°Please. Take pity on the children! No one would hurt an eight year old, right? Someone like that would have to be insane!¡±

    Rune pauses and took a step forward while summoning his katana. He unsheathed it and put the sheath back in his storage and tilted the blade to glint in the candle light.

    ¡°... Are you calling me insane? An eye for an eye¡­¡±

    Rune moves he katana above his head and the four children closed their eyes. They waited, but their deaths never came and they looked up at Rune.

    He was sheathing his blade and putting it back in his storage. Then, as an act to make the children fear him, he took a cup out of his storage and started to pour a red liquid into it.

    Then he took off his helmet, while still in Cursed Armor form, and poured the blood into the red energy hat was inside his armor. He put the helmet back on and put the cup away and turned to the kids.

    They were too scared to move and their faces showed that they were too fearful to react. Rune chuckled and moved back to the sofa. He sat down and the three eight year olds crumpled to the ground and started to froth at the mouth while Ogyi was panicking and trying to figure out whether he should bow or prostrate himself.

    <hr>

    The rest of the group woke up and went down to the lowest floor below ground. They moved down to it because that was where the kitchen was. There were three bedrooms on the lowest floor, but most of the children went home. Only Ogyi and one other kid who was also his age had stayed in the building they called the Warehouse.

    It was where people stored their objects and furniture that they didn¡¯t want anymore, but there wasn¡¯t an abundance of items because people usually made what they needed and that was it.

    Rune was already downstairs and was still in his Cursed Armor form as there was enough food to eat when they rationed it out, but Rune wanted to save his portions for emergencies. When each of them came downstairs, he had them form a party with them and they were surprised at the strange translucent rectangle that appeared in front of them.

    Then he brought over Lacht and Nacht as well as Sophia and invited them into the party. He had teleported to the ship and done that and also brought some more guns and ammo from the ship.

    When he came back, the other rebel children were confused as to how the three new people came and where they came from. In fact, everyone in the town was curious about the origins of Rune and his group and asked them to tell their story.

    Rune told them that they crossed the sea and reached a town, he didn¡¯t say which town, and traveled here, he didn¡¯t say a reason, and he was going to travel all around the continent looking at things to buy, trade, and sell. People wanted to buy some things from him and he sold some fancy looking knives and farming tools to the people and he even sold some katanas to someguards.

    The weapons and materials were just iron, but they looked magnificent and were durable. The only enchantments on them were auto repair for every tool and weapon. He didn¡¯t sell them to the children under 14 or to people who were shady or evil, at least shady and evil people in Rune¡¯s eyes.

    Most of the villagers were actually nice people who believe in the fake god, but, when asked by the Black Dragon, they would gladly do anything in their power to complete the action. Occasionally, the Black Dragon would tell people to jump in its mouth and they would do it and get eaten. Other people who believed the dragon to be their god paid no mind to its actions, but the hypnotism would break if the dragon died.

    Sophia was there to investigate the well area to find the trap door. Rune was going to bring her to the well as well as Lacht and Nacht to see if they knew anything about the Black Dragon. He wanted to ask them about the different villages other than the Sphinx and Manticore villages.

    Breakfast was some boar sausages and some diced hash brown. It turned out that Riika was an excellent cook because she had to make do with the scraps she was given from her old village. To wash it down, they had filtered, undirtied water.

    They gave some food to the children, but not too much as they still had to ration the supply. Rune could pop over to the capital to buy some more items, but he really didn¡¯t want to spend any more of his money on food. Nonetheless, they still had enough food for people to last a week and a bit more from Rune¡¯s supply.

    When he went from Cursed Armor back to human, he was usually hungry, but not too starving. Although, he basically drank blood everytime he didn¡¯t absorb something¡¯s dead corpse and it made him feel less hungry which was likely one of the traits of being Demon King. However, he didn¡¯t feel an increase in an urge to drink blood.

    Rena, Hika, Riika, Elisa, and Rouna left to go to the shopping area which was pretty small, but was where people sold their wares. Erin, Mynn, Hyht, and Yula left to find something to eat, but Hyht and Yula went alone for a date.

    The four of them left, Rune, Sophia, Lacht, and Nacht, exited the building and the Manticore people around them were dumbfounded when they saw three new people with Rune who was now in his human form. They made their way to the well where they saw a line of eleven people waiting to haul up water.

    They looked at the four of them as Sophia looked around the well to figure out where the trap door was. Rune stood by as Lacht and Nacht both started chatting with the villagers. There were two men out of the eleven people and the rest were women. Each carried a small wagon that could only hold two medium sized jugs of water.

    Apparently, the water was dirty and filthy from what Rune could hear, but he didn¡¯t want to do anything about it because they might accidently take the church¡¯s job, the church in the capital building to worship the Black Dragon, as they handled the well and the water in it.

    After a bit of looking, Sophia went up to Rune and spoke to him in a quiet voice.

    ¡°I found it. It is at the base of the well. We should go at night when there aren''t as many people around.¡±

    <Ok. I understand. Let¡¯s meet up with the others to talk about it. We can also see what the others have found out.>

 Chapter 30: Infiltration Part II

    Everyone was gathered together in the lowest floor. Even the ¡°rebels¡± were listening in on this speech that Rune was about to give. However, he was mainly planning to have himself, Rena, and Rouna go to infiltrate the place.

    The rest of Rune¡¯s group would back them up around the capital building and the children rebels would provide support with the rifles that Rune had brought from the ship. They were to wait around on the roof of the Warehouse and, if they saw that the rest of the group was in trouble, they would shoot.

    The guns that Rune had made with Jared and Kelly were simple with the hammer, trigger, and ammo clips. There were spirals in the muzzle, but it was directly connected to the gun frame. It was far from perfect, but they were more powerful than Earth¡¯s weapons thanks to the force of the explosions in the chamber which allowed the bullet to travel at immense speeds without being affected by bullet drop for at least five times that of a regular gun of its type.

    Rune was now wearing his usual set of clothes except the color scheme was all black and dark grey. Rena was wearing a mask like an oni and was wearing black kunoichi style clothes with detached sleeves. Rouna was wearing a set of a black long sleeve that was way too big for her and some black baggy pants.

    They couldn¡¯t bring the invisibility amulets because the capital building had a barrier which canceled out magic that could hide one¡¯s presence. Thus eliminating the idea of invisibility or the use of presence elimination. Even so, one could use skills to cancel their presence, but they were limited to only presence. It would be over as soon as someone saw you.

    The reason that Rena, Rune, and Rouna would go was because they were the most adept at stealthily moving. They were going to move in the cover of the night.

    There were five days remaining until the Black Dragon came, but Rune wanted to get a copy of the keys beforehand so that they would be prepared to go in. They would also plant a surveillance device in the third, fourth, and fifth floor if possible.

    If the plan went smoothly, they would spend the rest of the week in Nerys, the Sphinx village, and stay there until the Black Dragon came. His plan was to go back with Sophia, Nacht, Lacht, Hyht, Mynn, and Yula to Nerys and keeping Rouna, Elisa, Erin, Rena, Riika, and Hika in the Manticore village.

    The children were to stay in the village and tell Riika the peculiar things they saw and what was going on. Then she would report them to the rest of the group wearing the other earpieces. The radio would stay with her and Rouna and Elisa would both protect her at the same time.

    And so, the heist began. Rune placed the camera and transmitters in his storage and a material that could harden if mana was pushed through it, but was otherwise soft before that happened. He planned to push the key on it, then mold it, and copy it to create a key with the same structure as the other one.

    Rune stepped out of the building with Rena and Rouna. All three had donned invisibility amulets to not be seen before the mission. To get to the trap door, Sophia described it in detail what it looked like and where it was.

    It was a squarish door that was covered in the sand around the well. It was under the place one would put the bucket on the small table. The way to get in would be to uncover it and force it open as they didn¡¯t know what they could do to open it.

    The three of them jumped onto the hovering platform and moved to the center of the town where the capital building was placed. They moved off when they had reached the well and they looked under the table with the water bucket on it.

    Indeed, there was a strange indent, more than the other part of the sand and Rune placed his hand over it. Rena and Rouna watched as he put it all in his storage and the door was found. However, he couldn¡¯t place a door in his storage because the storage did not allow for him to place pieces of architecture in his storage unless it was completely broken off from the actual building. He could not store a house, but if he broke off a window or a door, he could store that piece that he broke off.

    However, for this situation, he did not know if he should or should not break it and looked at the door. It was metal door that had a valve on it and it was locked tightly. Rune grabbed hold of the valve and turned it one way, but had to turn it the other as he messed up the first time.

    When he couldn¡¯t turn anymore, he pulled it upwards and it opened to reveal stairs moving downwards. All of them jumped down the hatch and Rune closed it on them and placed the sand above the hatch. It wouldn¡¯t be precise, but it would likely cover the hatch enough to not be noticed.

    Rune cast [Light] and started to move down the staircase. The other two followed as he soon reached a wall with a handle on it. It looked like a doorknob with a lock on it. He unlocked it and turned the knob as he opened the door.

    He say that he was directly behind a guard who was sitting on a chair. Somehow, it seemed like he hadn¡¯t noticed Rune yet and he was relaxing in his seat. Rune carefully looked from behind the man to see three more guards around the floor with only a table and five chairs. The only light source was a single candle on the table however and Rune immediately turned off his light as soon as he reached the door.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Seeing as how nobody was looking in his direction or at the guard in front of him, Rune reached out his hand and froze the man¡¯s vulnerable brain. His tail seemed to have a small spasm before becoming still, but the man was not dead and was instead just going to be in a coma. It was like cryo stasis except it kept him unconscious for a number of days and no one could tell. Rune left him there so that none would question it and he moved out from behind the man with a coma in the chair.

    He hid in the shadows as he crept up to a pair of guards that were standing next to a set of double doors that had metal frames on them. They stood on either side of the door and were staring off into space. There was no space between them and the wall and Rune had to attack from the sides or the front.

    He quickly cast [Quiet] around the guards and he rushed them from the front. They reacted for a little bit before they went into comas and Rune froze their legs and torso to keep them standing. He turned to the last guy.

    Suddenly, a guard came out of another door and moved towards the man in the chair. Rune had to act quickly as the man got closer and he cast [Quiet] again around the man in the chair.

    As soon as the walking guard got into range, Rune thrust out his hand to the person and froze his body mid step. Then Rune caught him and leaned his body against the wall and froze it.

    He looked from the left to the right as he checked to see if there were any more guards around. As there were no more other than the last one who was standing next to the stairs, Rune quickly froze his entire body and his brain.

    He wiped the non existent sweat on his forehead as he grabbed the person¡¯s keys that were hanging from his belt. Rouna and Rena came out from the secret entrance and looked around the room. Rune had made sure to not let anyone die unless they needed to.

    With the keys that had only three keys on a metal ring, he tried to open up all of the three doors in the room. One door, which the guard had come out from, was unlocked and was just a bathroom with a hole instead of a toilet.

    The second room was opened with one of the keys and was a pantry. It contained a lot of stores of bread and cheese. There were even dried pieces of meat and crops on the shelves.

    The large double doors which the two guards guarded was opened with a key and Rune pushed it open slightly to see what was inside. Rouna and Rena took a look as well as they couldn¡¯t take the food of the building nor did they have to use the disgusting bathroom.

    Inside was a large room with candles on the wall and three suits of armor with a set of stairs leading downwards. Rune couldn¡¯t tell if there were people in the suits of armor. Each one had a tail like a Manticore¡¯s and carried three different weapons.

    The one on the left held a halberd. The one in the middle of the room was holding two long swords with bucklers on either arm. The last one on the right was hefting a large battle axe.

    Each suit of armor was not moving and Rune eyes them suspiciously as he moved into the room. Suddenly, the suit of armor in the middle started to move and swing its swords. Rune expertly completed a combat roll to escape the swing of the swords. He reached into his storage and brought out his trench knife that he had wanted to use.

    He quickly stabbed its head and it staggered back as the blade pierced the armor. Rune removed the knife and he could see a blue energy inside. They were Cursed Armor suits just like how he used to be.

    Rune quickly followed up his previous attack with a slice to its left calf and it staggered to the left. The Cursed Armor began to swing at him once again and Rune moved his hand upwards to block the. However, instead of blocking them, the swords decided to break as soon as they came in contact with his gauntlets.

    The sword blades embedded themselves in the roof and only the handle and the guards were what remained of the blade. The Armor seemed dumbfounded as it became weaponless. However, it started to try and punch Rune with its bare gauntlets.

    Rune easily dodged the blows and jabbed at the being with his trench knife until it soon became scrap metal. Then the Armor on the left started to move with its halberd, but Rune decided that he would break it first and he stabbed with his knife and froze it over. Then he broke it into dust and jumped at the one on the right.

    Rena and Rouna watched the scene in somewhat awe as Rune moved at speeds faster than they could calculate. He had easily annihilate the enemies and was now putting their scraps into his storage for later use.

    Rune walked down the stairs as the two followed and they came to another door with a lock on it. It had golden engravings on the frame and three locks on it. He started to put every key in each slot, but only one key fit. He took out the key and moved back to the room with the five frozen guards. Rena went with him as Rouna decided to stay in the room where Rune fought the Cursed Armors.

    He started to search the guards and found a key, but only one. He looked around and decided to travel up the stairs.

    He saw a room with a map on a table and knives sticking out from it. There were three guards who were each holding spears at the ready with two standing beside one large door and the other standing next to a smaller door. There were magic lights around the room and everything was lit up.

    It would be hard to knock them all unconscious as he had no tranquilizers or sedatives. But he did have his fists and [Blindness]. He cast it three times and they all started to fumble about as they dropped their spears and clutched their eyes.

    Rune punched them all in the stomach quickly and then chopped them on the head with his hand. They all went unconscious and he propped them up against the wall and froze them. Then he started to look through their pockets and he found two keys.

    He rushed back down to the locked door and tested the keys to find that the two keys worked unexpectedly and he pushed it open. Suddenly, he found himself as crossbow point.

 Chapter 31: Destruction Part I

    The crossbows numbered over one hundred as two hundred guards pointed their weapons at Rune. Rouna was right behind him and Rena was up at the beginning of the staircase. Rune could see ten people in front of him wearing black robes with red, blue, green, and white outlines and designs covering their robes.

    They were likely the ten priests who two of which carried keys to go to the fifth floor. They stood in front of Rune with two metal squares with square holes in them and a chain connecting the two.

    They approached Rune with evil smiles on their faces and spoke to him.

    ¡°Put up your hands, prisoner!¡±

    Rune moved his hands upwards from his sides so quickly that he broke the sound barrier and everyone flew back and Rena and Rouna braced for impact against a wall. Weapons flew everywhere as the air pressure blew them away.

    Then, using [Gravity Control], Rune quickly moved the weapons into the air and and he pointed it all down upon the guards and the priests. When they finally realized what was going on, they started to back up and try to escape.

    However, Rune kept them from moving by creating a barrier of weapons in the ground around them. He swiftly strode up to the man holding the square objects and grabbed him by the collar after yanking the object out of his hands and throwing it onto aspear. He glared into the man¡¯s eyes as the priest started to try and punch Rune with weak fists.

    ¡°Where is your god?!¡±

    Rune declared with enough bloodlust that the man he was holding and several around them fainted and started to foam at the mouth. Rune dropped the man on the ground where he sprawled on the cold stone floor.

    Rune used gravity magic to bring a spear from the ground around them and it flew into his hands. Gravity magic was a type of magic that could be used to change the direction of gravity on an object or increase or decrease the gravity affecting an object. One type of magic that stemmed from [Gravity Control] was [Telekinesis]. While both could move objects about, the former could move much heavier weights and do many things to gravity affecting an object.

    People started to scoot back against the wall of spears and Rena and Rouna started to interrogate the guards as well. Rune looked to his left, then his right and picked up a man by his scruff and asked him.

    ¡°Where is your god?!¡±

    ¡°I-I, do you want to know when he comes here or where he is now?!??¡±

    ¡°...Yes.¡±

    ¡°I, uh, wait. Does that mean you want both answers?¡±

    Rune shook him a bit and he let loose an extremely shrill cry and became embarrassed. Several people around them looked bewildered as he did so and he started to sniffle like he was sad.

    ¡°I, if you destroy his shrine, he is bound to come now. Please, let me live. I have a cute newly born daughter!! I can help you! He has the keys!!¡±

    The priest he was holding pointed at a man near him who started to bawl on the spot as soon as he realized Rune was going to ¡°talk¡± to him next. He shook even more violently when the man Rune placed on the ground started to weep with his hands covering his face. Obviously, it was from shame, but the man who was being picked up by Rune now thought that the other guy was traumatized.

    Rune dragged the third priest up to his feet and held out his hand. The priest was still crying and Rune gripped his shoulder and started to electrify it. This stopped him from crying as he shouted in pain.

    ¡°Hand over the key.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    He quickly fished out a key from his pocket and handed it over to Rune. Rune dropped him and reached out his hand towards the wall of spears and they broke in half as if they were toothpicks. Rune stepped over them and could see a wide staircase leading downwards to a tall door. He saw a small key slot for the key and multiple metal mechanisms on the door.

    He plugged the key in and turned it and the mechanisms turned with gears and the door slowly opened outwards. It led to a wide room with ten doors and a tall table with ten tall seats around it. They were at least twelve feet high and, under the table, there was a pentagram with five different symbols at each point of the star.

    Rune stepped into the room and, immediately, he heard a blaring noise and blue and green flashes on the ceiling. Rune looked back up the stairs to see Rena and Rouna dragging the priests in chains. He wasn¡¯t sure what happened to the guards, but he expected that they were restrained as well.

    The priests could still walked and fumbled to move down the stairs. Rune walked up to them as they moved into the room.

    ¡°What is with those flashes of light?¡±

    ¡°T-those are the alarms we had to detect intruders in case they came into the fourth floor. Um, if you set me free, I can turn it off for you.¡±If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡®No, I will.¡±

    ¡°Nay! I say-¡±

    ¡°Be quiet. Go undo it with the chains on.¡±

    Eight priests moved towards the table while two of them were unconscious and were being dragged along the ground. Every time they passed over an item or object, they hit their heads and bruised their bodies.

    Two of the Priests started to work on things underneath the table with the table legs. The alarms stopped ringing and the flashes stopped. Then, ten trap doors opened on the ceilings and ten things blurred and hit the ground.

    Rune pulled out his scythe as it was now useless to try and by sneaky. His scythe still blew up when it interacted with blood and could now, instead of exploding it, incinerate blood into ashes instead of exploding it.

    The ten things that came down from the trap doors were black lizard-like beings that were as big as a person. They had two curved horns on each of their heads and their tails whipped around the floor.

    Under the table, the priests huddled together and were smiling as soon as they had opened the doors. They had even dragged the two unconscious priests under the table. They started to cast magic and a barrier appeared around them that was a yellow color.

    The lizard creatures moved into U formation and encircled Rune, Rena, and Rouna. Every time they breathed, a cloud of black smoke emerged from their nostrils and mouths. Rouna stepped back and spoke to the other two.

    ¡°They are Black Drakes They have to same abilities as Black Dragons, but don¡¯t have wings and are usually lesser beings. However, these ones feel more powerful than me.¡±

    Rune stretched his arms and cracked his neck. He turned his head to the closest Drake and slowly and nonchalantly walked towards it. It reacted by snarling and breathing a breath of acid at him.

    Rune barely dodged as it was fast. It seemed that it was much stronger than the Hierarch Dragons he faced before.

    In the Hierarch Dragon system, there were five different Dragons. They were ranked from weakest to strongest in the system of five. So far, he had only encountered the two weakest, ranks 4 and 5, and the Black Drakes in front of him contained the power of a rank 3 from the Black Hierarch Dragon. However, it was unknown to Rouna and Rune about this system of five and they had no idea that there were different strengths for them.

    The bottom of his shoe was smoking as he hadn¡¯t evaded it completely and he got up with a partially broken shoe. Then he twirled his scythe in one hand and pulled out a sub-machine gun from his storage.

    He moved back and fired into the crowd of ten drakes and they tried to block it with their paws and tails. However, the bullets used a homing enchantment and landed in their eyes and mouths.

    Three of them pounced in his area and Rena and Rouna moved back to the door. Rune jumped above them and spun his scythe around. He only managed to grave one¡¯s back, but it dripped some blood.

    Immediately, the blood started to burn and al the blood touching it started to burn as well. It yelped as it was engulfed in flames with a dark purple color and its blue blood became ashes. One was killed and Rune quickly absorbed it.

    The Black Drakes¡¯ attacks seemed to be slower, but they were still fast and he could barely dodge the breath attacks in the air. He twirled around and fired off five shots in a single trigger pull and they each found themselves inside a Drake¡¯s mouth.

    So far, only two of them had a bullet in one eye each and five were bleeding from their mouths. Rune landed on the floor and threw his scythe at one Drake. He boosted the speed with his [Gravity Control] and the scythe spun for one rotation before ending up in the tail of one Drake. It started to burn and, when the lower half was already on fire, it exploded into ash and flesh that was littered around the room.

    Quickly, while the Drakes were focused on the burning remains around the room, Rune drove his scythe into another Drake, but it evaded. He fired his gun and he also heard a shot behind him. It was Rena who shot a rifle to help him.

    They both struck their mark and the Drake was now blind. It tottered to the left and the right, but kept its balance as it stood and sniffed the air. Its eyelids were closed, but blood spewed out of the closed lids and pitter pattered to the floor.

    It took a weak step forwards and slipped in a puddle of its own blood, but, instead of feeling pity for the beast, Rune gave it his ¡°mercy¡± as he decapitated it in a single strike. The body turned to ash as it fell to the ground and he absorbed as much of it as he could as quickly as he could.

    Then he turned to the seven remaining and took out his two chain cleavers and threw them at the enemy. One hit its mark as the [Gravity Control] turned to make it aim at the creature. The blade carved up the victim and it was soon halved as both sides fell to the cold ground with the internal organs leaking blood and the lifeless eyes moved no more.

    The other blade soon turned to dust as two Drakes breathed their acidic breath in its direction. The six Drakes left started to circle around Rune and he cast a spell six times for each one of the Drakes. It was [Unholy Smite] from his job as a Dark Paladin.

    Six huge crosses appeared overhead and they moved downwards towards them and three hit their marks. The crosses crushed their legs and made them immobile. Blood spewed from their wounds and the scythe returned back to Rune¡¯s hand.

    He touched the scythe to the blood and it started a trail of fire before engulfing the three Drakes in an inferno. They yelped in pain as the fire entered through their wounds and they were soon burnt to a crisp.

    Then, as a Drake tried to help one of its companions, Rune picked it up and drop kicked it into the last chain cleaver flying through the air. It was sliced into thick slices of meat before a pile of meat appeared on the floor.

    The last two started to try and move back towards the door where Rena and Rouna were at and tried to make a run for it. While Rune was killing, Rena and Rouna had been setting up traps about the area around the door.

    The Drakes¡¯ focus had been on Rune as he had been slaughtering them all. They didn¡¯t notice the traps until it was too late. The one who reached the door first was blinded by a shining light that appeared in front of its face. Then ten spears found their way into its head where it promptly died.

    The last Drake saw his companion die and turned around to find that the last thing it would see in its life. A scythe. It embedded itself in its eye and he twisted it so that he destroyed its brain and snapped its neck at the same time.

    Then Rune turned to the priests and held out his hand towards their barrier. He used [Dispel Magic] and the barrier dissipated into the air as the faces of the priests went from shock to utter fear.

    He walked up to the group and, since they had unchained themselves, put on even stronger chains around each of them. It weighed them down and them each fell to the ground and couldn¡¯t get up. The effects f the chains also made things much worse for them.

    Rune looked down on the priests and smiled creepily. Then he spoke to them.

    ¡°I don¡¯t appreciate that stunt that you ten have performed¡­¡±

 Chapter 32: Destruction Part II

    Rune was finishing up tying the priests who were chained to the wall. He had stabbed the guards¡¯ spears into the wall as he hadn¡¯t destroyed all of them, and was using it to hook up the chained.

    He had also finished absorbing as much as he could from the deceased Drakes and the blood pool that engulfed the area around the tall chairs and table. Some of the blood was already soaked into the floor crevices and he couldn¡¯t reach them and the room smelled of death and had a strong iron smell hanging in the air.

    He had gained the skill [Breakneck] which allowed him to travel double his max speed at all times as it was a passive skill. Apparently, since Drakes are weaker recipients of Dragon abilities, they were just on par with a rank 4 Hierarch in strength and dexterity, but they could move and react much faster thanks to the [Breakneck] skill.

    There was no staircase or ladder down to the next floor and Rune very much considered breaking the floor to get to the fourth floor. He looked around and tried to ask the priests, but they wouldn¡¯t say how to get down. Rune did consider killing one of them as an example, but then realized that this may be due to the influence of the Black Dragon.

    He settled on kicking one of the chairs. He broke the bases of each one off of the ground as they were connected to it and he raised them upwards with his [Gravity Control]. Then he slammed them down into the floor and everyone could hear an audible cracking sound.

    The chairs exploded into rubble and stone flew everywhere and some of them hit the priests and Rune, but they just bounced off of him. The floor didn¡¯t seem to have a single crack in it from his attack.

    However, one stray rock struck the pentagram under the table and it glowed red for a moment. Still, Rune was able to catch a glimpse of that glow and turned towards it. He walked up to the side of the pentagram and looked at it.

    Nothing else seemed different about it and Rune grabbed a nearby rock. Then he threw it at the pentagram, but it didn¡¯t glow. It had bounced off of the center of the pentagram. Then he looked at where the first rock had previously landed. It was resting on one of the five points of the pentagram.

    Then he decided to drop a rock on one of the other points and it glowed for a moment. He realized that there might be a way to get down.

    <hr>

    Rune, Rena, Rouna, and two rocks were at the ready. They were about to step or be dropped onto one of the points on the pentagram each. Rune counted down with his fingers. Three. Two. One.

    They all got onto the pentagram and it glowed a lightish red color. It started to spin and, once it completed a single full rotation, it began to descend.

    The priests were wide eyed as they figured out the puzzle and were arguing with them that they shouldn¡¯t go down there, but Rune just wagged his finger at them and stayed on the lowering platform.

    The walls went from the same material as the ground to a darker colored metal material for the walls of the interior of the device. The pentagram glowed brighter as the light receded from the third floor.

    Suddenly, the platform stopped and the walls around them opened up to a long hall. There were ten doors and twenty guards lined up, two per door. They all turned as they noticed the walls of the platform open up and they were confused when they saw three people and two rocks.

    One person started to move a whistle towards his mouth and every other guard pulled out their spears and slowly cornered the trio. Rune stepped forward and whisked the whistle from the guard¡¯s hand with his title skill of Greed¡¯s Chosen.

    The surprised man tried to blow the whistle, but his mouth was met with air as the whistle was out of his hand. Rune crushed the whistle in his hand and dropped the powdered remains onto the floor.

    Then he cast [Ice Age] and the air around them turned cold, colder than anything the guards had felt before as they lived in a desert. They shivered as Rune took another step forward and he used [Gravity Control] on their spears.

    The spears started to move out of their hands, but only half of the spears moved out of their hands as the other half kept their strong grips. Ten spears moved to float around Rune and he aimed them at the guards.

    He threw them at the guards, but his aim was to break their weapons. Each guard blocked the weapons skillfully, but they kept coming back to try and inflict more damage. Rune and the other two just watched in leisure as the guards¡¯ weapons broke into small pieces.

    The guards soon became weaponless and the started to back up towards a door on the other side of the long hall. They didn¡¯t seem to be running away and, when they opened the door, Rune could see shelves of weapons inside.

    Without hesitation, he quickly ran into the room, past the guards, and stored all of the weapons along the walls. Then he looked back at the guards and smiled as their faces turned to despair.

    Then he tied them all up together too quickly to react to. The room he was in had a set of stairs leading down to a strange circle on the floor with a pedestal in front of it. The pedestal had several strange buttons and a slot for a key.

    When he examined it, he noticed that it was the same strange keyhole that was used to get onto floor four. The circle on the floor was strange due to being lower than the floor by about a foot and it had several gears around it. It was also split into six sections like a triangle with a curved side.

    Rune looked around the room some more to see that there were lights in the ceiling and the walls had paintings on them depicting a lot of people who seemed to be worshipping a Black Dragon. It seemed like the people were Manticores as they had stingers on their tails and had red hair.

    Rena and Rouna came into the area behind him and looked at the paintings. Rune stepped in front of the pedestal and plopped the key into the keyhole. He turned it and the gears on the circle started to turn.

    The six triangles of the circle pulled into the floor, away from the center of the circle. What appeared underneath was a path of stairs that curved in a clockwise spiral. In the center of the spiral, there was a hole leading all the way down, but Rune couldn¡¯t see the bottom.

    He started to walk down and Rouna and Rena followed after they realized that they were going to be left behind. On the way, Rune tried to radio Riika and the others, but it seemed like something was blocking the communication.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    <hr>

    They were moving down the stairs at a quick pace, but half an hour had already passed. Rune thought about using a magic device to help them, but, when he had tried to take out his hovering platform, he couldn¡¯t activate his storage.

    The only things he could use were on his person. He had kept his scythe and a sub-machine gun, but had stored everything else away. Rena still had everything she needed on her person and Rouna didn¡¯t need anything.

    It took some more time after Rune had tried to pull out items from his storage, but, when they finally reached it, they saw a really large room.

    It was about 300 meters high and the walls were quite a bit of distance away from them. The staircase was in the center of the room and was surrounded by walls and a single door that they had to open.

    Around them and along the walls was a river of light blue liquid. It brightened up the area enough so that Rune could see as both Majin and Dragons had night vision. The strange fluid made ripples along the surface and it seemed like something was swimming in it, but it was clear enough that they could see through it and they could not see anything strange in it.

    There were four dragon statues in each corner of the room facing the center and they had ruby eyes. Out of their mouths trickled the strange liquid and it poured into the river below. The statues very much resembled the Black Dragon depicted in the fourth room with the curved horns and the malevolent shape of its head.

    In front of them was an altar that was rectangular and was in the middle of the river in front of them. It had chains around it and holes to allow the liquid to flow in and out. Standing near it, but still not in the liquid, was a man was had grey horns that flickered blue runes on them and he had navy blue hair. His tail was made of obsidian, but seemed to be the same as a Manticore¡¯s except that it also had more spikes than a regular Manticore and , wherever it touched, it let loose acid spilling from the tail.

    Around him were four guards who also had horns that flickered blue, but they were much smaller than the person they were guarding. They each carried crossbows, spears, and knives.

    All five turned as soon as they heard a creaking in the wooden door. The guards immediately pulled out their spears and pointed them at the trio as they came out. The man with the obsidian tail was holding a book and chanting something to the altar.

    Rune rushes the guards and he kicked one into the river of the glittering blue liquid. He started to scream out in pain as the fluid constricted him like a snake and it entered inside his body via mouth. It was disgusting to watch as a large portion of liquid flowed into his mouth.

    ¡°That is a Water Weird, or at least something like it!!¡±

    Rouna said shocked as she watched the scene unfold before her eyes. He liquid around them took shape and it became hundreds of serpents like the one that flowed into the man and they slithered about. They looked at Rena and Rouna as the moved about.

    Their heads were that of a snake with fangs and strange whiskers. They slightly resembled a catfish and a snake and an eel as Rune looked closely at them.

    They all roared in unison and the ground shook with their voices. Then they continued moving along the river path and ignored the others.

    The guard who had fallen in was coming out and had a strangely blank expression covering his face. Then the water weird came out from every office on his face and Rouna covered her mouth in disgust and shock.

    The guard stood standing and the other three were pointing at the trio. As soon as they shouted to attack, the man with the blank expression started to move. He pulled out his knife and attempted to stab Rune. Of course, Rune stepped out of the way and gave the guard a slight push, but, accidentally using [Breakneck], he pushed him so quickly and so powerfully that he was pushed into the ground and made a large impact crater.

    The other three guards backed up unintentionally and nudged the chanting man who stopped his chanting. He turned around and the three guards showed immense fear in their faces as they turned to look at him.

    Suddenly, the man swiped at the guards and scratched all of them. They screamed and their wounds started to smoke as they fell to the ground, clutching their wounds.

    Their wounds grew larger and larger until they lost all their skin and their muscles started showing. It was like pouring hydrochloric acid on someone and it slowly burned off their skin and flesh and meat.

    After a moment, they became a puddle of red and yellow liquid and a lump of meat in the middle of it with half disintegrated bones randomly sticking out of it.

    The only guard left alive was the one in the impact crater with ten bones broken and he had blood trickling from his nose and ears. The man holding the book rolled his eyes in their sockets to look at Rune, Rena, and Rouna.

    He started to speak and Rune could see that his lips were cracked and dry and his eyes had red veins in them. Around his eyes were dark bags as if he hadn¡¯t slept for several days. When he spoke, it sounded rough and old.

    ¡°You dare trespass in this sacred grounds?! Be gone?! Only the Hells await thee!!¡±

    He dropped his book and it started to float in midair and the words started to glow red. It fired off ten spells at once and ten flames came into existence above the book and they flew at Rune.

    He tried to cast [Dispel Magic], but it didn¡¯t work and he had to side step the attack. He now understood that he was in an area where he couldn¡¯t use magic, but the enemies could.

    He carefully analyzed the situation and fired off three shots at the book. They all bounced off of a glowing sphere around the book. It was a barrier.

    Rune rushes it and punched with his fists, but he man with the obsidian tail attacked him at that moment. Rune escapee by stepping backwards and ended up crashing into Rouna.

    To both Rouna and Rena, Rune used telepathy.

    <Shoot him at the left and right while I take the middle.>

    Rena charged left and pulled out her rifle and Rouna moved right and pulled out her shotgun. They both fired consecutive shots outside of his range and Rune started slashing him down with his scythe.

    ¡°I cannot die!! By the Dragon God, I have been granted near perfect regeneration!!¡±

    He made an example by letting Rune cut him, but that was an immense mistake as he was suddenly caught on fire and his blood started to burn. He screamed in agony and the book started to glow green.

    The barrier around it disappeared and Rune quickly cut it up. However, the obsidian tailed man stopped burning and his flesh came back. He spat out some blood and looked at Rune.

    He had realized his mistake and jumped back from Rune. Then he tripped on the edge of the river and flailed his arms as he fell into the Water Weirds.

    They engulfed him and entered his body. More than one entered his body at once and he was soon buried. Then, after all the Water Weirds entered his mouth and ears and eyes, he stood up in an empty river.

    His eyes were now brimming with power as he climbed back to where Rune was. Rouna quickly launched a poison spell and the man deflected it.

    Then the man rushed at Rune and started to choke him with one hand while firing off spells left and right. He spoke as the liquid dropped from his mouth and flew to the ground.

    ¡°These Advant Water Weirds are brimming with magical power!!! You cannot stop my power!!!¡±

    Rune held up his hand and tried to shove the man away as drool dribbled from his mouth. He cast a spell.

    Rune had noticed that Rouna had cast a poison spell and figured that the book kept them from using magic, but now it was destroyed. Now, however ironic, he could cast [Dispel Magic].

    He cast it and the man¡¯s eyes rolled upwards and the frothed at the mouth. He let go of Rune and started to smoke. A blue smoke came out of his mouth and they split into four equal parts and moved to the dragon statues¡¯ mouths.

    Suddenly, the ground shook and he ceiling broke. It fell down around them and they could feel abnormal power around them.

 Chapter 33: Destruction Part III

    The ground tumbled as dirt and smoke filled the air. Rune spun his head left and right to find that there was an outline of a door in the wall in front of them. He pulled out his katana and trench knife.

    Rena pulled out her machete and Rouna readied herself in a bare handed combat stance. Rune had placed his scythe on his back and had placed a shotgun on it too.

    Then he quickly noticed that the book and the body was still there and he quickly absorbed them.

    The door outline was gigantic, as if five Leviathans were supposed to fit with room to spare. It fell down in front of them and they saw a sight to behold. It was a Black Dragon.

    It had eight horns that curved backward and it had white runes that permanently glowed on them. It¡¯s eyes were red with white pupils and the pupils were in the shape of slits. In its open mouth, it held hundreds of teeth as large as a man. It also had two forked tongues on either side of its mouth licking the air.

    There were four wings in its back that were much larger than a regular dragon¡¯s. There were spikes on its back like a stegosaurus and it had a tail that ended like a flat and wide blade.

    It had a body much larger than that of the rank 4 Hierarch Dragon Rune had faced before. Rune turned to look at Rouna.

    ¡°That is a Hierarch Dragon, right?¡±

    The gargantuan dragon spoke to the three of them in their minds. His voice was brimming with confidence and narcissism that reminded Rune of Brann, the Aymren village blacksmith.

    <The most mighty and great Hyprion has arrived!! He has come to end your miserable lives, you peons!!>

    Rune glared at him and cracked his neck twice while doing the same to his knuckles. He put his trench knife in one of the sheaths that Sophia had made for him. Then he tightened his grip on his katana and pulled out an assault rifle.

    The Hierarch Dragon suddenly sneezed due to all the dust particles in the air and they all ducked as a spray of acid flew overhead. They turned to see where it landed and they could see their only escape, the staircase, was now burning up and was turning into a puddle of grey liquid.

    Rouna and Rena paled as they saw the sight and Rune looked back at the dragon. He readied his katana and pointed the assault rifle at the dragon.

    Obviously, he didn¡¯t want to die as most also did not want to, but he also wanted power. He had won against other Hierarch Dragons before, but they all paled in comparison to the one before him now. However, he still wanted its power and he took a step forward.

    Rena, who was now shaking, was reaching out a tentative hand towards Rune and was chattering her teeth. She was scared and was trying to shake her head at him.

    Rune moved out of her trembling reach and slowly walked to the dragon. The dragon looked down and scoffed. The look on its face was like someone fighting an inferior being or something of the sort as its head was that of a dragon.

    <Are you the enemy of the fearsome Hyprion?!! What a small, insolent creature you are, peasant!!!>

    It laughed through telepathy and the sound rumbled throughout their minds. It was like someone growling and coughing at the same time. He moved an arm to his mouth and pretended to cough.

    <So¡­ Would the little insect before Hyprion like to fight Hyprion?!!!>

    Rune promptly stabbed his eye. It was a clean in and out scenario and the katana found its way into it quite easily. The dragon became acutely aware of the situation and yelled in pain.

    <You FOOL!!!! INSECT!!!!! BUG!!!!! PREY!!!! EASY-PICKINGS!!!!! HYPRION WILL END YOUR PATHETIC LIFE WITH ONE SWIPE OF HIS FEROCIOUS CLAWS!!!!>

    He was yelling loudly as Rune stepped back. With his one good eye, he looked at Rune and swiped with his claws. However, he now lacked depth perception and he missed by several feet and ended up burying his claw in some rocks. His other arm was clutching his face.

    Then he became surprised as he stopped moving for a moment and he stopped clutching his eye. Then he covered it once again and roared in fury.

    <WHY CAN¡¯T I REGENERATE!!!!!!?????>

    It stepped back and Rune looked down at his blade. He had imbued it with [Dispel Magic] and was glad that he did so. It also had vibration and was coated in a thin layer of powder that would appear on the blade when it lost it. The powder was also imbued with [Dispel Magic], but also had an effect to increase pain and to weaken the opponent. The powder was inside the dragon¡¯s eyeball at the moment and a new layer was slowly forming over the blade.

    The dragon¡¯s regeneration was a type of magic that is rare even among healing magic. It is known as [Instant Regeneration], but can only be cast as a magic and cannot heal scars or permanent features. However, it can regrow limbs and restore parts of the body that had been lost. It could even heal the psyche of a being, but the powder was far too close to the brain for it to heal its mind.

    Of course, it was suffering from losing its eye and it was freaking out. What made things worse was that it couldn¡¯t use its regeneration and the pain made it go even more insane. However, he wouldn¡¯t grow completely insane for it was just a lot of pain that he wasn¡¯t used to.

    Rune quickly jumped on him and tried to pierce his other eye, but the dragon quickly swiped at him. The attack struck his arm and it started to smoke. He leapt away from the dragon and tugged it off and chucked far away from him where it melted into a small puddle.

    The dragon was now glaring ar Rune and Rune could only think of three more ways to kill the dragon. Of course, they were all risky enough that he would likely die, but he didn¡¯t have much of a choice now. It was kill or be killed in this situation.

    Rune glared right back at the dragon and started to run at him. He started using skills like [Protection], [Physical Enhancement], and [Vajra] and jumped at the dragon. Bewildered by his actions, it accidently let loose a breath of acid that flew into the area that Rune used to occupy. It was still affected by its loss of depth perception.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    It snorted in frustration as it couldn¡¯t hit him and it decided to go with plan B. It opened its mouth and tried to eat Rune. It felt lucky as soon as he was swallowed and slid down its gullet. It seemed satisfied as all of its bodily fluids were extremely acidic and the stomach acid was the most. It was like hydrochloric acid except worse by about two hundred times.

    Rena looked at the dragon in despair and it seemed like Rouna had lost hope. There was very little chance that he would come out of the dragon alive. At least, not in one piece.

    That was what they thought when Rouna remembered what happened to the last dragon that swallowed him and she started to shake as it traumatized her quite a bit. Rena looked wide eyed at her and thought that she was shaking because of the terrible position they were placed in.

    Suddenly, three blades erupted from its stomach and more blades came out from all over its body. Rune stepped out and moved away from the dragon. He was in his Cursed Armor form and was slightly melted.

    He backed off from the dragon and all the blades broke from the dragon and it roared in agony. However, the wounds closed until they were small wounds and they didn¡¯t close any further. The broken blades laid about the floor and some chunks even stabbed into the ground.

    Blood still leaked from its wounds from the blades, but the eye wound had cauterized from the acidic tears it created. It touched the wounds and yelped as they cauterized as well.

    He glared at Rune even more and breathed his true breath of Acid. He aimed it at the ceiling and the black fog of death fell down around them. Rune grabbed hold of the other two and teleported to Sophia.

    <hr>

    ¡°Ahh!!¡±

    ¡°What happened!!??¡±

    Rena and Rouna screamed in surprise as they found themselves in the Warehouse in the Manticore city. Sophia and the rest of the group were startled when they found the three of them around them.

    ¡°Get ready for a powerful Black Dragon!! Get the weapons and the ready yourselves.¡±

    Ogyi was near him and tapped on his armor. Rune quickly turned to him with a anger as he hadn¡¯t killed Hyprion and Ogyi stepped back in fear.

    ¡°Ha-have you found my father? He had an obsidian tail to replace the one he lost¡­¡±

    I messed up!!! Uh, what do I tell him? That I killed his father and that there is no body to bury??

    Rune sighed and put his hand on Ogyi.

    ¡°That dragon he turned your father into a monster and killed him. I want to get revenge for you.¡±

    He started bawling, but nodded as he understood that they had a good chance at getting revenge.

    ¡°So! I think that the-¡±

    He was cut off by a loud rumbling and the ground shook. Everybody except Rune and Rouna fell down and became sprawled on the floor. Rune ran out of the building as they were on the first floor and pulled out his hovering platform.

    He rose off the ground and Rouna flew up with her wings. As they looked, they saw the capital building, crushed and turned into rubble. A dragon, proud and mighty, stodd over the rubble and it roared as it blew a cloud of blackness into the air.

    Rune had to do something, quickly, or else he and everyone else would die. Quickly, Rune flew with his platform and threw his shield at the breath coming from its mouth. Then Rune quickly cast [Dispel Magic] dozens of times before he was able to stop the black smoke.

    The shield flew in front of the dragon and the black acid was absorbed in the shield and reflected back as purple flames. It flew inside the dragon¡¯s mouth and it gagged. Rune jumped off of his platform and reached out.

    He grabbed the shield out of the air and held it downwards as he went with the fire into the gullet once again. As he did so, he activated all his skills once again.

    During the first time, it smelled terrible and the walls of the esophagus was slimy and warm. He took out some knives imbued with auto repair and dispel magic. Then he shoved them into the slimy walls and he could feel a vibration before he heard a roar from above.

    He had put in about twenty knives in the throat before he had reached the stomach. After every knife, he slid faster to the stomach acid that awaited him below. This was due to all the acidic blood pouring from the internal wounds.

    Rune finally landed inside the stomach again. Before, he had been met with nothing but acid that started to melt him even with his active skills, but now there were stones and bones floating in the murky fluid. He had used the shield as a landing platform and it immediately blew out flames the second it touched the acid.

    The shield absorbed a large amount of stomach acid, put the pool of it did not decrease. Instead, the shield started to melt and, when it did, it exploded in a blaze of heat and flames as Rune jumped into a floating chunk of rock.

    He took out his assault rifle and looked through the enchantments he could give it. The enchantments were just his magic and the no elemental attribute magic like sharp.

    However, he felt like he would be able to do something more about it. He carefully added dispel magic, then started pumping in three spells to see if they would work. One was his [Enchant All] to enchant the bullets that passed through its muzzle, the second was [Eldritch Blast] to send out beams of focused energy at an enemy, and the last item was [Unholy Smite] to make the bullets become able to crush foes underneath an attack of darkness and heavy gravity.

    Then he tried something he only did twice before, but failed to do both times. This magic was now level 3 and he had nothing else to turn to. He used [Create Cursed Weapon] with the assault rifle as the catalyst.

    Due to the weapon being completely understood by Rune and what it does, the skill was a complete success. The reason being that the other two times he had only used weapons which he had not created and it seemed that, for this to work, he needed to have made the weapon himself.

    The weapon grew more powerful and its enchantments became stronger than before. Rune felt like resonated with the weapon as soon as he cast it and it was like an extension of his body. It cast off a dangerous aura that was similar to Rune¡¯s when he was angry at those who attacked him.

    A sense of malicious bloodlust could be felt by the weapon to all except Rune and those who he knew on a personal level, friends and family. This weapon was almost as powerful as the legendary weapons of old.

    He plucked out a cartridge of light bullets from his storage and placed it inside the gun. He turned off the safety, as a gun should always have, and pointed it at the stomach walls. The fleshy insides were a dark pinkish color and was leaking some mucus that, when it touched something, burned objects.

    He fired the gun and a beam of light and darkness shot out of the muzzle. It flew straight and pierced through the dragon¡¯s innards, muscles, fat, and even its scales.

    He fired off fourteen more shots before he reloaded and he saw that the fifteen holes were much larger than regular bullet holes. They were like the size of dinner plates or even large platters. He could see outside the dragon and he even heard it crying in pain.

    The stomach acid was leaking from the holes and blood streamed in from all the wounds. The murky liquid below him was now a dark red color.

    He reloaded and fired off fifteen more shots towards the esophagus and the dragon¡¯s cry could be heard no more. The esophagus was in ruins and chunks of meat were floating about the blood that was also draining.

    The stone piece he was on floated towards a hole slowly and it fell out of the beast. Rune hopped off of it to see the dragon lying in the rubble as he was broken. His vocal cords mangled and his brain in tatters. His heart was not beating and the life in his eyes had vanished completely.

    Rune surveyed the damage and he saw the rebel kids around the dragon and looking at Rune. Quickly, he looked about and saw that he had shot eight houses and there were large holes in the sand around them.

    He wiped his forehead that didn¡¯t have any sweat. He thought that he may have shot the children and that would not have been good for his reputation.

 Chapter 34: A Short Return Part I

    Rune sighed as he looked at the corpse. It was crushing about three houses and some of the road and was too large for Rune to store. Apparently, it was ¡°larger than storage slot¡± and he had to absorb it.

    At the very least, he was able to store several scales, several teeth, and one eye. On closer examination, the eye he got was the one that wasn¡¯t pierced by him and had a pentagram as the pupil shape. The pentagram was white with a black outline while the whites of its eyes were actually blood red.

    The way he had taken them out was gruesome as it was, but they also dripped acidic fluids as he did so and he had to use some protection skills to take them out. The poison effect stayed in the body and they burned a lot of the sand. In fact, Rune had to quickly absorb the body before it melted a hole for it to fall through in the sand.

    Rouna had seen him take it out and put it in his hand and she told him something important about it.

    ¡°Was that a magic eye?! Only some of the Hierarch dragons carry them! Apparently, the things that this dragon was doing was indeed special even if he was just one dragon with a village of Manticore people! I wonder what he was doing?!¡±

    ¡°Do you think it had something to do with those Water Weirds or whatever?¡±

    ¡°Ah!! Yes!! Precisely!! That must be it!! Otherwise, what else would he be doing?!¡±

    ¡°How am I supposed to know. Anyway, what am I supposed to do with this eye? Gouge out my own and modify this to fit?¡±

    ¡°Eww! No! That sounds disgusting!! Why would you think that?¡±

    ¡°Well, it is a magic eye¡­¡±

    He stressed the word ¡°is¡± and ¡°magic¡±. Then he looked at the eye in hand and turned it to look over the eye. He had never seen an eye so strange looking and it was much larger than his head. He considered shrinking it, but he didn¡¯t know of a magic that would do so.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you do that thing where you absorb something and gain its powers?¡±

    He shrugged and absorbed it. He only had to touch something to devour it with his Gluttony¡¯s Chosen title. He felt an immense power go inside of him and a sudden pain in his right eye.

    ¡°Oh!! Ow!! That¡¯s my dominant eye!!¡±

    He didn¡¯t bother clutching it though because he didn¡¯t want to be seen as someone with eighth grader disease, even if it didn¡¯t exist in this world... yet. He just stood and flinched a little when he felt it.

    Then his vision blurred in his right eye and he felt strange.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you try pouring magic through it?¡±

    He did so, but didn¡¯t feel anything. He tried again and nothing happened.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think anything is happening.¡±

    ¡°What abilities did the dragon have?¡±

    ¡°Acidic bodily fluids, bad breath, and healing.¡±

    ¡°Than it¡¯s probably healing. Try cutting yourself.¡±

    He took out his trench knife and cut his finger a bit. Then he activated the eye and it healed instantly. The blood flowed back into his finger and the wound disappeared. He felt accomplished with this.

    ¡°Nice.¡±

    He muttered under his breath and put his trench knife back in its sheath. His assault rifle was slung over his shoulder and he had a pouch on the right side of his belt that carried the ammunition.

    Then he and Rouna walked to the crowd that was stirring and people were holding their heads. They groaned in pain and their eyes opened suddenly.

    Every single one of them rushed over to Rune and Rouna and they started speaking.

    ¡°Thanks!!!¡±

    ¡°You saved us!!!¡±

    ¡°That fake god was terrible!!!¡±

    ¡°He killed Frank!!!¡±

    ¡°He did??!!?!¡±

    They were praising his abilities and welcomed him and his group as guests. Ogyi was where the acidic blood was and had kneeled in front of it. Tears streamed down his face as he prayed that his father would be well in the afterlife.

    Rune put his hand on Ogyi¡¯s shoulder and Ogyi looked up at him. Of course, as a fourteen year old teenager, he didn¡¯t hug Rune, but he put out his hand to shake it. Rune did so and looked around.

    ¡°So¡­ Who is going to be the village chief?¡±

    Everyone turned to him and remembered that the capital building was destroyed which also them to think that everyone in the building was already dead which they were.

    As a group decision, the village decided to mourn everyone they had lost since the dragon had arrived, but they wanted to do it the next morning. For now, they wanted a feast.

    It was already the middle of the night and Rune turned back into his human form. When Sophia saw him, she asked what happened to his eye and the strange aura behind him.

    He explained the Cursed Assault Rifle and the magic eye. Then he stored his gun and knife and put on his regular clothes again as they had been replaced by armor. It was quite a hassle to do that every time he changed back into a humanoid, but he wasn¡¯t precise enough to pull out clothes from his storage and immediately have them on his body.

    Then the two of them headed off to bed as they were tired from the events of the day. Rouna retired to Elisa¡¯s lap again and Riika had slept through the entire thing for she was too tired manning the radio.

    Sadly, the shield and the hovering platform were destroyed by the acid of the dragon. Rune decided to make something much better than before and wanted to do it at the lab.

    <hr>

    The feast was in the morning when everyone in the village was awake. The food had been partially prepared the night before, but was completed now. Rune and his group ate until they were full and talked to the village people about the new chief.

    It was still to be decided.

    The feast consisted of tasty monster meat that was covered in a tasty sauce. There were boar-like monster sausages and some steaks and meat kebabs. The vegetables were quite lacking, but they made it up with some sweets.

    There was some bread that had a sweet, blue filling that tasted like sweet berries and everyone in the group except Rune, Nacht, and Lacht were surprised. The latter two had tasted it before, but still ate a lot of it and Rune had tasted something sweeter on Earth, but also ate a lot since he hadn''t found any decent sweets in Arborea until now.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Afterwards, Nacht and Lacht were teleported back to their village and stayed in Rune¡¯s party in case he needed to teleport back, but he also had the ship just in case. Then, Rune placed a protective barrier around the ship and took everyone who was on that ship during the ride to Hell¡¯s Gate back to the school.

    The barrier was made so that only Rune''s group could enter, excluding Nacht and Lacht, and he also set up some defenses. The defenses were made up of some floating spears and shields that would attack anyone who stole or damaged anything on the ship.

    Rune popped back into existence right in front of the mansion and several maids jumped at the sight of the group. They were welcomed back by the students who were passing by and Roxana leaped from the mansion porch onto Rune and he patted her on the head. Then Roxana hugged Sophia.

    One of the maids walked up to Rune and handed him two bags. They were quite heavy and it was a mystery how she was able to carry both in one hand. There was also an envelope that was designated for Rune.

    He pocketed the letter and took a peek in the two bags. He was happily surprised to find that both of them were filled with money. One had 1650 gold coins and the other had 20 platinum coins. He stored both of them in his storage as soon as he saw the contents.

    The classes had gone well enough while Rune and Sophia were gone. They basically had to study from the books the Bastets had created for them. They were textbooks that just had words and some pictures and were much more boring than their teachers.

    Some girls tried to hug Rune under the cover of welcoming him back, but they ended up just waving due to Sophia¡¯s cold smile. Lisbeth reported that nothing was out of the ordinary and Rune walked to the lab.

    He found Kelly and Jared working on the other side of the room and they joked about how long it had been since they last saw each other.

    Since their bodies moved at the pace of the outside world, they only grew hungry during outside meal times and needed to use the bathroom rarely. They had been in the lab for quite a long time. Since 12 seconds equaled a day in the lab, they felt about 6,000 days go by which would be much more if they stayed in 24 hours a day. They took regular breaks and played around in the lab. They slept, ate, and went to the bathroom during usual times outside of the room, but their sense of days were messed up. For example, they wouldn¡¯t feel hungry if several days passed in the lab, but they would feel hungry after several hours outside of the lab.

    The time distortion worked by using the pocket dimension with the lab become able to only allow the soul and materials to go in and out. The physical bodies were still with them, but the pocket dimension lab made the bodies work at the time of the outside world or real world. Thus, after about 2.5 years in the lab, they felt hungry.

    Also, it wasn¡¯t problematic for one to stay in the lab for one day in the real world or 172,800 days in the lab. The mind was not affected unless someone grew smarter in the lab. The lab¡¯s only downside was that their perception of time would be messed up quite badly and, since the lab had no windows, their eyes would strain for a little bit in the sunlight. This was due to the mind forgetting what the sun felt like on the skin and eyes.

    Rune believed that he would go crazy if he stayed in there for more than a year at a time and he wasn''t convinced that the two of them were fine. They didn''t have any dark bags under their eyes and were getting along with each other better than ever. It was strange because most couples would fall in ruin if they were together for so long. It just showed how much the two loved each other. Of course, Sophia and Rune could stand it with each other, but they would likely become bored of the things in the lab if they stayed too long.

    During that time, they had created many different things and Rune let them off the hook for a week after he saw that. Apparently, Tyler had some strange ideas.

    There were automatons lined up on one side of the room and there were now three floors with the two upper ones having rectangular holes in the middle of them to see what was going on up there. There were two staircases for each floor and the room had gotten taller.

    There were about 20 automatons who consisted of 10 female and 10 male forms. There were several missiles pushed against the side of the room that were next to a metal box that was labeled ¡°Grenades¡±. On the second floor, there were different tables with tools strewn across the room. It looked like they were working on some sort of melee device. The third floor had shelves and racks of ranged weaponry.

    There were different types of weapons such as different assault rifles, rifles, submachine guns, pistols, grenade launchers, rocket launchers, flamethrowers, and such. Rune turned around in the center of the room and took it all in.

    ¡°This is all amazing!!! How did you do all this?!!?¡±

    Jared answered as he moved down the stairs from the second floor he was working at.

    ¡°It¡¯s been, like, 16 years here.¡±

    ¡°How did you guys spend 16 years!?!? Wouldn¡¯t you go insane?!?!¡±

    ¡°Yes. One normally would, but our bodies kept our thoughts in order and we were able to push past our limits!!!¡±

    Rune face palmed then took a look at the room as he made his way to the third floor. It was amazing with all the technology that was around the room.

    ¡°We have created automatons that are able to take in a soul to maneuver it around like Cursed Armor. As long as someone wears the corresponding necklace, then they would be able to do so.

    On the second floor, we have been starting production on the project known as Project Glacier. It uses Ice magic to freeze what the projectiles touch. It will be a series and we have already developed the flamethrower version of it and a hand cannon.

    The weapons we have already created are the Monster Series, the Harbinger Series, the Horsemen Series, and many guns. In fact, we have almost finished the railguns!

    We have also developed computer systems and they are now as good as the most recent touch phone from Earth that we had. We are working on the software and the hardware is slightly hard to come by, but we should be able to make due. The security system should be more improved once this is finished.

    Tyler did say that he wanted to watch shows or something on a screen and so we have developed the recorder. It is quite large, yes, but it runs quite well. We have come up with plans to set up cell towers to allow for phone service. However, we have not yet actually made them yet and we can¡¯t find any builders who would want to do it¡­

    But we did start on the plumbing system instead of teleportation!! In fact, we will create a sewer system that utilizes the teleportation below a waterfall. The teleportation will lead to a waste conveyor belt that will make things fall into lava below, completely incinerating the waste and, in the closed environment, there will be several magic items to purify the air. It will be amazing!!¡±

    ¡°...Sounds like you plan on making a city... You want to do that?¡±

    Kelly spoke up this time after finishing up a small project. That project was to smooth out the flaws with the phones with her soldering iron which she had created apparently. There were some minor drawbacks with the phones¡¯ interiors, but they were fixed by her. The problem was that they overheated too easily, but she added in some enchantments and increased the memory and storage of the device and how fast it could run. The enchantment was a cool down enchantment and one to increase the amount of electricity it could store.

    ¡°Yes!! Please!!¡±

    Rune nodded. Then he turned away and looked to the left and the right. He found himself a box of explosive chemicals which looked liked the safest thing in the room between the missiles and strange glowing chamber surrounded by pipes, wires, and tubes.

    There was a sign on the green glowing chamber that said, ¡°Please do not touch. You will die or get cancer and then die.¡± They were put up on all sides of the cylindrical base and the glass above it was see through.

    He sat on the box and opened up the letter he had received. It said:

    ¡°Marquis Rune Samuv,

    I am writing this letter to tell you that you have received the 150 gold coins that I, Baron Luxfreed, owes you. On top of that, His majesty has told me to inform you about a great many other things. One being that your school is greatly appreciated for helping the lower and middle classes to be able to go to school. He will provide as much support as needed to expand.

    It would be great if you took in more people within the next year and more applicants will be sent after the current school year. He said that he will send a group of students that he deems necessary to educate, but won¡¯t go to the Mage¡¯s academy or the Knighthood academy. Instead, they will go to your school that teaches both subjects and education.

    The second thing is that you are to send Elisa back to the capital and that you will be rewarded for the things you have completed. Your righteous acts will be noted and praised. You will receive compensation for it soon.

    The third thing is that I am extremely sorry for my son¡¯s attitude towards you and he will be properly punished. Please excuse this.

    Thank you,

    Baron Luxfreed¡±

    It was signed with a seal that looked especially fancy with a wolf¡¯s head and claws in the red wax it was in. Rune thought that he could use what he had just read for a new idea that he had proposed earlier. He could make the school larger and create a town around it under the guise that it was to help the school.

    He turned back towards Kelly and Jared who were holding up a clipboard and scribbling things down. They were looking at the green chamber in the lab.

    ¡°It looks like we will have the funding to create that city sooner than we thought!¡±

 Chapter 35: A Short Return Part II

    Ulf looked over the large blueprint Rune had given him. Next to him was Jared and Kelly pointing out things to Ulf. His face was just blank as he held the sheet of paper carrying the map of the new town of ALF.

    Elisa was behind the four of them sitting on a chair near the store¡¯s front door. She shifted uncomfortably as she felt nervous at this shop in which she never thought she would enter. This was since a knight usually didn¡¯t enter an architect¡¯s shop.

    It consisted of apartments which blew his mind since the houses before were just single buildings for single groups of people. Then there was a grocery store with shelves and such. Cafes and restaurants were around the town and there were general, clothing, and weapon stores around. A guild building would be placed near the school in case the students wanted to earn money nearby.

    The streets were to be made of cobblestone and there would be three fountains around the town. There would be enough space to expand as the plains that the school was on seemed endless, but it still had a limit. Although, that limit was a few hundred miles.

    Ulf scratched his head and stroked his bushy beard. Then he stopped moving for a moment, then nodded once.

    ¡°Yes. I think I can do this if you have enough money. For this scale¡­ I would say twenty five platinum.¡±

    ¡°Uh, just put it on the king¡¯s tab. Right?¡±

    He turned to speak to Elisa and she soon realized that he was talking to her. She nodded quickly before thinking about something else again.

    Ulf just sighed and handed Elisa a note. She jolted back to reality once more and read it. It said that the king owed 25 platinum coins to Ulf to help the school thrive.

    Elisa got up and left the store to go and meet with the king. Rune and the other two teleported back to the school.

    It was friday and several days had passed since then. Rune and Sophia had went out on five dates since they last came back and Rune had also been working in the lab with Kelly and Jared to work on projects and the city plan.

    In the lab, Jared had used his cheat skill, [Edit], to create multiple mechanisms to use the energy created by the chamber in the lab. Rune was surprised when he found out that it was a chamber full of mana. Mana is usually blue, but what turned it green was the electricity coursing through it.

    The electricity was generated by a mechanism above the chamber that rotated around to create friction and static. The machine, however, moved extremely fast with gravitational magic to accelerate the wheel beyond normal speeds. There were three rings that encircled around each other that went in opposite ways of each other.

    The electricity would then turn into some sort of mana infused electricity which made the power output ten times what normal electricity would create. The mana would only run out once after a couple years and, to replenish it, as much mana as a B ranked spell would be needed to fill it up to capacity.

    He decided to fill up some canisters full of the electricity that came out and, by the end of it, he had ten canisters. The canisters were small and about the size of the entire chamber of the railgun he had made.

    Jared told Rune all he needed to know about the railgun. It looked like like a magnum except it had some enhancements. There was even a safety on the canisters to not allow them to let out the electricity.

    The canisters had ten shots of energy blasts. Each shot of energy shot out faster than even lightning and the railgun was named Blitzr. The gun itself had a hammer and trigger and it made no sounds while firing. Although, it could be improved further.

    On saturday, he planned to go back to Hell¡¯s Gate with the rest of the group. He wanted to fight the Lightning Dragons that were being mind controlled by a Hierarch Dragon. Apparently, according to Rouna, this dragon forced the regular dragon¡¯s to do her bidding and that she was living better and in more comfortable conditions than the rest of them. They were like slaves.

    Roxana talked with Rune about what she had done over the time that they were gone and she waited until Rune left to talk to Sophia. She was talking about how she, Lysp, and Enya were getting along quite well and that they were the ¡°best of friends¡±.

    Indeed, the three of them were near inseparable due to how well they got along. They even progressed at the same fast rate.

    All of their magic had gotten stronger than those who were regular magic user adventurers. This was due to Lisbeth¡¯s ability to teach people well and she was a good teacher whom everyone liked and got along with.

    On the twin¡¯s birthday, which occurred when Rune and Sophia was gone, Roxana had went to Kelly and Jared to make presents. The finished product turned out to be a protective charm amulet that also conducted magic.

    Kelly had made the chain that was light, but durable and Jared had made the pendant that was hooked onto the chain. Roxana had created a small gem with some help from the two of them and they got on of the teachers to help enchant the gem. Then Roxana plopped the gem into the pendant and the finished project looked gorgeous.

    The chain was silver and glinted in the light and the pendant was gold and shined like a full moon in the night. There were two different gems. One was green for Enya and the other was blue for Lysp.

    This way, the magic they used was reinforced and more powerful. Since Enya used Healing magic, all that type of magic would be more powerful. Lysp¡¯s Water magic would also be increased. However, the no-attribute magic¡¯s power would not be increased.

    The next day, Rune teleported with the group and Roxana and Sophia were left to the mansion. It was quite lonely for the two of them as they liked Rune as much as he other, but in different senses. However, both of them had people they could talk to while he was gone and they did so.

    A construction team arrived in front of the school gates and Kelly directed them on how they would work. Since it was Saturday, no one was in school and people watched as the team worked.

    Kelly has believed that it would have gone faster if there was a time distortion placed over the area, like in the lab, but the pocket dimension could only be placed and used in a closed off area with no sunlight affecting it or windows.

    That ruled out the possibility of them being able to finish construction of the town part within a day.

    Next, Jared had the great job of going to the capital to find people that would work in the town. Of course, the town would be under the King¡¯s command and rule, but there would be free reign about the area.

    He was having a hard time finding people until he walked up to a job finding center.

    He had been walking the streets for a while. He had no luck in finding anyone interested to work in the school or in he cafes and restaurants and was hanging his head in shame.

    He shoes made a small clinking sound whenever he walked and there were very few people looking at his strange dress wear. He was currently wearing a lab coat over a black shirt and had cargo pants on him.

    It was strange for the citizens of the capital because no one had ever seen a lab coat and also the fact that he looked like a Dark Elf, which was a race that was discriminated against by many Elves. It seemed that they wanted to discriminate against him and throw insults, but an event stopped them.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    It was about a minute ago when three Wood Elf thugs came out of the shadows between buildings and held knives. They looked down at him and scoffed.

    ¡°Give us you stuff or die.¡±

    One thug spoke in a menacing tone, but Jared just stride past them as if he hadn¡¯t noticed them. The person who talked wheeled around and grabbed his shoulder.

    ¡°Oi!!¡±

    A knife was thrust at him, but, when Jared quickly blocked with his hand, it turned into dust. In fact, Jared hadn¡¯t actually disintegrated it, but edited it with his cheat skill, [Edit], which allowed him to change the shape of objects. He just happened to change the shape of the knife into something less harming.

    The thug stumbled back and Jared drew something from his holster on his hip. It was a test for the Glacier Series. Rune had taken the hand cannon gun and the flamethrower ice version as well as a great deal many other things. The thing he drew was a one handed, small double barrel shotgun.

    He aimed it at the person who didn¡¯t know what he held in his hands and he tried to hit it away with his hands. Of course, a bullet is faster than most hands and a beanbag shotgun shell exploded against his hand and another on his chest.

    Frost started to cover both areas and Jared reloaded quickly. He fired the other two shots at the next two thugs¡¯ legs and went on his merry way. The thugs weren¡¯t killed, but we frozen in the streets and they were freaking out by how cold it was.

    This was why none approached him when he had gotten to the job center. He looked up at the sun and grinned.

    Finally, he would likely find people who would work for ALF. He grabbed hold of the door and pushed it open.

    Inside, there were benches lining the walls and a counter with a table behind it. The table held thousands if not millions of sheets of paper on it.

    A beautiful girl with black glasses looked at him from behind the counter as he entered and she sighed. There were twelve people already sitting down and Jared moved to the counter.

    She looked at him and scoffed. Then she spoke.

    ¡°If yer looking fer a job, yeh best sit down. It¡¯s gonna be a while.¡±

    ¡°No. I¡¯m actually here to recruit people. I need bakers, chefs, butlers, maids, and cashiers. Maybe a secretary or two.¡±

    Her eyes lit up and she quickly jotted something down. A woman who was sitting down stood up and approached him.

    She had blond hair and was smaller than Jared. She had her hair in a French braid and had freckles on her nose. Her clothes were that of a peasant¡¯s and were different shades of brown.

    She tugged on Jared¡¯s lab coat. He turned towards him and she started to speak timidly.

    ¡°Um, if it¡¯s alright, um, could I work there? As a maid I mean. I can do it! I¡¯m sure!¡±

    ¡°Of course. Just be at the capital stables by sunset.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Anyway, can you inform people that there is now a new job that they can get into? I will wait until sunset at the capital stables. I will come back to recruit four more times on every other day.¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. But, uh, I will need to confirm your identity first. Ah, wait one sec.¡±

    Someone was calling her from the back room and she stopped writing. She rushed through a door and closed it behind her. After a moment, he heard a small shriek and he heard a thump.

    He didn¡¯t know what to do and looked around at the people around him. They were unsure as well and some even stood up, but did nothing.

    Suddenly, the door burst open and the woman with glasses came charging out. She had papers in hand and started to work on them as soon as she found her quill and ink. She spoke while she wrote at ridiculous speeds.

    ¡°Ok! Yes! Understood! The king has told us to help!¡±

    Jared made a confused face as he exited the building. He couldn¡¯t understand why the king was helping nor how he knew.

    <hr>

    Kelly was in a pavilion that they had set up quickly. The material that made up the roof was a cloth material that she had never seen before. The columns holding it up were made of crude pieces of metal.

    There was a long table under it and chairs pulled up. There were four chairs in total and she sat in one of them.

    The group had met up during the day to discuss how the city would be created and how to do it. Since Kelly, Jared, and Rune had talked to Ulf about the plan, he was there and he had sent the king a message about it.

    The king liked the idea and wanted to quickly advance it. He decided to send messages to every job hunting center and tell them the jobs and where they should go.

    Coincidentally, he also set up a wagon and carriage group at the capital¡¯s stables. People who wanted to work in ALF would get on and go travel.

    They would work on the buildings and earn money. They would also be provided a place to sleep if they finished the homes quickly enough. Then, when the city was finished, they would work in their respective buildings.

    There would also be a sleeping area for the maids and butlers for the school. The maids and butlers were to start working immediately as the school was in need of cleaning staff and serving staff.

    There was also an added building to the plans so that there would be a stable to keep animals and carriages. So far, this would be the beginning of the first portion of the city known as ALF.

    Also, since alfur meant fairy in Icelandic and Alfheim is the land of the fairies in Norse mythology, people believed that this city would be a new start full of joy and happiness. When Rune was asked about it, he responded with an unsure, ¡°Uh, absolutely. That was totally the reason I named it ALF¡­¡±

    Of course, he only named it ALF due to the Academy of Learning and Fighting. He didn¡¯t really think much past that. When he learned of it, he praised himself for naming it that unawarely.

    In the future, it would be a city renowned for its school system and how technologically advanced it was. Rune had understood the value of learning in this medieval world of Arborea. He also understood how useful technology from Earth was and wanted to utilize it for himself.

    Kelly sat with Ulf and two other people. Around the table, Enya, Lysp, and Roxana were playing tag and running around the place. They looked like they were having the time of their life when doing so and Ulf smiled.

    ¡°If I could, I would like to have an engagement for Lysp and Roxana¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Nothing.¡±

    Ulf was jolted into reality and understood that he said his comment out loud. However, he was unsure of whether or not Kelly had heard him.

    ¡°You would have to get both children and Rune to accept.¡±

    She had heard him and put on a look of being relaxed. She wanted to sleep or play video games, but the time and place would not allow for both. She couldn¡¯t sleep right now because she had work to do and she couldn¡¯t play video games because they weren¡¯t invented, or reinvented, yet.

    There were hundreds of stacks of stone and wood around the pavilion and people were already starting to work on the houses. They would need to work on the houses and apartments as a priority first, then the roads.

    People needed a place to sleep and have shelter in. The next thing to have would be the restaurants or grocery stores so that people could eat.

    There would be a designated area for a farm, but that would be in an area separate from the rest of the town and it would automatically produce crops with the help of the farming tools that could move on their own.

    Of course, there was already a farming area and they just planned to expand that. They also planned to take the already existing forge in the school and move it outside of it, but still close. That way, they could expand it and students could go there as well.

    As a replacement, there would be a greenhouse for botany. It wouldn¡¯t be too big, but large enough to fit an entire class of kids.

    The forge would be moved with the large hovering platform that the school had. It would finally get its debut after not being able to move that Lightning Dragon.

    Kelly was talking through the plans with the workers who had been gathered by Ulf already. They were competent workers who understood how to carry through with plans.

    Within a day, the group of builders and workers had completed the lower half of an apartment building using potion effects that Sophia had given them. They were haste, efficiency, and strength potions.

    The half they had built consisted of the main lobby and four more floors with two apartments each. Each apartment was large enough to fill a family of ten and still have some room left over. There were three bedroom rooms in each as well as a kitchen mixed with a dining area and two rooms where the people living there could do anything to. Next to the master bedroom was a balcon where one could see the sun setting and it looked quite beautiful.

    To get up, they were planning on installing an elevator that used gravity magic as well as the stairs that were already built. There was even a fire escape on the balconies.

    To help, Kelly had used her tools to build a steel frame for the entire structure and, by the end of the day, she had built five different structure frames. They were all for apartments.

    She used her skill, [Channel] to guide people with directions and had also made a large groove in the ground for a street. The streets were going to be like those in New York City. Rune had planned to have a cross cross of road systems that were parallel and perpendicular with each other.

    The roads were to be made of cobblestone and there would be lamps that used Light magic on the sides of the roads placed periodically. The sidewalks would be made with a type of cement that Ulf knew how to make and it would be made into many rectangles that were the same size so that the sidewalks would be even.

 Chapter 36: A Small Bit Civil War

    Rune was now at the ship at Hell¡¯s Gate in Nerys. He and his group had teleported back, but, since it was so far away and since it was an area of uncertainty, they teleported several floors in the air above the ocean.

    In the distance, they could see the ship¡¯s mast and flag as it rose up out of the distance. They were far too far from the shore and water filled up the entire area. There were dark clouds above them and several people flailed about as they soon realized that they were falling.

    Under them, the water rippled and churned around. Teeth rose up from the water and spun round in circles in a clockwise rotation. Then a second set of teeth appeared within the first and rotated faster than the first in a counterclockwise rotation.

    Red eyes appeared under the murky surface besides the mouth. They were four eyes all the same distance from each other. The four eyes were placed on the four sides around the mouth and they were looking straight at the group.

    There was something in the exact center of its mouth. It looked like a snake and it reached up out of the water several meters to try and intercept the group while they fell. It was grey and had a strange stinger on the tip. It wiggled around like a fish out of the sea, but it kept trying to go upwards towards the group.

    Rune quickly reached forth and pulled out a new platform that he had made when he went back to the school. This time, it had all the functions of the last, invisibility and flying, but it could also create a protective barrier and had auto repair.

    The platform was hexagonal and had six spikes, one on each vertex. They were each ruby colored with two gems of black and green color. The green was for Healing those on the platform, but only those deemed friendly by Rune for he didn¡¯t want any unwanted people being healed. The black color was to affect the protective barrier. If the barrier was deployed, then the black gem would affect it with a dispel magic barrier around it that doesn¡¯t affect those standing on it that the user deemed friendly.

    This way, the people who are on Rune¡¯s side, could stand on the platform and heal while not being affected by spells weaker than the barrier. If there was a spell stronger than the barrier, it would likely break in a couple more spells afterwards, but it wasn¡¯t affected by any weaker spell. Not unless the spell was dispel magic on par with the barrier¡¯s strength or it was destruction magic on par with the barrier.

    Rouna, Elisa, Erin, Rena, Riika, and Hika landed on the platform with the large radio. They hadn¡¯t fell too far at that point and the radio was practically undamaged. Riika sprawled on the platform and quickly sat up. Rouna had taken out her wings and slowly descended down to the platform. The rest landed gracefully.

    Elisa was fetched from the palace as she was writing a very detailed report of the events that had occurred. Rune appeared in front of her and she fell out of her chair. Several maids around her had almost shrieked when they saw the blue light and Rune pop out of it.

    Elisa quickly hushed the maids and got up. Her report was messed up due to the quill and the ink on it splattering over the whole paper.

    ¡°What do you want now?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m leaving. I think you have to come, am I right?¡±

    She sighed a deep breath. She was currently wearing some casual clothes which looked like a loose gown. When she breathed out, Rune could see her chest fall and rise again when she breathed back in. She tilted her head to the ceiling and held her head.

    Then she turned back towards Rune and started to speak in a sad and depressed tone. She was thinking that Rouna would do something to her again during the trip.

    ¡°Haaaahhh¡­ Yes. I have to go¡­¡±

    And so, Rune dragged her along on the trip, but at least she wasn¡¯t a stowaway now. Rune was now aware of her presence being brought to Hell¡¯s Gate.

    The monster below them was still rotating and Rune was still falling. He got closer and closer until he reached the snake like thing.

    When he had absorbed the Black Dragon, he had gained the ability to shapeshift into a Black Dragon and all of his Dragon forms could now transform from an Ancient Dragon to a Hierarch Dragon. Although unaware of it, those Hierarch Dragon froms were rank 3.

    His White Dragon form now had six horns all curved towards the front and had permanent black glowing runes on them. Since he had gained a magic right eye, his right eye had a pentagram on it with black runes around it and the whites of his eyes were white. The pentagram itself was a light blue.

    His wings were longer and he gained a longer wingspan than before. There were also two claws on each wings now so he could attack with them. Also, the thin wing parts could fold up into the thicker muscle parts that they were connected to.

    He had gained a hide like a shield that had chinks in it and partially layered on top of each other. There were about thirty larges parts making it up.

    His White Dragon body had grown longer and more snake like, but still kept the western dragon feel. He also grew wider, but not wide enough for him to look overweight or disproportionate. However, his tail was now longer than his body and those chinked hide layers on his tail. Each layer of those scales were hard and durable enough to deflect any and all magic lower than C rank.

    In that state, he had resistance to Ice magic and cold damage on top of his immunities that he already had. Although, when he absorbed the Black Dragon and the Blue Dragon, he hadn¡¯t gained their resistances or immunities.

    His head was in a more defined shape that was like a trapezoid that had the smaller base on the top. He now had two layer of fangs on both top and bottom of his jaws and they each carried a frostbite effect. His claws carried the same effect and his bodily fluids while a White Dragon were colder than ice.

    He transformed into it not knowing that it was different and he had a slight spasm when he tried to move his wings. He invoked [Physical Enhancement] and quickly tested out several movements before he touched the dark ocean with the monsters lurking inside.

    He made a gigantic splash as he landed next to the creature and not in it. The creature was much larger than him and it was like putting a cat next to an adult man. The spectators above watched as Rune swam in the waters and disappeared from sight. Then, the water around the monster became a reddish color and a hue of dark red infected the surrounding area.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    One of its eyes stopped glowing and the snake like thing that was likely its tongue moved more slowly. A moment passed and another eye stopped glowing. The layers of fangs shuddered as more blood entered the water. The third eye went out and the mouth started to close and the tongue snake thing wiggled about lazily as blood filled the area for several meters.

    When the last eye went out, it started to sink and the mouth closed, cutting the snake tongue off. Then it vanished and all that remained was the snake tongue which sank to the bottom of the ocean. The rest of it that had vanished, Rune had absorbed and a torrent of water came crashing into the now empty space. What the storage did was take out the object being absorbed and didn¡¯t replace it with anything. Not even air. Instead, air and water or whatever was near had to fill up that place in its stead.

    The White Dragon form that he had turned into surfaced in the red ocean and he gallantly rose from the sea after he had slayed the beast. At this point, he turned level 30 as the creatures in the ocean near Hell¡¯s Gate were much harder to kill than those on Hell¡¯s Gate and the ones in the sea gave much more experience points.

    He gained a new skill from the Dark Paladin job and it was a magic called [Sinful Darkness] which allowed Rune to create a low hanging fog that was black. That black fog would be inhaled and would damage someone from the inside and would weaken them and cut their internal organs as if the fog were broken glass.

    Also, for Rune¡¯s job of Death¡¯s Hand, he needed to kill at least 5,000 beings before it was completed. The completion of jobs would allow the skills and magic that one gained through it to be stronger, even if the max level for jobs was 5. It would also allow the user to gain the job choice of being able to unlock another job that was related to the completed ones, but much more powerful. Such as a Mage turning into an Archmage. The only maxed out job he had was Enchanter.

    He flew up to the platform and turned back into a Human. He was soaking wet and started to use [Water Control] and the water on his flowed out and landed in the water below. Then he stood in the center of the platform and looked at the ship that was quite far away.

    The platform shook for a little bit before moving as this was its second time moving with people on it. It was also much larger than before and Rune wasn¡¯t sure how much the weight limit was, but it seemed fine as it glided over the ocean. The first time was when he first created it and he hopped on only to find that it was much faster than before and he had to compensate for it with accurate driving. When doing so, he was able to get a hang of it after three days inside the lab and he was exhausted afterwards.

    The platform moved at a steady pace towards the large and grand ship that was anchored to the port of Nerys. Before, it wasn¡¯t anchored at port due to the many unknowns surrounding the people, but it was anchored when they found out that the people there were good and trustworthy, despite fighting amongst each other with the Weiss and the Dunes.

    When they reached the port, they found that there were two groups of people on the docks. They were yelling at each other and there were three people in the middle of the two trying to stop the conflict. They were Nya, Mya, and Henry.

    Nacht and Lacht were at the front of their parties, the Dunes and the Weiss, and they were glaring at each other while spouting out the same words at each other. On the left side of the ship were the Dunes with their sand colored fur and hair. On the right side of the ship were the Weiss with their white as snow hair and fur.

    Both sides surged up and down like small tides that tried to egg each other on. When both sides caught sight of the platform and the group that was on it, they turned to look in awe as if a deity had descended.

    The moved towards them on the docks as far as they could without falling into the water below and Nacht and Lacht were at the front of it all. They waited until Rune landed the platform and the two rushed at him.

    ¡°Whose side is better? The Weiss or the Dunes?!¡±

    They both spoke in unison as Rune had barely any idea of what was transpiring. Rune took a look at both sides, one at a time.

    First, he looked at the Dunes who had sand colored hair and fur and wings. They made up the agricultural part and the merchant parts of the town. Although, some Weiss were found to be in those job sectors as well. They were ready to get their hands dirty to do what was necessary.

    The Weiss had snow white hair and fur and wings. They handled the shops and the cafes and restaurants. There were some Dunes found in this job sector, but just a few. They didn¡¯t like getting their hands dirty and preferred clean workspaces.

    Both the Dunes and Weiss held jobs in the government area and they constantly opposed each other. However, there were many Dunes and Weiss who got along with each other just fine and they didn¡¯t like to argue with the other.

    Both sides were quite similar in their own ways and different in others. The different genes affected their personalities most of the time and thus why they were differently wired than the other. Mya and Nya had no problem with the other as they were both each other, but also different. They understood what one did and why they did so and they spoke in a unity unfound before.

    Since Nya and Mya were the ancestors of Nacht and Lacht, the two leaders of Nerys also gained the same ability to speak in unity, although a hassle and a pain. They often expressed different opinions differently, but, when talking about the same subject, they spoke the same sentence at the same time. At first, they were scared of it as they were twins, but they soon realized that it was a part of them and that, however annoying, they had to live with it.

    The only reason why the Dunes and the Weiss were fighting was due to an event several hundred years ago when a Weiss and a Dune, since they are both Sphinxes, but their fur color determined subspecies, argued about the best way to handle trading with other cities, towns, and villages.

    One, the Dune, wanted to go there and set up a wandering trade caravan while the other, the Weiss, wanted to create stores that were nice and neat and stayed in one spot. The two disagreed and they soon had Sphinxes to back up both sides and, since the genes of the different colors affected thinking and personality a small bit, the Dune had Dune supporters and the opposing Weiss had Weiss supporters. The two sides fought against each other and, soon enough, no one knew why they were fighting and they thought it was something about the other trying to take full control of the government.

    Rune had no idea of any of this though and he looked back and forth between the opposing sides. They all waited in anticipation at what he was going to say.

    ¡°Why is one better than the other? Aren¡¯t you guys basically the same? I mean, you live together and do the same type of jobs as one another and some of you guys aren¡¯t here because neither side is more important than the other.¡±

    He started to speak more quickly halfway through due to all the evil glares he received from both sides. However, he was not wrong in the fact that they were similar in every aspect except that of which one liked neat and organized things while the other liked to do simple and, occasionally, chaotic things.

    Neither side was right and neither side was wrong. It was all about perspective and Rune was an outsider who only knew what he had seen. Although, even as an outsider, what he had seen would be counted as the truth as no one absolutely hated the other and they only had fights about how they should perform certain tasks. If they could find the middle ground, then they could move past their petty differences and see the path of greatness.

    After he said that, everyone on all sides thought about the time they spent together and how much alike they were instead of all the differences. Nacht and Lacht seemed to have made up with each other and were hugging each other while voicing their apologies.

    Rune looked at both sides and tilted his head as he was confused. In no way did he think that what he said would have this much power and he believed himself to not be a very good speaker. He was unsure of what to do now and was questioning why they were making up.

    In fact, they had made up because the root of their problems was such a petty one that they fixed it easily.

 Bonus Chapter 4: Monty Screen The Death Kiss

    Monty Screen loved his current life. In the beginning, there were problems. He couldn''t find a decent body at first as he was in a grey land. The ground was void of any life except an occasional tree that moved about in the distance. He couldn''t find anything remotely good to possess even after Lathander spoke to the entire class.

    The ground was like sand, but was grey and black all around him. There were no beings about except some in the distance that moved quickly away from him as if they knew he was coming. He had gotten very depressed in the first five minutes of being sent to Arborea and was contemplating life.

    He couldn''t open up his map nor his status as he had no limbs to touch it with and he was tired of moving towards a creature that never came near him. When he first opened his eyes in this world, he only saw clouds. Dark ones that looked like the night.

    He was scared and looked about to see his friends, but could not find anyone he knew near him or, to be exact, not another living soul or being about him. He had his back turned when the grenades exploded and hadn''t known a couple "retarded delinquents" had blown up his classroom and he slightly recalled heat on his back before a sharp pain entered his head.

    He wanted to say goodbye to his family, friends, and everyone else around him. He didn''t have a lover though. He had so many regrets and wanted to voice them out in the limbo-like plain around him, but his soul did not have a mouth to do such a task.

    He stayed in place thinking when a small white thing appeared in front of him. It was circular and had ten strange tentacles sticking out from all sides. At this point, he just wanted to get in a vessel quickly as he wasn''t sure if he would die if left as a soul.

    As quickly as he could, he moved inside of the creature. He wasn''t sure what it was, but it seemed a bit on the smaller side and could fly. Perfect for flight evasion tactics. He was a high schooler who drove a car to school and was fairly confident in his controlling skills.

    He slid into the being easily and his consciousness blinked for a moment. Then he awoke in his new body and form. Quickly, he tried to move a tentacle to his stat screen to find that his tentacles were drastically different than moving a limb. It was like trying to move a limb solely on muscle and willpower alone. Inside the tentacles were just muscles and cartilage.

    After a while of trying to move his arm, he realized that he was on the ground. He tried to move upwards, but couldn''t. He didn''t know how or why he couldn''t and he desperately tried. He even waved his tentacles about as if the were wings.

    No. None of his plans nor his ideas worked. For now, he could only think of how to survive. He moved tentacle arms more slowly and precisely tapped the status button. On it, he saw that he was something known as a Death Kiss which was a less powerful variant of Beholder.

    He had one red eye that could be used to fire off lightning strikes at foes and he had teeth and small mouths at the ends of his tentacles. He could open and close the mouths at will as one would do so with their own mouth, His skin was a discolored white and red color and his eye hideous and body grotesque.

    He could barely look at himself and took a look at his skills and magic. He was able to suck blood and shoot out lightning, but one skill in particular stood out to him. [Shapeshift]. He could turn into anything that he sucked the blood from and he quickly tried to float upwards.

    When that didn''t work, he tried to move around like how he did when he was just a soul. He turned his eye in its socket upwards and willed his way forwards. He felt the sand move out from around him and he slowly moved out of the small divot he made.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    He wanted to cry out in relief as he was finally able to move around, but he could speak still. He sighed in his mind and floated high into the sky. He wasn''t using his tentacles currently and, after he floated for about a minute with his tentacles dragging behind him, the tentacles moved up and into his body. He cringed as it felt disturbing that ten unknown tentacles shoved their way into his body.

    He had been flying for a while when he found a beast below him. It was attacking someone and, when he descended, their mangled corpse remained headless and buried in the sand. It was most definitely humanoid, but he couldn¡¯t tell what type of humanoid it was as the beast carried off with its head.

    From the remains, he could make out that it was likely a female. He moved his tentacles out strangely and they latched onto her arms. He started pumping out her blood and felt disgusted by his actions. It was a humanoid like how he used to be an hour ago.

    He wanted to throw up, but, without a mouth, he could not. Thankfully, he couldn¡¯t for, if he did, then he would have been attacked by the furry creature from earlier.

    He felt himself gain more powerful and energetic and he checked his status with the maneuverability of his tentacles increasing. He gained experience from sucking out the person¡¯s blood and had also gained a form.

    His eyebrow frown as he looked at what was on his screen. It said that he could turn into a Wolf Girl. He could turn into a female and not a male? That was messed up for him, but he had no other form to turn into.

    He didn¡¯t change yet as he wanted to find some more creatures.

    He found three more creatures who were all small, frail, and weaker than he, but it was a start. They were two rats and a small six legged lizard. He found some wood that the dead woman was carrying and used it to start a fire along with his lightning skill.

    He must have seemed defenseless when he turned into a female Wolf Girl. Not only was he fragile and thin, but he was naked and basically and exhibitionist showing off his petite body.

    The body he was in seemed to be that of a petite 17 year old girl who had a pair of wolf ears on her head. The hair was a whitish and pink color that looked amazing as a hair color, but not so much for skin color. Her body didn¡¯t seem to have much muscles, but Monty could actually move his limbs well, even if that body was smaller than his original. As for the body itself, she wasn¡¯t that well endowed in the chest area.

    Personally, he liked women who were well endowed than those with smaller ones, but he could live with the current body as it didn¡¯t have two large things getting in the way of setting a fire. In fact, he skills and magic carried over from form to form and he could create lightning around his hands as well as shoot it from his eyes.

    The only problem now was that he was a cold, nude girl lying on sand with only two rats and a lizard to eat. He hoped that his life would get better from then on and it did. For the next day he transformed into a Death Kiss and moved to the meeting area where everyone was meeting up.

    After that, he had went to a village in the mountains and found that it was quite nice and peaceful. They accepted him in, even as a nude Wolf Girl who was extremely cute, and he helped them out until the next meeting point two months later.

    Then, after six more months, the village had grown and he had gotten used to living as a woman. Well¡­ kind of. Every male in the village had a slight crush on him at some point, but he rejected all of them and went for the women in the village.

    The village prospered the more he helped and he helped them when they gave him a barrel of blood to drink. He did not need food nor water, but just blood as it was a Death Kiss¡¯s only food source.

    His help entailed him defending the village, helping with creating different tools, and trading with other villages. His village was only attacked twice, but he was able to get four barrels of blood in the first attack and eight in the next.

    He had gotten one barrel of blood each time, but then gathered blood from the enemies. He downed all of them as it wasn¡¯t a matter of drinking it instead of meals, but a matter of however much he drank, the longer he lived.

    By the time he was invited to the tournament Rune was holding, he had gotten the forms of Wolf Girl, Wolf Man, Six Legged Lizard, Cat Rat, Piranha, Cat Man, Fox Girl, Sheep Man, Sheep Girl, Crystal Stag, Hill Giant, High Elf, Wilder Boar, Dark Wolf, Fluffy Rabbit, and Lurking Fish. The humanoid ones were taken from the enemies and bandits and the animals were taken from the hunted animals.

    However, even with all these forms, he decided to stay a Wolf Girl as it was fun for him to be a girl, no matter how strange it was. Also, he could get into more perverted situations without being punished.

 Chapter 37: A Large Problem

    Rune was not physically dying from the heat, but he was feeling dead inside. The heat was getting to everyone, even with the cooling devices. Rune wanted to freeze the whole desert, but decided against it as it would cause a massive amount of flooding after it melted. Also, it would be hard to drive on ice.

    The group was traveling in their two wagons to the Stormy Isles as the sun beat down on them with its evil rays of sunlight. Rune turned into Cursed Armor for a little bit, but found out that he felt way too stuffy when he did so in the sunlight.

    It was also very unfair if he didn¡¯t have to face the same punishment of heat that the others faced. When he first transformed into Cursed Armor, Rouna opened the small hatch that allowed people in the first wagon to communicate to the driver directly. She glared at him as his scent was lost when he transformed and she knew something was off.

    ¡°Turn back.¡±

    She spoke in a stern voice that made Rune, who was stronger than her, shiver a small bit before turning back. He decided to not make an enemy of his entire group before they attacked the Stormy Isles.

    As per usual, they had embarked on their journey and were taking the wagons and not the platform because they ¡°have no protection from the sun¡±. Also, they needed multiple different pieces of equipment out to radio each other and to keep them cool.

    The wagon was built with more protection than the platform as well and alerted them as to what dangers arose around them. The wagons moved easily across the sand dunes as it floated above the sand by about half of a meter.

    They were about half way there when they stopped for camp as it was getting dark and the two moons were rising. Nothing exciting had happened due to the extreme heat and no one wanting to do anything in that heat.

    The two moons shone brightly in the night sky as they set up their tents with a new material made with synthetic fibers fused with the hides of monsters. This allowed the tents to be near indestructible as the fibers used were made of some of the hardest monster hides in the Human continent.

    The poles for the three tents were made of mana infused steel that made a barrier on the tent fabrics that they were connected to. They could extend or shorten depending on what the user wanted.

    There were three tents for the seven people. Rouna and Elisa took one, Rena, Riika, and Hika took another, and Erin and Rune took the last. The one with three people had the most room for the three as well as the large radio Riika had.

    Erin was sleeping soundly and Rune was sitting on the platform above the camp in his Cursed Armor form. One leg dangled off of the floating hexagon and his other foot was flat against the smooth crystal platform.

    He was going to be the person who was to guard the people in his group and he wanted to be prepared for basically anything. His armor hadn¡¯t changed much from the usual armor made of strange materials. At least, not the look of everything except his helmet.

    His helmet now had a ¡°jaw¡± that used springs to control. There were small fangs in the ¡°jaw¡± made of mana infused dragon fangs from the Black Dragon. They had the ability to corrode that which he bit.

    His helmet also had a visor which two eyes lay behind. They were mechanical of course, but were able to rotate in their sockets and the right eye gained the effect of the Healing Magic eye. The left eye was able to see in the dark and track heat signatures.

    He had worked on this helm for a whole two months in the lab just trying to understand how the eyes could pick up heat signatures and see in the dark. That took a month and a half alone. The other half month required him to create the jaw and the eyes that could rotate.

    Inside the helm itself was a skull that used motors that moved with mana poured into them. Since a Cursed Armor¡¯s entire inner being was magic, there was no need to constantly concentrate on pouring mana in when he could do it as if he were breathing. It felt natural for him to turn his eyes and open and close his mouth.

    To change his Cursed Armor form, all he needed to do was to take off his helmet from before and fit the new helmet head onto the open space. Afterwards, all he needed to do was to transform into Cursed Armor and it would appear on him. When he turned back, the helmet head would be transferred to the storage, but nothing else would be.

    He looked around with his new eyes and saw that something small was moving towards them quite quickly. It was like a blur with his eyes that could even see in the dark and the heat.

    Since the colors of heat were warm colors like red and yellow, he figured that a creature would give off those colors, but this thing did not. It was giving off cool colors such as blue and purple.

    He knew that it was a creature due to the way it moved about. It was flying at high speeds, but was being so close to the ground that it had to maneuver its way around small areas of dried brush.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    It had tentacles dragging behind it and, when he looked with just his dark vision, he saw that it was a pale white color and looked like a squid with its ten tentacles. Underneath and behind it, he could see that it was making a trail of frozen ice as it sped its way towards them.

    Rune pulled out a Cursed Bolt Action Rifle that used the same enchantments and abilities as the Cursed Assault Rifle except that the bolt action rifle had less ammunition and more firepower. It also had enough firepower to break the Black Dragon¡¯s hide easily and then some.

    Each bullet was long and extremely aerodynamic. The rounds could fly through the air at almost mach 1, but couldn¡¯t reach and break the sound barrier just yet. This was his second most deadly type of bullet and gun.

    His most deadly was like his trench knife where he stuffed it to the brim full of enchantments. Enchantments had a limit depending on the user¡¯s skill and his skill was beyond perfect. Perfect was, for most people, four enchantments, but he was able to add up to ten enchantments into a single item and then combine the items with his fusion magic to have a single item able to have up to fifty enchantments.

    Unfortunately, this was the limit as, if he tried to fuse any more, the new item being fused would lose its enchantments. Also, another unusual effect he could use was that he could add his skills and magic into the enchantments instead of just regular enchantments such as sharp or auto repair.

    His trench knife had too many enchantments to count and it was quite deadly against any being. It even had long range so that it could slice apart enemies up to ten meters away.

    His rifle had an effect to accelerate the objects in the muzzle and it was more durable than a dragon scale as it was fused with it. The explosions in the chamber were ten times as powerful as before and everything in the gun itself would be extremely durable.

    Anything that entered the gun would be protected by a thin and powerful barrier that allowed nothing in there to get damaged. The bullets could then survive the blast forces and be launched at tremendous speeds while the user wouldn¡¯t even feel the recoil of such a force.

    He trained his gun on the mysterious being flying towards them. It got closer and closer and he soon realized something about it.

    It was semi transparent and it was shimmering in and out of existence. It looked strange as it seemed to move towards him and the tents. Then, it suddenly, as it reached the camp, dug itself into the ground and made a hole where it was.

    Rune was awfully suspicious of it and thought about whether or not he should drop a bomb in the hole. The hole was perfect for a grenade to just roll down it and explode, but Rune had no idea what it was.

    Suddenly, the earth around them shifted and a ring of sand rose around them. Suddenly, hundreds of the strange squid beings were rising up from the sand. Sand flowed off from their smooth bodies as they rose into the sky, but still kept within 1 or 2 meters from the ground.

    They tightened the circle around the group and Rune stood up on his platform. He unhooked a cylindrical device with a black grip from his belt. He pressed a button on top of it and threw up the device in his hand.

    It rotated in the air and, after it reached its highest point, it exploded. It made a loud sound as blinding white light breached the surrounding night. The squids had two eyes each on the sides of their head and they closed their eyes.

    The loud bang woke up the surrounding people in the tents. Rena and Hika were the first to pop up and out of their tents. Rena had roused Hika from her light sleep and both were sleeping with their weapons.

    Rouna was the only one who hadn¡¯t woken up and Elisa was forced to princess carry her out of the tent. Since the light was still bright and glowing, Rouna opened her eyes slowly and was greeted with the sight of Elisa holding her.

    Rouna was beginning to get extra clingy to Elisa and was even found in the palace in her living quarters. Apparently she was sleep flying and somehow, unconsciously, found her way into her bed.

    Also, for Dragons, they didn¡¯t differentiate between genders for their lovers. They only actively found the opposite gender when extinction of their entire race was near. However, that hadn¡¯t happened for about 3,000 years.

    Elisa was also warming up to Rouna, but wasn¡¯t quite ready for a lover of the same gender. She was unsure of whether she should go down the path that Rouna was leading her on or the straight path.

    Also, for the entire world, people could become lovers with the opposite gender, but it was quite rare.

    Elisa placed Rouna down and the two of them looked around at the surrounding events. The squids were starting to move around again and their eyes started to get used to the light.

    Rune was looking down upon the squid like beings with rifle in hand. He pulled back the bolt of the rifle and was now ready to fire. He fired off ten shots and reloaded.

    Eight of the shots passed right through their bodies as they shimmered and floated in the air. The other two landed right in their heads and they flopped onto the ground and stopped shimmering. Their blood flew into the air as the silver droplets gushed out from within their bodies.

    He sighed as the bullets weren¡¯t killing as many as he had hoped and he hopped down from the platform. He put his rifle over his shoulder and drew his katana. He rushed one of them and slashed it across its slimy, smooth head.

    He was about halfway through when his blade fell out of it. He hadn¡¯t been sawing at it and was just slicing with a single stroke when the blade was removed from the creature. He wanted to click his tongue, but couldn¡¯t and, with his immense speed and using [Breakneck], he slashed one hundred times, but only about twenty slashes hit.

    The good news was that it was dead it that amount of attacks and the bad news was that there were at least 300 remained. He readied his blade and used an enchantment from it known as far reach. He swung his blade at his fastest speed and it cut down thirty at once, but the rest remained unharmed.

    They suddenly all retreated, likely from Rune¡¯s attack, and they buried themselves in the sand once more. Then the sand started to float upwards and past the group and the tents.

    Rune sent everyone the same message via telepathy.

    <Group up and form defenses! Kill all of these things!!>

 Chapter 38: Another Cave

    The sand streamed and flowed past the group and they watched as the ground beneath them disappeared. The first to fall was Rena and Hika. Then Erin and Riika followed by Rouna trying to fly after Elisa.

    Rune, watching all the people around him fall, let himself be pulled by gravity. The gravity was larger than Earth¡¯s due to it being larger, but it wasn¡¯t much of a difference to the class because their vessels were already used to the gravitational strain before they had arrived.

    The entire group was swallowed by the desert sands and a huge pitfall appeared under them while the sand that used to be under them was in the sky. It was a huge sphere with some sandstone chucks and there was only darkness below.

    Rune fell alone with a katana in his hands. He was engulfed by darkness for a moment as the light above him disappeared, but cast [Light] and a small ball of light came to life in his left hand.

    He hadn¡¯t had a chance to put away his platform and didn¡¯t feel like flying up to get it. Instead, he enchanted his greaves with feather fall and waited until he reached the ground.

    He couldn¡¯t feel the temperature, but it was growing hot around him as he looked with his eye that detected heat. With his night vision, he saw that he could see Rena and Hika falling a distance away from him.

    He maneuvered in the air to make his way towards them. The air whistled around him and he could faintly make out what Rena was saying.

    She was pointing at Rune and speaking to Hika.

    ¡°I think that that¡¯s Rune!!!!¡±

    Rune reaches them and enchanted their boots with feather fall as well. He cast it just at the right time as he ground came up to meet them quite quickly.

    Rena and Hika found themselves safe as they didn¡¯t feel the brunt of the impact, but they stumbled as they had been falling for 5 minutes.

    Rune, on the other hand, was fine and had done a hero landing as it was something he wanted to do on his bucket list, but he hadn¡¯t found the right time and place.

    The sand underneath them was sharp and hard and felt like broken blades of metal. Rune wasn¡¯t affected, but Rena and Hika were and he was forced to enchant their clothes to be fortified enough to defend against the strange sand.

    The temperature around them was as hot as a sauna and would affect Erin and Rouna for they were part of the reptilian family who were cold-blooded. Even so, Rena and Hika were sweating and Rune pulled out a small cooling device to protect the two of them from the heat.

    The walls around them were made of something that looked like the sand underneath them, but it wasn¡¯t shifting around like the ones making up the floor. Instead, they were forming sharp spikes that seemed to reflect the light from the light in Rune¡¯s hand.

    Rune looked around in the dark and found that he couldn¡¯t see the rest of the group. Although he couldn¡¯t see them, he was sure that at least Rouna and Elisa were alive due to one of them being a dragon.

    He turned in a circle and saw that there were three different tunnels and, above him, there was a ceiling full of stalagtites overhead them. They looked down menacingly upon them and Rune quickly took out his shield and hooked it onto his gauntlet.

    The only way out now was to leave through a tunnel and he started to move. When Rena and Hika realized what he was doing, they moved quickly to catch up to his semi-fast pace.

    ¡°We need to first know where we are and, secondly, find the rest of the group. I think that they should be able to protect themselves, but I can¡¯t be sure. I don¡¯t know what things lurk down here, but, be sure, there will be those stupid squid things.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    They made their way down a random tunnel and walked for a minute before they started to hear some noises. Rune dispelled his [Light] and peered around the tunnel intersection¡¯s corner. His magic right eye was glowing a blue light and a white light around it, but the visor covered most of the light shining through.

    Around the corner, he saw three squid beings conversing with each other. Rune wanted to shoot them, but he didn¡¯t have a silencer as they weren¡¯t able to develop them yet. Instead, he cast [Quiet] around his gun and pointed it at them.

    He fired eight shots and two of them died. The last one was shocked and spoke in the unknown language that it had conversed in. It looked around and Rune fired the last two shots in his clip.

    They both flew through the air in such a straight line that they hit where Rune was aiming, the area between its eyes. It fell to the ground like the previous two and silver blood guzzled out like a less powerful hose.

    Rune crept up to the corpses and absorbed them. Not only did he gain some of the power from them, he also now knew that they were dead as he could still only absorb inorganic and deceased organic material. The blood disappeared around his finger tips and he also absorbed some of the strange sand as well.

    Then he realized something. He could analyze the material as it was inorganic. He picked some up and a white light shone in his palm.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    [Calamity Sand]

    [Sharp sand that is made of some strange metal alloy. When inhaled or taken in to the body, the effects are extremely harmful. They cause multiple cuts throughout the body and also sapped the strength of the inflicted.]

    ¡°Oh, dang¡­¡±

    He turned to Rena and Hika and stood back up. He walked over to them and spoke as he looked them both in the eyes one at a time.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t inhale this sand or get cut by it, right?¡±

    After a moment of silence, Rena raised her hand.

    ¡°Um¡­ I may have accidentally cut my hand on the wall¡­¡±

    Rune face palmed as he heard this. He was thinking that this was some sort of event caused by the gods. However, this wasn¡¯t caused by the gods at all, but random mishaps and a strange fate and path that no god knew about.

    Gods in Arborea or even all of the Astral Plains had no control of destiny, fate, or other important events for, if they did know, then they would surely rebel against it. Only the Fates knew of any and all fates.

    Currently, Rune was forced to try and cast [Cure] and [Heal] while he explained all he learned about the metal sand. Rena was mortified when she learned of the effects and Hika even more so.

    Rune didn¡¯t want to try and absorb or store the sand from her system as he would most definitely miss and end up taking some of her blood or worse. He handed her a small chain necklace that he forced her to don which had an automatic healing effect.

    The sand would remain in her system, but her wounds would heal as quickly as they formed. Still, whenever one cut her, which was frequently, she winced in pain. Rune didn¡¯t have any painkillers on him at the moment nor something with a similar effect.

    Rune, from the strange squid things, gained the skill [Ethereal] which allowed him to partially phase into another dimension for a minute before he had cast it again.

    This allowed him to keep his body in the material plane, but also to not allow any physical attacks affect him. This was why the squids shimmered and his attacks missed several times.

    The other dimension was something like a mirror world where people could still see, hear, and smell him, but they couldn¡¯t even touch him. This would be great due to the fact that it looked like an illusion where it was actually the real person.

    Even so, it couldn¡¯t fall through the ground, walls, or floors of anything unless it was not attached to the actual building. Since they could be both opened easily, he could also just hop through a window or walk through a door if it was less than a foot thick.

    He didn¡¯t completely understand the skill and he was currently in a rough situation, he couldn¡¯t, or rather didn¡¯t want to, use some brain power to understand it.

    In fact, he was quite tired of trying to understand every little thing in Arborea due to all the unimaginable craziness occurring around him. For example, how dragons flew when they were quite heavy or how did Beast People actually hear with their ears or even how transmutation worked in the alchemy field.

    Nevertheless, he started to walk and Hika had to help Rena walk behind him. She sometimes went into spasms of pain for several periods of time and it was miraculous how she managed to stay conscious during it all.

    Suddenly, a stalactite dropped from the ceiling and Rune, with a quick reaction speed, cut it up in front of him and it fell to become part of the ground while several chunks still remained. Rune handed Hika a shield as he motioned for them to move backwards.

    Hika raised the shield as soon as she got it and two stalactites fell down and pierced Rune¡¯s arm. At this point, he was perfectly fine, but was a bit troubled by the fact that Deadly sand would wind up in his armor by the time they exited the cavern.

    The armor now had two holes in them and he quickly picked up the pieces that fell onto the ground. Then he transmuted them back into his arm and looked up.

    There was a large holes in the ceiling above him as the two stalactites were rather large. Four eyes glowed in the dark from that hole and Rune jumped back and used [Ethereal] as he did so.

    Just after he used his skill, two knives flew through him and embedded themselves in the sand wall.

    The creature jumped onto the floor and roared with a primal rage. Rune could see that it had four eyes, two on each side of its tortoise-like head. It had an animal muzzle over its mouth and it was painted with a fanged skull design.

    Its skin was rough and leathery and was a grey color. The eyes were yellow with black slits as the pupils and there was some strange war paint around it and all over its body. It wore chains on its lower body and around its arms.

    On its hands, it had four fingers and each was clutching the same knife that was thrown through him a moment earlier. On its back, it carried a large two handed ax on its back and had a belt with three more knives.

    It looked up with its eyes at Rune and started to throw another knife while speaking in a language that Rune did not understand. Rune started to use telepathy, but, somehow, it was blocked.

    The tortoise person threw the knife and Rune grabbed it out of the air. Then he spun three hundred sixty degrees in place and chucked the projectile back at him. The knife rotated three times in a full circle before it landed and pierced the humanoid tortoise being¡¯s face

    Even with the knife in its face, the thing still moved. The knife hadn¡¯t penetrated far enough to kill it and it roared once more. Quickly, while it was roaring, Rune stabbed its mouth and also cut off its tongue at the same time with his katana.

    The katana slid into the slimy flesh on the inside of its mouth and he heard several crunches as blood and bone matter was spewing from the wounds. He had destroyed two bones from the spinal column and he saw some bones sticking out.

    Still, the being was still moving and he removed the katana as blood spilled out. Then he sheathed it and snapped off the lower jaw of the being like he was opening a book. It tore off completely and he absorbed it quickly.

    Then he reached on hand in the mouth and grabbed hold of the white material in the back of the throat sticking form the flesh. He could see the bone marrow leaking from the broken column and, as he grabbed it, more liquid poured from it.

    Rune didn¡¯t and couldn¡¯t understand how the being was still alive as it tried to reach for its ax. Using his other hand, Rune stabbed his fingers through its elbow and tore off the lower arm from the upper arm. Then, while the being was flailing around, he tore the spinal column out of the mouth and blood and a mess of flesh and blood ensued.

    He looked at the spinal column as if it was a unique item and then absorbed it. Then he did the same with the spinal columnless body. It was now dead as it died of asphyxiation and blood loss.

    He sighed in his mind and Hika breathed a sigh of relief. They headed onwards as Rune saw that the area where the being had come from caved in with the metal sand.

    The three of them moved further down the cave when they heard another sound.

 Chapter 39: A Tribe

    The sound that he heard was a drumming sound. It echoed throughout the caves and it sounded like a pattern. Four heavy drum beats followed by a light beat/

    Rena was having some trouble breathing as the sand attacked her every second it could from the inside. Hika was also getting tired of hauling Rena¡¯s body behind Rune.

    The trio moved towards the sound and they walked for several minutes before they reached a large set of double doors. They were engraved with pictures that looked like the tortoise person that he had killed several minutes before.

    He wasn¡¯t eager to kill many of them, but he wouldn¡¯t hesitate to do so if they attacked him or if they were in his way. Also, his goal was enough power to take out anything in his way, then, his highest goal, he would watch anime when it came out.

    He used his skill, [Ethereal], to pop his head through the door and he saw them. Hundreds of them. Tortoise people with different metal clothes on their bodies and were each of adult size. They walked about a village that seemed to be extremely primitive with the most inventive thing being the metal clothes that were extremely shabby.

    There were caves all about where they likely all lived and they each carried weapons of wood and metal. They seemed to snap at each other like snapping turtles, but that also seemed like the way they communicated.

    Rune hadn¡¯t gotten any skills or magic from the tortoise person he brutally murdered and then absorbed. He was also stil level 30, but now his stats were:

    Endurance Mobility Strength

    (2502)62,500 (2362)55,696 (2242)50,176

    His base stats were getting extremely hard to increase now, but he was now a cheat among cheat characters with all his skills, magic, and stats. He drew his back through to his side of the door as his minute was close to up and he stood up straight.

    Looking back at the two, he saw that Rena and Hika weren¡¯t in great shape and he sighed. Then he fireman carried both of them and hooked the shield back on his gauntlet. He turned around and started to walk.

    Unfortunately, fate didn¡¯t want him to leave unharmed. The door opened behind him and he turned his head. Three of those tortoise beings appeared in the doorway and they saw him carrying the two.

    They unhooked their greatswords from their back and held them in their hands as they readeid their combat stances. They stood with their legs apart and the blade point pointed behind them and towards the ground. They each reached towards a pocket on their pants and took out muzzles while roaring at him.

    Behind them and through the doors, Rune could see the entire village turn their heads as the three beings roared. Rune sighed once more and set the shield on the sand and set the two down on it. They watched, tired, as Rune pretended to crack his neck and knuckles as he couldn¡¯t as Cursed Armor. He stepped forward and drew a special set of equipment.

    Two new gauntlets appeared from the air and he donned them over his current gauntlets that were as thin and small as regular hands. The new gauntlets were sharper and had several blades on the sides of them which he could slice people.

    The gauntlets were made of Black Dragon scales fused with mana and orichalum. This combination made his gauntlets drip acid that could become deadlier than hydrochloric acid or something more simple, like chloroform. The acid wouldn¡¯t affect him, but it would affect anyone or anything else.

    The durability of the gauntlets added onto the auto repair enchantment made his gauntlets almost invincible. Even so, he couldn¡¯t use it all the time due to the acid affect coming from his fingers and blades on the gauntlet.

    On the tops of the gauntlets, there were small bucklers that were only made of orichalum, but were still extremely durable. In between each joint, there was chainmail covered by a black cloth material. There were also rings connected to each gauntlet finger and chains to connect those rings to part of the gauntlet¡¯s top and under the bucklers.

    Those chains on the rings could detach from the buckler end and, at the end of it, there were small blades that were shaped like mini kunai. The chains could also extend or shorten due to the user¡¯s will.

    He took a step forwards and one of the tortoise people snorted. Then it charged at him and swung overhand. Rune stepped closer to it and easily caught the swinging blade. He closed his fists further and cracks appeared where the tips of his fingers touched the blade. When he closed his grasp further as the tortoise person tried to wrench it free, the blade shattered.

    Rune took the large chunk of sword that had broken off, grabbed the being, and took it as a hostage with the broken blade against its neck. It struggled in his grasp and took a strange and peculiar option.

    It stabbed itself in the chest and blood spewed from its mouth. Then it pulled out the rest of the sword and tried to stab itself again. Before it did so, Rune stabbed the broken blade through its neck and made a small hole in which the spinal column was seen. He didn¡¯t want the being to kill itself if he could take the experience points for killing it.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    He promptly threw aside the broken blade and reached for a grasp of the white bones. He plucked it from the body as if he was picking up a pen and ripped it from its position. He absorbed it and chucked the body at the two others.

    Rena and Hika were still watching, albeit lazily, and were gazing at the strange tortoise beings as if they were exotic goods. They looked between Rune and the two other things and were cheering Rune on in their heads as they were much too tired to talk.

    One of the beings cut the body in half and Rune cringed as he saw this. He wasn¡¯t sure why it did that to, what was probably, its buddy. He noticed that it was also stupid as the small intestines wrapped around the creature¡¯s throat and it struggled to get it off. In the end, it raised the sword to its throat and was about to cut it off when Rune stopped him.

    Ruen specifically used killing it as his way of stopping the experience points from being lost. In such a situation, Rune thrust out his hand and stabbed its face with his gauntlet. Immediately, it started to smoke and it tried to shriek, but couldn¡¯t while the muzzle was on.

    Soon enough, the face was just a puddle that mixed in with the sand and its friend just watched as it died a slow, agonizingly painful death.

    Then Rune threw a punch and the last one¡¯s head was blown to smithereens as the impact dislocated its head completely, ground up the face and head, and mashed up the remaining bits to create brain fluid, blood, and skull chunks flying everywhere with the muzzle just being annihilated. Rune absorbed the remainders of the three bodies and turned his sights on the village. Luckily, there were no children in the mix as these tortoise people lived for centuries before reproducing and, even then, the children became adults by 20 years old, but Rune had no way of knowing that.

    Rune thrust his hand just a bit short of a nearby tortoise person and the chains of his gauntlets thrust out as they disconnected from the gauntlet and reconnected with the being¡¯s heart, lungs, and ribcage. It tried to speak as blood dribbled down its chin and Rune pulled the previously thrust hand back.

    The chains shortened as well and the being¡¯s eyes rolled up into their head. The entire chest was mangled as its heart rest, still beating for a moment, in Ruen hand before he crushed it and absorbed the remaining juices. He absorbed the rest of it and moved on.

    Hika scootched up the two of their seat, still on the shield, closer into the village¡¯s cavern. They could see stalactites hanging from the ceiling hundreds of meters above them. There were no buildings, but tables and holes in the walls.

    The tables held many metal clothes and weapons on them and each hole in the wall housed at least one table. In those houses, there were strange furry skins and crops. Far from them, on the opposite side of the village, were strange trees that had baskets underneath them. Within those baskets contained such strange fruit that looked large and plump with a blue color.

    If one stood near the fruit, they would be able to smell the sweetness hanging in the air. Of course, thanks to Rune, the air everywhere else was full of the iron from the slaughter.

    Blood leaked from every crevice in the room as he smashed each one of their heads in them and found easier ways to eliminate their bones and internal organs. It looked like a feast for devils who ate flesh and drank blood. That devil that took it all in was Rune who decided it would be a waste to not take everything of value in the village after he murdered every last one.

    He was basically an invader who raided a village, stole all their stuff, and murdered the rest of them indiscriminately. Some even snapped their maws to try and communicate with him to no avail. It was ants before a shoe in which every last ant was smushed into the ground.

    Somehow, Rune was feeling really good after that event and he turned to Hika who was wide eyed and Rena who was coughing in her sleep. They watched every brutal murder and him stealing their fruits, their clothes, and their weapons as if he was as greedy as a dragon. To be honest, he was far greedier than any dragon save for Fafnir who only existed in one branch of the world tree Yggdrasil.

    Unfortunately for Rune, he couldn¡¯t kill Fafnir due to the fact that the nine realms were only connected to Earth or Midgard. However, he did not feel the need to do so as he completely forgot about most of Earth¡¯s mythology and how it turned out to be true.

    Back to the present, everyone except the group of three were dead. Rune had decided to also test his railgun that he pumped full of enchantments. This made it so powerful that it literally made a hole several dozens of meters in the ceiling after disintegrating four of the tortoise people.

    Since he still wanted their remains, he stopped using it after the first shot and tested his gauntlet some more. The rest of the tortoise people who weren¡¯t wearing the muzzles were much weaker than those with them. The ones wearing the muzzles were likely the warriors of the group.

    At some point, the door reopened when he was still clearing out the group and a group of ten muzzled beings stepped through. Rena was still on Hika¡¯s lap, asleep, and Hika and on the shield in a cave without anything or anyone else in it.

    Inside the small caves like the one Hika and Rena were in, there was not even one speck of calamity sand and it seemed safe. They rested in the cave for about half an hour before Rune stopped killing and stealing.

    The ten warriors came into the room and drew their weapons. Rune made short work of them and he barreled towards them at amazing speeds and broke the sound barrier with every stride.

    The first one could see an evil, red glint in his left eye as Rune got in its personally space and moved his hand upwards. The muzzle of the being helped Rune by keeping the whole head together while it spun off the neck and whirled around in the air with blood pouring from the beheading wound.

    Rune quickly spun 270 to his right and back handed one into another. The first one¡¯s head exploded and the one that was hit by the body had its bones decimated so much that every bone in their chest broke in at least five places each. The chunks of beone pierced the internal organs and absolutely pulverized the lungs.

    It started to have trouble breath and, after every breath, it coughed up blood as it trickled from out of the muzzle. Its eyes were looking around frantically as it tried to live, but all it could manage was its body trembling about as it finally trained its eyes on Rune.

    It watched as the other seven warriors were killed in a brutal, one sided assault. He snapped their necks with ease as he also crushed their skulls. For two of them, he thrust his hand through their heart and pulled them out before their bodies started to smoke and the muffled screams echoes throughout the cavern village.

    When Rune was done with them, he turned to the last one who was slowly dying. Rune pulled out a magnum and leveled it with the last survivor¡¯s head. If he could right now, he would be smiling, but he couldn¡¯t. Instead, he just pulled the trigger.

 Chapter 40: Meeting Back Up

    It wasn¡¯t possible for Rune to teleport to the rest of the group as the sand was like an insulator for magic. It contained it and made sure that it stayed in the caverns so he couldn¡¯t use telepathy or teleport.

    He wasn¡¯t sure of it before he decimated the village, but confirmed it soon after. He was forced to meet up with the rest of the group on foot.

    Rena was breathing heavily as the sand affected her every second and kept getting worse. Rune had no idea how to help her out, but he definitely knew what might help her. There was a book that he found that was labeled with strange symbols around the picture of sand.

    This was found in the far corners of one of the caves where a tortoise person holding a staff and wearing a robe made of chains was. Rune promptly cut him down with his gauntlets as it shrieked in terror and, behind its melting corpse, was the book.

    If someone knew how to read it, then he would be able to cure Rena. Even if he absorbed it, he would have no idea what it would do due to him not understanding the language within the book. The book was several pages thick and was more the shape and size of a magazine than a book. It was made of some white material that Rune believed was the squid skin and the symbols were drawn in black.

    He moved towards the cave Rena and Hika were in as they were on the third floor of smaller caves. There were four floors of caves and ramps with some long, cylindrical stones every foot up the ramp. Those stones were used to climb up the ramp with ease instead of slipping down the 30 degree ramp.

    ¡°Hey!! I think Rena¡¯s getting worse!!!¡±

    ¡°Well, obviously, but I don¡¯t know what to do about it. Our only chance would likely be to meet up with Rouna and have her tell us what language this is. Here. Let¡¯s get a move on. Oh, before that¡­¡±

    Rune hopped to the bottom floor directly from the third and created a small impact in the sand. Then he started moving to look around. He was specifically looking for a large, open space. It wa actually quite difficult to find a nice, large, and open area that was flat as there were many rocks scattered about and he was a bit too lazy to move them.

    In the end, he decided to just use a flat rock. He transmuted some of the sand into solid board and also transmuted holes in it to form letters in common. It read:

    ¡°Rune¡¯s group, Rune, Rena, and Hika, are going down the passage on the left.¡±

    He wrote it just in case as he wasn¡¯t sure which way and where they would find the rest of the group. He decided to leave a sign there if they came across it and only those who could read common would be able to read it so that no more tortoise people would show up and attack.

    Then he used [Gravity Control] on Hika and Rena to lower them down. It was hard for Hika to get the sleeping Rena up there, but Rune just brought them down with ease. Hika had also screeched for a moment when Rune cast his magic without any warning.

    As the two were slowly lowered to the ground, Rune took out a chain and also four wind stones. When the two of them, plus the shield Rena was on, reached the ground, he lifted the shield up with ease and fused the wind stones to the shield.

    He let go of it when he placed it a meter off the ground and it started to float. It bobbed up and down as if riding small waves on water. He took one end of the chain and fused it with the floating shield. With Rena still on it, he tugged it and it moved.

    Next, he made the shield wider and larger so that Hika could get on too as they were extremely tired. Hika went on without any sign of hesitation.

    Rune started to walk down the passage on the far left on the opposite side of the village cavern. The tunnel was far wider and taller than the one he was in before and it took much longer for them to encounter any sort of being.

    After 20 minutes, Rune stopped moving. Hika looked at him in a strange manner as she didn¡¯t know what he was stopping for.

    ¡°Why are you-¡±

    She was cut off when Rune cast [Quiet] on her. He slowly moved his finger to the area where his mouth would be on his helm. He let go of the chain and moved towards the corner of the t-intersection.

    He turned his head around the corner very slowly and looked around when something flashed. Rune quickly moved his body as a knife flew at his face. Unfortunately, his head wasn¡¯t connected to his body too well as it couldn¡¯t handle the speeds. His head practically stayed in place as his body jumped from the corner.

    The knife embedded itself in his head and they both flew into the wall. Sand exploded and Rune quickly put up a barrier around Rena and Hika by casting [Water Ball] followed by [Water Control]. In an instant, water prevent sand from coming in contact with the two of them.

    Rune could still see, but lost his heat detection and night vision eyes. He still kept the magic eye skill as the pentagram removed itself from the eye on the helmet and the energy in the place of Rune¡¯s helm contained a small pentagram on the right side of his head. It was about where the eye would be.

    Using [Gravity Control], he moved his helm back onto his shoulders while removing the knife from it. Before his head was knocked off, he saw the group of people.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    They were Rouna, Erin, Elisa, and Riika. Elisa was the one who threw the knife as she was jumpy. When she realized that the helmet she threw the knife at was Rune¡¯s, it was far too late and the knife was already sailing through the air.

    When Rune saw this, he tried to evade, but his head was still caught up in it and he became quite annoyed. He placed his head back and trotted over to the other four with Hika and Rena in tow.

    He strode right up to Elisa and flicked her forehead.

    ¡°Fool! Don¡¯t just chuck a knife at someone. They could have died!!¡±

    She winced as she held her forehead and Rouna just chuckled a little. Then Rune walked to her and handed her the book he found.

    ¡°Rena has some of that calamity sand in her system. Can you find what language this is and how to take the sand out?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. This is Draconic which means that I can read it, but¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°I already know of a way to get rid of this sand. This sand was what made up my village¡¯s floor.¡±

    ¡°I-is that right?¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡±

    ¡°Well then, uh, why don''t you do something about Rena¡¯s condition and tell us how to prevent it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty simple. Just use some lemons. You put it in the wound and the small amount of acid would destroy the sand almost completely. No worry about ingesting it as the stomach acid will dissolve it. I thought we had some lemons¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, we do. It¡¯s just that I never would have imagined squirting lemon juice in a wound would make it better. I mean, it usually hurts, doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Of course. It feels terrible.¡±

    Rune took out a box of food. This one was labeled to say that there were lemons and limes in there so that none of them would get scurvy. He ripped open the box, it was made of thin wood with a lid of wood, and grabbed a lemon, but not before putting his gauntlets back in his storage.

    He tugged on the chain that was lying on the ground and the shield floated right on over to him. The box was placed back into his storage and he cut it cleanly in half with just a finger. He sighed and raised his index finger over her skin.

    In one quick stroke, he cut her the skin of her arm and blood appeared in a straight line. Then he poured lemon juice in and she started to struggle and writhe around. Then the wound healed quickly after the lemon juice entered the wound.

    He waited for several minutes and, by then, she was breathing normally again. Hika was already off of the shield and was looking at Rena intensely. She held her hand tightly as she wanted her friend to stay alive.

    After a few more minutes, Rena opened her eyes and looked around. She looked at everyone in the group.

    ¡°Oh. Did we all meet up?¡±

    Hika hugged her friend in a bear hug and wouldn¡¯t let go for a while. Rune looked at Rouna and spoke.

    ¡°Why does any small amount of acid purge the sand?¡±

    ¡°I dunno. Magic? Science? Who can really say.¡±

    She shrugged her shoulders before asked her question at Rune.

    ¡°Where did you find this book? The only ones I can think of would be the Toratea who are related to dragons. They kinda look like turtles.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Rune stares at her with a poker face. He didn¡¯t want to say that he annihilated a whole village of them thirty minutes before.

    In fact, the Toratea were just defending themselves and begging for mercy. Rune, with his lust for power, decided that he didn¡¯t like them and freed them from their mortal coils. To him, at that moment, he was giving them an option of dying by age or monsters or to die and be his experience points.

    He still wasn¡¯t sorrowful or sad that he killed them without thinking that they would benefit him with things other than leveling up. He would still kill and/or break anyone¡¯s bones who got in his way.

    ¡°What did you do?¡±

    She looked like she was about to throw a fit like a child, but on a much larger scale. He didn¡¯t want to incur her wrath, but he might have to take it.

    ¡°I might have¡­ definitely¡­ probably¡­ murdered all of them.¡±

    ¡°WHAT!?!? THEY ARE MY DISTANT KIN!!!!¡±

    Her eyes glowed a sinister color as she glared at him and he put up his hands while carefully and discretely using skills to buff and reinforce himself.

    ¡°Uh¡­ self-defense?¡±

    Rouna punched his head clean off for the second time today. The head, still not as secure as his old one, sailed through the air and lodged itself deep into the cave walls and sand spewed forth.

    He had braced himself for a punch in the chest, but ultimately failed in blocking the punch. Even if he evaded, his head would still be in that position.

    ¡°Well, I mean, I had no way of knowing and I was just trying to protect Rena and Hika from them. Um, they attacked me first?¡±

    Rouna puffed her cheeks out and wanted to, so badly, claw him. Instead, she pawed at Elisa and Elisa patted her on the head a few times. This calmed her down greatly and now the look on her face was that of pure bliss.

    She wasn¡¯t too angry at Rune for killing them as they were quite far and distant species, but the Toratea were directly related to Dragon Turtles which were cousins to many dragons. She hadn¡¯t known any Toratea in her life, but knew that they were somewhat related.

    Thus why the patting made her happy and she was just feeling a bit remorseful. Rune just ignored her a bit and started to talk to Riika.

    ¡°Do you guys know the way out? Rouna should have known, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We were just getting you, but it seemed like Elisa was a bit too jumpy. Unfortunately, the exit is guarded by a pair of golem knights made of the sand. Unfortunately, she said that they would likely not be melted with lemons.¡±

    ¡°Ok. Which way is it?¡±

    Riika turned to the passage right of where Rune came from and started walking. She turned around partially and waved a hand at the rest of them to follow. Rouna came out of her daze and skipped to the front of the group that was now walking.

    Riika, Rena, and Hika started to speak amongst each other as they had become friends in the academy. They all smiled as they talked about what Riika had done within the caves.

    Apparently, Erin and Riika were saved when Rouna and Elisa save them while in the air. When they landed to search for Rune, Rena, and Hika, the area above them had went from air to sand. They were trapped there and they made a small campfire with Elisa¡¯s Excalibur burning some of the crates that fell down and broke on impact.

    Rouna then looked with her farsight magic and saw that she could only look at places within the cave. She looked around and saw some squid things and some Toratea for a while until she saw Rune, Rena, and Hika walking through a passage.

 Chapter 41: A Door Part I

    The group made their way through the tunnels to where Rouna was leading. They had come to a large door that was large enough for the Black Dragon he killed to fit through.

    The door had no handles or door knobs and was outlined with a blue mana glow. The door itself was made of metal that seemed to give off an evil aura to everyone around and there were engravings of strangely inscribed words and two images of knights with one greatsword each.

    The knights looked like they were wearing full body armor that covered their entire body. Their helms were complete with visors and semi-cylindrical. They wore pauldrons that were layered on top of each other to make three full layers. The chest armor was made of four pieces on the front as they couldn¡¯t see the back. The chest piece was one piece and the armor covering the stomach was made of three. Their legs were just one mound of something that Rune guessed was sand and they were larger than their bodies.

    The swords were made of three parts for the blades and the handle was large enough for two hands even though they were holding them in one each.

    Rouna took one look at them and scoffed.

    ¡°They look weak. Those images are actually what is on the other side of the door. If we can get past them, then there should be a teleportation pentagram leading to the surface. Now, how do we open the door?¡±

    ¡°Huh?! I thought you knew?!¡±

    ¡°No. Of course not! I couldn¡¯t figure out how even with my farsight magic!!¡±

    She did not sound happy and was glaring at the door as if it killed her family, which is to say angrily and frustrated. She crossed her arms and spat on the ground in front of it.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we try to destroy it? Here. Stand back.¡±

    Rune was already taking out some of his special black mines that were now more powerful than ever. He made a setting on them to trigger different enchantments to make them more or less powerful. He took out four and set them to the highest setting which could easily take out an entire company of up to 200 soldiers each.

    ¡°Yeah¡­ I recommend standing over there.¡±

    Rune pointed to the tunnel entrance they had come from which was several thousand meters away and he quickly jogged towards it. The rest of them followed suit and he rounded a corner and held the detonator. He developed it so that it could also either detonate on impact or with a controller or both at the same time if one worked and the other didn¡¯t.

    In his hand, the small, cylinder had a small, red button with a symbol of a cross with a skull on it, the classic jolly roger flag symbol. The handle itself was very similar to his flash grenade except that it had a golden snake design writhing around it in a spiral.

    He counted down in his head from three. When he reached one, time seemed to slow down as his finger moved towards the button. It pushed down and down until¡­ explosion!

    The four black mines detonated with such force that those who were not Rune nor Rouna staggered back as the air ripples like powerful waves. There was a large explosion in which the mines let loose shrapnel that dig into the surrounding terrain.

    Rune silently cheered in his head as he saw the explosion that he was proud of. It was a large blaze of fire and small pieces of crystals that flew about the large room they had evacuated from. The rest stared in awe as they witnessed the sight of an explosion that could destroy an entire town in a moment.

    When they heard Rune chuckling in glee, they were completely frightened of him and his power. They knew that he wouldn¡¯t kill them, but they were fearful of what would happen if he used the bombs again. Such things would surely be the end of all races in Arborea.

    The only explosions the current world used was explosion magic that was far inferior to Rune¡¯s black mines. If he wanted to, he could definitely have Jared and Kelly help him develop several different weapons of mass destruction that would even be foreign to Earth. Such things like orbital annihilation cannons, bio bombs that could envelop a country, genetically enhanced soldiers, and probably even magically enhanced versions of atomic and nuclear bombs.

    Even so, there was no need for Rune to do such things as he liked to get right down in there and end people by himself instead of killing off a large population with just a press of a button. Also, he wanted to get experience points and things on such a large scale would not be able to give him experience as other people would be needed and it would likely be shared equally instead of mostly to him. After all, he was greedy and no person is not greedy for something as everyone wants wants.

    A large screen of smoke covered the room like a curtain of deadly poison as the sand scattered. When it dispersed, everyone could see the effect and Rune was especially disappointed as they looked.

    The door was fine, save for a small, black smudge that covered about a foot. This foot was like an ant to the entire door that was like a giant to that ant. Rune swore as he saw that the explosions only made a slight smudge on the door.

    He sighed as soon as everything in the air dispersed and walked back towards the door. He scratched his helm, since he was still Cursed Armor, and stared carefully at the door.

    ¡°Hey, Rouna. You said you could look in the past, right?¡±

    ¡°...yes?¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you try and see what people did to get past the door?¡±

    ¡°Well, I can certainly try.¡±

    She sat down in front of the door and closed her eyes. She started mumbling incoherently as soon as her eyes were shut. She was in a curled up ball position and was casually sitting in the sand. She kept muttering something about sand and how there was too much of it.

    The rest of the group sat behind her, opposite of the door, and started doing their own things. Rune started to work on four more black mines as he basically wasted them and took out some tweezers and gems to work with. The gems were the basic and core material of them and the tweezers were for the fine tuning of the mines.

    Rena, Hika, Riika, and Erin started to pull out cards and played blackjack with no stakes. They played several rounds from when Rouna started until she finished looking into the past. Throughout that time, Rena won once, Riika twice, Hika four times, and Erin lost every single round.

    Elisa was quite lonely without Rouna talking to her and she pulled out her sword, Excalibur. She started to pull out a whetstone and sharpened the blade. It glowed a white light full of purity as soon as it left the sheath.

    Soon, after about one hour of doing barely anything other than playing, working, and eating some food that Rune passed around, Rouna opened her eyes. She looked around and quickly ran over to the right side of the door.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    She felt around the sand and broke off the solid sand around the area. A hole appeared in the wall that was no longer covered by sand. She reached her hand into the hole and stuck out her tongue while doing so. She was reaching for something in that hole and, soon enough, found what she was looking for.

    She smiled as the door shook and sand flew about. Everyone shoved their things away and Riika hastily packed up her cards. Rune donned his gauntlets and hooked the hield back on his gauntlets.

    The door slowly sunk into the floor and the group could see what lay beyond it. The floor was now just made of a single, large slab of grey stone that had carvings in it. The ceiling was darkness that surrounded a single, solitary light that was as bright as the sun.

    There were two sand piles that had armor around them with two swords in the ground near the two sand piles. As Rune picked out his bolt action rifle from his storage and aimed at them, the sand piles stirred and rose up. The sand surged upwards to form a humanesque figure that rose up and armor flowed up with the sand pile as well.

    The group just looked in astonishment and slight fear as the sand guards rose from their slumber and reached for their swords. Rune aimed for them as they slid towards them on their sand piles instead of legs.

    At the moment they indicated that they were going to swing, Rune fired off his gun and blew a hole in the middle of one¡¯s chest armor. It stumbled back, but kept its position as the hole was filled back in with sand while the metal armor stayed the same it was with the hole in it.

    The group scattered as the swinging sword kept heading down towards them. Rune was the only one to move towards the sand pile first and he used his claws to swipe at the sand. With the acid dripping from the gauntlet, he was able to cleave a large chunk that smoked and melted into a puddle of liquid metal.

    He kept clawing until he noticed movement to his left. It was another sword. He barely raised up an arm quickly enough to block and was sent flying. The one that just hit him sped up its pace to attack him and swung the sword in its hands once more.

    This sword swing was much faster than the other one¡¯s and could almost keep up with Rune¡¯s top speed. Since he was stuck in the stone wall, he could only move an arm and his rifle was slung on his back. He raised his left arm to try and catch it and, as soon as it reached his fingertips, he closed his hand.

    He still felt the full brunt of the force, but then found that he made five gouges in the sword where his fingers touched it. Even so, it didn¡¯t smoke and instead decided to shine a radiant light. Rune felt his fingers burn as if someone put his hand in lava and he did not like it.

    Since he was the Demon King, he was immune to Darkness damage, but, in turn, was weak against Light attacks. This was how the Demon King¡¯s before him were killed on top of the fact that people were stronger in the past.

    Also, the gods just kind of watched the people suffer as they found that it was like watching a cartoon or movie. Only a few helped in the Demon King¡¯s subjugation while the rest laughed and spectated with almost complete addiction. For the gods, it was boring to balance the world and they could take care of that pretty easily. They wanted entertainment which they received from unforeseeable outcomes and such.

    Even so, they couldn¡¯t see into the areas of what they didn¡¯t own and they could not watch Rune. The gods all sighed once they realized that Rune left their controlled domains and entered Hell¡¯s Gate. They could only now see him through what Elisa saw as she was religious to most of the gods. Nobody else really was except for Rouna and Erin who worshipped Bahamut, but not very much.

    Riika and Rena weren¡¯t worshipping gods as they didn¡¯t do anything to help them out in their lives and Hika wasn¡¯t the religious type. Rune occasionally thanked the gods he knew of, which were only three, and didn¡¯t do much else that was religion related. In his former world, he was an Atheist, but that idea was shattered the moment he died.

    He was forced deeper into the wall as the force of the sword threatened to crush his body. His armor already had countless dents and scratches, but was not so harmed to be dented or something akin to it. He tightened his grip on the sword and the pain intensified as he did so.

    He managed to crush the metal into a twisted form that looked like a crushed can and he held on so that, when the sand being pulled the sword from the wall, he would come out as well. Sadly, the world was much crueler than that and, when the being pulled the sword form the wall, Rune ended up breaking the sword and stayed in the wall.

    The sword that he held was from the last fourth of the blade and he started to transmuted it. It turned into a chain with two grapples, like a grappling hook except two hooks, and trust it forth with his [Gravity Control]. The chain moved and the grapples hooked onto the sides of the walls.

    He was about ten to twenty meters in the hole and was sprung forth vis grappling hook. He launched himself at the sand guard that knocked him into the wall. He readied his gauntlets to strike the sand guard in the helm.

    As he flew through the air in a not so graceful manner, he was stopped short when the slower guard swung at him. In the air, he barely dodged out of he way using the rifle that was still on his back. He had a rough idea where the trigger was and fired it as he tumbled in the air. The shot went wild and made him soar farther above the slower guard¡¯s sword and he grabbed the rifle as he did so.

    He reloaded and the next bullet filled the chamber. There were no bullet casings as he did so as the entire bullet was made to eject from the muzzle. Even so, the bullets were aerodynamic and sped through the air at amazingly high speeds that, in the bolt action rifle, it could break the sound barrier with a speed of Mach 2.

    This was more than enough pressure to blast him away and he fired once more, but was now directly overhead the faster guard. The bullet was made of a Fire crystal that had an effect to dispel magic.

    It cruised through the air and found its way from the top of the guard¡¯s head into the floor. It embedded itself as the guard was caught on fire. Even with no recoil, the barrier of air that the bullet created as soon as it exited the gun blew him farther upwards into the air.

    He shot again, but, this time, towards the darkness above. He flew down with tremendous speed and put away his rifle for his katana. He stabbed into the guard and it crumpled into a pile of sand.

    He leaped off of it and started to use [Lightning Grip] to heat up the armor on it until it melted into unusable chunks of metal that kind of looked like partially melted crumpled paper. Then, as an extra precaution, he started to melt the remaining sand in the pile.

    He scrambled away as it started to move and he was getting more irritated by the second. He wanted to ask Hela just what it was, but sighed as he knew that he left her at the mansion. Apparently, Kelly and Jared wanted to harness something that was called ¡°Demonic Force¡± since Rune wasn¡¯t around to let them test it on him as well as the fact that he didn¡¯t like being in the lab for long periods of time.

    Hela was absolutely up for being tested on, for some reason, and figured it was much better than being stuck in the amulet. Currently, not that Rune or the others knew about it, but Hela has now been in the lab for over 1,000 years within the span of a week in real life. The ¡°Demonic Force¡± that they were testing was just the strange magic that they used that allowed them to use some aspects of the Seven Deadly Sins, like the charm magic.

    At the moment, the group was scattered about while trying to attack the other sand guard that was not just a pile of sand and some lumps of metal. They were each standing at a distance form it due to it being quite fast and extremely powerful. When it missed a sword swing, the sword ended up in the stone floor and made a small quake all around them that shook the ground and toppled them over.

    It seemed that they weren¡¯t hurting it too much with their guns and, what made it worse, was that they only held pistols and submachine gun. These guns were not cursed by Rune for, when he cursed something, it was cursed to only be used by his bloodline, which doesn¡¯t include those who marry into the family nor adopted people. Even so, he had enchanted the guns so that they were more powerful, but they still could not match Rune¡¯s cursed weaponry.

    The bullets sunk into the sand, but then popped right back out and fell to the ground with no speed. If they hit the armor, they would bounce off and ricochet off of it and struck randomly about them. Several bullets almost hit Rena, but she was far too agile to be bested by a bullet that was slower than her.

    The main problem was that the sand guard they were fighting was also much sturdier and dexterous than the other albeit being slower. Sadly, no one in the group knew that this sand guard was much sturdier than the other one as they only knew that it was much slower.

    Rune pointed his rifle at the sand guard and reloaded his gun. Just as he was about to fire, he saw that there were tendrils coming out from its back and he fired immediately as he saw this and fired several more shots until he plopped in a new cartridge of ammunition.

    The guard ended up with five new holes in it and destroyed armor. The sand making it up slowly fell to the ground and the armor clanked as it left the sand. Rune sighed as he saw that the two sand guards were killed.

    Of course, he just set up a flag with that sigh. The others noticed the sand moving soon after Rune had and they watched in tiredness. It looked like people were getting up and out from the sand piles, but they were just sandmen. To the students, it was horrifying to watch.

 Chapter 42: A Door Part II

    Rune faced palmed his helm as he saw the sandmen rise up from the piles of sand like zombies in their graves. He tilted his head back with his left hand and looked at them with his magic right eye. He raised his gun from his side, already aimed at the sandmen, and fired.

    The sandmen exploded and, as each one was blown into a cloud of dust, two more sandmen took their place, but they were half the size of the ones that Rune dispersed. The chunks of metal from the fast sand guard¡¯s sword split up and flew into the sandmen to give them weapons and armor.

    Of course, since Rune blew the armor off from the durable one, there was no armor for the sandmen that rose from it and, since Rune broke the fast one¡¯s sword, the sandmen that rose from that pile had no weapons. Even without their weapons or armor, they looked like a formidable foe with the sand that made them up whirling and writhing around their bodies like living veins.

    As each sandman split, the armor or weapon also got split. When those were killed, it just kept coming back, harder to kill and faster as well as a smaller target. Even the melted sand piles formed into sandmen, but they were dripping as they were made of liquid instead of sand.

    Rune was also getting bored of the sandmen, but didn¡¯t seem to be able to absorb them. This was due to the fact that two souls ruled over the sandmen, like puppet masters, as the two souls came from the two original sand guards. For Rune¡¯s he couldn¡¯t absorb nor store things with souls in them or if they were alive.

    Even for flora, he was required to cut it down first or something similar in a way that would make the plant dead. For fauna, he had to either kill them or cut them up. The reason why he couldn¡¯t absorb something alive were due to two simple concepts that the gods chose themselves.

    One concept was that he couldn¡¯t absorb anything randomly as some of the gods, mainly the war gods, wanted him to fight beings to gain their power. The second concept would be that, if it had a soul, he would have that soul and its personality travel and enter his mind and then he would either fuse the personalities, which would be bad as he would not be Rune anymore, or have multiple personalities that would randomly take over his body from time to time.

    Of course, he didn¡¯t realize this, but, if he was allowed to absorb living things with souls, he still would not unless in dire circumstances when he was about to die to it. It was even possible to gain the personality of something other than a humanoid, like a wolf or such. That would be a fate almost as terrible as death, at least to him.

    Rune, as he was holding the sandmen in place with his [Gravity Control], turned to Rouna. He saw that she was busy using her wings to blow back the opposing force.

    ¡°Did you see a way to kill these things?!!¡±

    He shouted over the commotion as the rest of he group was either roaring or grunting while killing them. It seemed that everyone, excluding Rune, was tired. Even Rouna was feeling a bit worn out due to the fighting right after using her farsighted skill.

    ¡°No!! I just saw a Toratea get murdered here!!¡±

    Rune racked his mind to try and figure out a way to escape this situation. He looked around, but couldn¡¯t see anything other than the stone walls and floor and the light above. Suddenly, he felt a force behind him.

    It was a small sandman who had gotten past the hold Rune was using by killing itself. He flew forewords as the sandmen became a pile of sand.

    Then they reformed to create double the previous amount and they were smaller. They started to pull Rune in all directions and three managed to pull off his helm. He was now absolutely frustrated as he could now see all around him.

    He saw the other group members fighting for their lives and fighting a losing battle. He saw the sandmen explode in a puff of sand each time they died. He saw the light above flicker each time a sandman die.

    He knew what to do. He froze the sandmen around him, even though cracks soon appeared, and pulled his helmet back on. Then he dragged out his rifle, aimed at the light, and fired three shots.

    One shot would have been enough as the first one reached the light and it exploded. Shards of some strange material rained down around them and the sandmen flopped over and turned into piles of sand.

    Rune kicked one just to be sure that it died and then he looked at the rest of he group. They had cuts all over and, even Rouna, collapsed to the ground from exhaustion.

    Rune jogged over to them while showing no signs of being tired. Elisa and Rouna were the only two hat were conscious as Hika, Erin, Rena, and Riika fainted. He pulled out the crate of lemons and took six out. He crushed them over their wounds and then healed them.

    He sighed as he now had a half empty box of lemons. He put the lemons in his storage, but kept the box out and lit a fire with it. He arranged the group members to be placed around the fire and he headed over to the thing that fell.

    It was split into here different parts and used to be something spherical until he broke it. It was no longer glowing and darkness surrounded everything except the fire.

    He analyzed one of the chunks to see what it was.

    [Dvergur Key]

    [Opens designated door and contains large amount of one type of elemental magic.]

    He took all three pieces and fused them into the original sphere shape. Obviously, there were still some pieces missing, but he decided to use it as it was anyway.

    He looked at the group around the fire. Rouna and Elisa were talking with each other while they were sprawled on the ground. They seemed to have gotten closer throughout the trip through the tunnels so far. They spoke about things in such a quiet voice that Rune couldn¡¯t hear them and the fact that he was extremely far away did not help at all.

    Rune came over to the fire and started pulling out some different items from his storage. The things he took out were some Healing magic crystals and he hauled the heaps of metal to the campfire. Then he set them down and pulled out some sleeping bags made of an insulating fabrics with fur.

    The sleeping bags were made to fit a different person and the hoods had fur on the rims. The actual bags were a grey color and also had an effect to rejuvenate someone. He carefully picked each person up and placed them in the sleeping bags with his [Gravity Control] magic as he didn¡¯t want to be accused of any harassment.

    The people around the fire soon found themselves asleep, even Rouna and Elisa who were conscious through the fighting. It was pretty obvious that everyone was tired and they wanted to rest. Rune had no qualms with that and just let them do so.

    Also, while they were fighting the sand guards, the door that they had come from had resealed and was closed to the point where no light could get through. Rune¡¯s only option was to look for the area where the Dvergur Key would go to see if it opened up an exit.

    The room they were in was decently large, at least the size of a high school cafeteria and twice as high. The ground was now covered in sand and Rune had placed a barrier around the fire so that no sand could get in. It would just be a waste of lemons at this point and he really was running out of lemons.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    If he started to use limes, he would be in dire straights as the only other thing he could use after that was the acid from his gauntlets and he wasn¡¯t fully used to controlling the acid from it. Also, it would hurt a lot.

    He set up some fires by producing flammable fluids from his gauntlets and lighting them on fire. They weren¡¯t placed in any sort of pattern as he didn¡¯t have OCD and he was a slightly messy person. This was another reason why he needed a lot of butlers and maids because he just left things on the floor.

    He wasn¡¯t a child or anything, but would be working on something, stop, put it down or throw it, and start working on something else. He was not consistent in his work unless it was something that he was absolutely interested in, like anime and manga.

    Since anime and manga were currently unknown to Arborea, Rune knew it would be a success as many people did not have books and, the books in Arborea, were extremely boring and too wordy. Of course, he would write light novels as his hobby, but it would likely be liked as his works were fictional.

    There had been fictional stories about different things, but they were just short children¡¯s tales about moral lessons and such. He had no intention of writing something that had a moral lesson and wanted to write something purely about fighting for most of his writings.

    The room was now lit up with the flames that burned a strange green as the acid burned as well. The surroundings were shown in the lights and Rune could now see everything around them.

    The ceiling was made of obsidian and had a strange property that, when he analyzed it, he found absorbed light. The walls had many scratches on them as well as the hole Rune had broken in it. The grappling hook from the hole was missing as it had flown towards the sandmen when they appeared.

    His current focus was now on the ceiling where obsidian was found. He readied his rifle and shot at a part of the ceiling that was not above the group. He had silenced it with his [Quiet], but the sound the bullet made as it broke and shattered the obsidian was amazingly loud.

    Pieces crumbled down as the black material was caught in Rune¡¯s storage. He caught them by opening his storage in the general areas where the pieces fell. When an object entered the storage, they lost all their momentum and the dimension inside the storage made it so that they were preserved in the state that it was put in.

    It was actually quite convenient for Rune to have on the current expedition as he had to pack, hold, and distribute the food and drinks. He carried no alcohol on him even though he was the legal drinking age in Arborea. He had only drunken some sips of wine from his parents cups when he was young and vomited a bottle of beer in Germany when he was 15. All in all, he did not like alcohol and planned on drinking something like soda or energy drinks, when they were created, instead of alcohol.

    Also, he didn¡¯t need anyone getting drunk on a dangerous mission. If something went wrong and alcohol happened to play a part in it, Rune would blame the person for downing the alcohol and ruining the plan. Even if he did not like alcohol, he had no problem with others drinking it as long as they weren¡¯t working for him.

    The obsidian that he picked up looked dazzling as the light glinted off of its smooth shape and reflected into Rune¡¯s eyes. He quickly turned it as he was blinded a bit when it shined in his night vision eye. He put it away and started to shoot some more chunks down. If he could, he would strip the entire room bare of the material, but he wanted to have the room keep its structural integrity.

    There was also a door on the opposite side of when they came and it was taller than the him, but not as tall as the first door. It had a semi-sphere hole in it that seemed to be the right shape for the Dvergur Key. He was tempted to slot it into the hole, but resisted as he wanted to wait for everyone to wake up first.

    It seemed like he was tempted by greed, lust, wrath, and sloth more easily now as those were the seven deadly sins that he committed the most. Wrath due to him killing many things, greed due to him wanting everything that interested him, sloth due to his laziness to want to just lie on a sofa and read manga, and lust due to him being with Sophia. He didn¡¯t really control the first and last ones.

    <hr>

    Rena was having a most pleasant dream when she was woken from her deep slumber. She was hanging out with her friends from school and they were having a fun time doing whatever it was teenage girls did for fun, went to cafes and, mainly just at the school, honed their skills.

    Her exhaustion was understandable as she was fighting an opponent that would have been impossible to defeat if Rune had not been there. She was grateful for everything Rune had done for her and she wanted to repay him back by following his orders, but she was definitely having second thoughts about why she went on the trip to Hell¡¯s Gate in the first place.

    In fact, many of them were wondering why they had been brought along. It seemed like Rune could do everything himself as he was wonderful at fighting and traveled quickly, not even taking in account his Cursed Armor form that had no fatigue. The truth was, Rune had many blind spots. He was garbage at navigating, he couldn¡¯t see in the past, he couldn¡¯t be in two places at once, he wasn¡¯t very strategic, and was mainly focused on killing and not on peace treaties.

    These were just some of the reasons why he brought them along. The other thing was that he would be lonely without other people to be near him and he couldn¡¯t bring Sophia along as she was not good when it came to fighting. He was better than most when it came to shooting a pistol, but that was pretty much it.

    Just the sheer amount of people in his group other than him, six people, was an accomplishment as he trusted six more people. Including Sophia, Roxana, and Ulf, that was four more people than he trusted when he was on Earth as Tyler had been one of them and he was still around.

    It seemed that only Rouna knew why he had brought the others along as she was able to process why Rune wasd bringing them along as well as Riika who was told that her strategic mind was better than Rune¡¯s. It was pretty obvious that, while it seemed that Rune was amazing in combat, he was not able to do everything.

    Rena opened her eyes and found that she was in a comfortable place. She did a little wiggle in it and was satisfied by how warm it was. Her body heat as well as the fire that was still burning nearby allowed her to keep warm throughout her sleep. The fire crackled as Ruen dripped some more acid onto the fire as he had no more wood left and the metal sand didn¡¯t seem to burn as well as he had hoped.

    Rena sat up only to find that she was confined in the fluffy sleeping bag. She struggled as she wanted to leave and Rune noticed her. He made a sigh-like sound from his speakers and moved towards her. He removed the acid gauntlet on his right arm and reached for the zipper on the side of the sleeping bag.

    He unzipped the bag and looked as she tumbled out of the bag.

    ¡°There is a zipper on the side of the bag and you can also open it from the inside as the zipper is double sided. This sleeping bag is yours, but, if you want, I¡¯ll put it in my storage for now.¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Sure.¡±

    She handed him the bag and he started to fold it in half so that the width was halved and the length was kept. Then he rolled it from the feet up after he zipped it back up. Finally, he tied some rope around it and dropped it into his storage.

    He had already done the same for Hika as she was an early riser, even underground. The others were still sleeping in their sleeping bags while Hika was munching on some food. It was a small sack of beef jerky that actually tasted good.

    The world already had beef jerky, but it tasted awful as it had no seasonings on it. The world only used a small amount of seasonings for the nobles. The food in Arborea was ok when compared to Earth¡¯s cuisine and Rune decided to make the food better, even if just by a little bit. This made him decide to have four chefs research, taste, and test what foods tasted good and how to improve upon them.

    The beef she was munching on was a prototype developed by the four chefs and Ms. Flustern as she usually cooked for herself. Hika was amazed at how tasty it was and took the entire bag that Rune was holding in his hand. The key word was as she took the bag from him when he was distracted by Rena who was doing a wiggle.

    Rune had no problem with this as he had several more bags, but he was worried that Rouna¡¯s appetite would not be sated by the small pieces of succulent meat. When Rena finally became fully awake, she soon realized that she was starving and Rune gave her a bag of beef jerky as well as a canteen of water.

    She guzzled the water down and munched on the beef feverishly as if she hadn¡¯t eaten food in a week. Hika already drank her fill and was now a bit worried as she had to go to the bathroom. This was how the location the fire was in was useful as it wasn¡¯t in the center of the room, but on one side. The other side was where they could go to do their business and no one would likely bother them.

    She hopped up and bounded over towards the other side of the room. Rune made sure that the room was safe as he had cased it for several hours while everyone was asleep. He had put the Dvergur Key in his storage as he didn¡¯t want it to get broken and he wielded his katana.

    When everyone was sleeping, he had cursed his katan so that it now glowed a light purple aura and several blue flames appeared around it. The fires around the sword were frost fires that froze enemies on contact and could reappear around the blade as they disappeared when they came in contact with an enemy or when it was sheathed.

    The process to curse something didn¡¯t take too long, but, what took a while, the process of imagining what kind of things the weapon could do took a while.

    The rest of the group woke up several minutes later starting with Rouna and ending with Erin. They woke up to the sight of Hika and Rena munching on meat while sitting next to the fire. It was unusual as they seemed to be relaxed in the current deadly environment and were busy talking to each other.

 Chapter 43: A New Character

    Several minutes later, after the last person woke up, Rune packed their equipment and started to walk towards the door while making a small trail of acid on fire. It was to help Hika, Elisa, and Riika as thy could either not see in the dark or had low light vision.

    The green fires crackled as the group followed Rune towards the door. Rune carefully reached for the key and pulled it out. They looked in wonder at the Dvergur Key as they hadn¡¯t seen it yet.

    Rune places half into the hole and nothing happened. Rune tilted his head to the side as he gazed at the key when Elisa spoke up.

    ¡°Are you sure you''re doing that correctly?¡±

    Right as she finished her sentence, the door broke into two halves and opened outwards as the Dvergur key broke apart and lay on the floor.

    With zero hesitation, Rune stored it and walked through the door. Beyond it was a set of stairs leading upwards that seemed to stop after a flight of about five stories.

    Unfortunately, the group had fallen for twenty stories and each person sighed as soon as they saw that they weren¡¯t reaching the surface that easily. The only good thing they noticed was that there was no longer sand anywhere and the floors, walls, and ceiling was made of stone like a cavern with stalagmites and stalactites.

    They walked up the stairs and reached the floor of the caverns above them. There were some torches within it that were lit with a blue flame. The torches were made of a dark wood that was almost a dark grey color. Rouna pointed out that this type of wood was likely ebony and, when burned, it produced a blue flame, but the wood would have to be dipped into lava for it to burn or something hotter.

    The group walked through the caves for an hour at a brisk pace. There was only one way to go and no other branching tunnels to get lost in. After that hour, they found that the caves opened up a bit more and there were pillars of red wood that looked like the red was painted on.

    The bases of the pillars were a golden color and there were chains running through to connected each one to the next to for two independent lines of pillars. The chains were translucent and had a whitish tinge to them. Atop the pillars, there were blue fires burning brightly held by metal cages that were shaped like bird cages.

    The fires ran around on the inside of the cages as if they were small horses running wild. The fire occasionally leapt through the bars, but dispersed and disappeared a moment after they left the cages. The cages were atop the pillars, but neither were burning from the fire that illuminated the caves.

    The group walked in between the multiple pillars while looking and watching the flames. The flames seemed to burn brighter as soon as they group got near, but became dimmer when they left the small vicinity.

    Rune, in the distance, could see a pair of cages built into the sides of the walls, one cage in one wall. There were the translucent chains surrounding the cages¡¯ fronts and there were several key locks connecting them together.

    The group got closer, there was a rattling from the cage on the left and Rune could see a small figure in the cage. The cage on the right held no one and the only thing in it was a skeleton with some pieces of rotting flesh dangling from it. Even while rotting, there was no smell and Rune became curious.

    He readied his shield arm and advanced towards the figure in the cage. It turned and Rune could see red eyes with a small, glinting horn on the left side of their head. The other side¡¯s horn seemed to be broken off and the cut was not very clean.

    Suddenly, the figure rushed at the cage door where Rune was behind and tried to attack him. It spoke in a weak voice.

    ¡°Die, traitors¡­¡±

    Rune looked at the figure. They were small, but agile and seemed to be extremely perceptive. The eyes were like slits and there was some sort of black outline under their eyes where there was a line going down an inch right under the center of her eyes starting from the eyelids. It was a girl who bared her fangs at Rune.

    Rune pulled out his rifle with zero hesitation when he found Rouna right beside him. She quickly stood in front of the cage and held out her hands, like she was protecting the person. Rune looked at her for a moment before looking back at the girl. Then he pointed his rifle towards the ground and asked her a question.

    ¡°Why am I a traitor?¡±

    ¡°You¡­. you people have sent me to this cage because I didn¡¯t want to hurt anyone. I was on your side!!!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know you¡­¡±

    ¡°Wait a sec! I don¡¯t know you either?! Who are you?!¡±

    As she started to raise her voice, blood trickled from the back of her throat and she coughed it all up on Rune. He was quite disgusted by the gesture. He wiped the blood from his face and cleared his throat to get the blood off of the speakers.

    ¡°Ahem. We are just passing through.¡±

    ¡°Please! Set me free! I¡¯ll be your loyal servant, or slave, anything, but please let me have revenge!!¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    Once again, Rune had no hesitation. He was in the mood for some killing as he had been walking for too long and he was becoming bored. Rouna stepped aside and turned towards the girl.

    ¡°I know you are a dragon, but who are you?¡±

    ¡°I am a Guardian Dragon for the Black Dragons, Gaira! Please, let me out!! Just go down a bit that way and fetch the key. They are Dragonborn who are working with some Hierarchs.¡±

    Rune hopped up and started to move. The rest of the group wanted to follow, but they had been walking as long as Rune had and as fast, but they didn¡¯t have the infinite stamina Rune had. They all decided to keep Gaira company as they sat down.

    Rune cast [Quiet] all around him as he moved with a speed that was just barely under mach 1. His footfalls would have been heard by all if he hadn¡¯t cast it and the wind wasn¡¯t helping him at all. Just his movement at that speed alone caused the air to ripple as it was on the verge of exploding.

    A head turned towards Rune as he threw a punch.

    Ah, whoops. Um, I guess I should probably not throw a punch at that speed. I was gonna question him¡­ Oh, well.

    The head, body, and arms exploded and mushed themselves into the cavern walls as the legs crumpled to the ground. Rune wasn¡¯t sure what gender it was, but he was pretty positive that it was a female with a dragon or reptilian head. He looked at the pile of red goop as he plucked the keys from out of the wall they stuck into.

    Rune tried to clean it up as best he could by absorbing the contents, but there was still a layer of red etched into the walls. He disregarded it and moved back towards the group. He looked down at the key he was holding and saw that it was shaped like a spiraling triangle that had some grooves covering it.

    Quickly, when he was at the cage, he shoved the strange key into the padlocks and turned it. The lock clicked open and the door creaked as Rune pulled it open. The girl inside seemed to be more energetic than before.

    When Rune was quickly going to get the key, some people in the group gave Gaira half of a bag of beef jerky that she ate in one large gulp. Then the group handed her a canteen of water to drink. The bars of the cage weren¡¯t too spread apart, but you could definitely push something into the cage if you wanted to.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    ¡°I give you my thanks. I have been starving for several weeks now and, thanks to you, I have been set free and fed! Let me have my revenge, then I shall forever be your servant!¡±

    ¡°Okay. You just gonna go there and kill them or what?

    Erin spoke to her as she was hopping out of the cage. She turned back and pondered the thought for a moment before turning to Rune.

    ¡°How did you get the key so quickly? The guards should have been elites.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ If you can throw a punch that has enough power to completely pulverize a dragonborn¡¯s upper body by accident, then you might have a lot of accidents¡­¡±

    ¡°Then you must be really strong!! I am glad to have a master stronger than I!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, ok. I¡¯m dying to kill things now, so let¡¯s murder them.¡±

    Gaira skipped with joy towards the soon to be center of the slaughter. Rune sighed and thought about what kind of things she was capable of doing for him.

    As soon as the group reached the area where Rune killed the Dragonborn. The legs were gone and so were the little chunks of meat, but the blood stains were still embedded in the wall. The group warily looked at the stain and moved around it with caution.

    There were still some holes in the wall as there used to be bones and the key stuck in the wall and the floor. Riika actually managed to drip on one of the holes, but caught herself just in time as she fell.

    ¡°Ah, careful. These are the remains of the guard I killed.¡±

    I was clearly evident that it was, but it became more disgusting to those around him who were also trying not to think about the mess. They didn¡¯t want to imagine that they were stepping on what remained of another humanoid.

    Suddenly, Gaira stopped and stood up straight. She seemed to strain her eyes as she looked ahead of them and sighed.

    ¡°I can see the main room. There are ten innocent people standing there with sacrifices to the Hierarch Dragon. Only kill the Hierarch Dragon as it is the one I need revenge on.¡±

    She stressed the words ¡°innocent¡± and ¡°only kill the Hierarch Dragon¡± as she saw what remained of Rune¡¯s punch. If she didn¡¯t tell them to be careful, Rune would have definitely murdered the ten innocents.

    ¡°Got it. Murder the Hierarch Dragon and don¡¯t kill he innocent people.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Rune couldn¡¯t see the dragon, but he could see the ten innocent people from where he was standing. As they got closer, everyone could see a large room where there were statues and altars all around in a symmetrical pattern.

    There was actually a metal door with bars and a keyhole, but, luckily, it didn¡¯t have the same chains that were on Gaira¡¯s cage. It seemed like one could break through it with physical force. The chains around Gaira¡¯s cage were ethereal and not tangible until one unlocked the cage.

    There was no sign of the dragon as the Dragonborn put their sacrifices on the altars, one sacrifice per altar, and they all kneeled in front of the statue in the middle.

    The middle statue was that of a grand Black Dragon who seemed to be more muscular and powerful than the others that Rune had faced. Rouna just paled as she looked at the statue and muttered a single word, ¡°Irregular¡±.

    Quickly, Rune took out his gauntlets and an empty canteen that used to be filled with water. He filled it with chloroform and some pure alcohol and returned his gauntlets. Then he used [Ethereal] to silently move through the door.

    This single action startled Gaira to the point where she almost jumped out of her skin and seemed like she was about to yelp. Rouna and Rena held her mouth as a muffled whisper escaped through the hands.

    Quickly, Rune cast two simultaneous spells, [Quiet] and [Blind], on the surrounding ten people. Hen he ran up to each one as hey looked around in confusion while unable to see anything. They soon felt fear as Rune couldn¡¯t suppress his deadly presence and they stumbled on the ground.

    Rune held up the chloroform mixture to their, what seemed like, nostrils and forced them to breath in the concoction. They quickly found themselves unconscious and, as soon as hey did so, Rune moved on to the next.

    Chloroform mixed with alcohol makes someone pass out more quickly and too much intake of chloroform is unhealthy. It is unhealthy to the point where, if too much is administered, the heart will stop. Also, cloth is less reliable than the actual bottle as you would need to hold the victim down for several minutes with just chloroform on cloth.

    Even if the cloth was unreliable, he poured some of the chloroform mixture on the collars of their clothes and put it right next to their noses. This way, they would continuously inhale the safest amount of chloroform while staying unconscious.

    It was actually quite a hard thing to do, but he was absolutely glad that he learned about anesthetics from his American History class in middle school. He did an entire project just about chloroform and other anesthetics and how to administer them.

    Even if he knew how to do those things, he wasn¡¯t planning on becoming a doctor, but was planning on becoming an engineer. That was one of the reasons why he was able to create the things he did as well as his interest in weaponry.

    The ten innocent Dragonborn were knocked unconscious, but, to the rest of the group¡¯s point of view, it looked like he suffocated them by smelling something and poured a strange liquid on their clothes. In fact, Gaira even thought that he had killed them as her muffled screeched barely echoed in the cavern.

    Then Rune grabbed hold of the bars on the metal door and ripped it off, effectively freeing the rest of the group and allowing them to enter the room. Gaira rushes to the innocents and looked at them to see if they were alive.

    She started to curl up into a ball as she truly thought they were dead. Rune walked up to her and spoke.

    ¡°Are you an idiot? You didn¡¯t even check their pulse! They¡¯re alive, but unconscious.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Gaira looked up at Rune with the stupidest expression he had ever seen. Then she realized what Rune had said and cried a sigh of relief. Then she slowly got up and found herself woozy as she did so.

    ¡°Where are we supposed to go to now? I want to kill that dragon.¡±

    The rest of the group, except Gaira, sighed as they heard Rune speak. They had gotten used to the things Rune had been saying, but Gaira was still unsure about Rune¡¯s morality. She was clearly unsure about whether or not he was good or evil.

    ¡°Are you good or bad? Seems like you like to kill a lot of things, but why?¡±

    Everybody stopped moving and slowly turned towards her. It looked like she was stepping into unknown territory as she wandered in with no fear. She looked at the others, one by one, and realized that her question might have some terrible unintended consequences.

    ¡°I suppose I would be good. I also like to kill things because it¡¯s fun and I get more powerful, but mainly because it is fun.¡±

    Everybody showed a confused look on their faces as they finally learned that Rune wasn¡¯t keeping it a secret that he killed for fun, but they were still a bit iffy when they found out that he did it for fun. Then the rest of the group turned back to what they were doing at the moment.

    They headed for the top of the largest temple things in the room. There were sets of stairs leading up to the top of the temple and they couldn¡¯t see the top of the building. Gaira led the group up to the top of the temple with an angry look on her face.

    When they reached the top of the temple structure, they found that there was a strange, black, what seemed like a, tear in space. It rippled about and wind seemed to gust about it. It shimmered as they watched in awe and surprise as they did so.

    ¡°I think that the dragon is this way. I last saw him go up to the top of the temple and disappeared.¡±

    ¡°Nnnnn. I¡¯m not sure that this is safe, but, uh, sure. Let¡¯s do it. Wanna throw a rock in with some

    rope or something?¡±

    <hr>

    Something in the dark yawned in such a loud magnitude that dust scattered around the being. It sighed as it felt boredom all around it. As it produced the sigh, it looked around at all of the things around it.

    ¡°Nn. I want to do something fun¡­ Why can¡¯t I find anything? Hahhhh¡­¡±

    It moved its arm so that the elbow rested on the armrest and the hand was holding up their chin. It looked down at its other hand and opened and closed it. The talons on its hands touched its palm, but no blood was drawn as its hide was too thick.

    As it heaved a sigh, its wings shuddered from the creature¡¯s chest shaking. It had four wings on its back, but they were torn and the being was now unable to fly for the remainder of its existence. The color of its black scales used to be a shining obsidian black, but now were a worn out dark grey color with many wounds and scars.

    It lazily moved its eyes towards the shimmering portal just as it noticed movement. Suddenly, a small object with something attached to it flew through it. He watched in interest as he looked at what it was.

    It was a rock on a rope.

    <hr>

    ¡°I dunno¡­ It should be safe? Who''s to say?¡±

    Rune had thrown a rock into the portal and tied it to a rope. There was no tugging and no feel of it moving about. He concentrated on the vibrations, but felt nothing except his own fingers readjusting their grip.

    Hesitantly, he pulled back the rock back through the portal to find that there was quite a large amount of dust from rocks sitting on it. The dust wasn¡¯t there before and it looked to be dark colored.

    Then he stuck his head in and looked around. He approached the portal with caution and carefully moved his head through.

    <hr>

    Oh, the rock disappeared¡­ Might someone be coming here?

    The being snorted at the thought when a helmet appeared from the portal. The being tilted its head as it looked at the new helm in surprise and curiosity. It edged closer on its throne as it wanted to get a closer look at the new attendee.

    The helm looked both left and right, then found itself staring at the beast. It was the Hierarch Dragon. A rank 1 Black Dragon. Rune, the helm, found that he couldn¡¯t turn away from the dragon as it looked strong. Stronger than the rest.

    It was quite strange how Rune kept finding dragons who were each stronger than the last. He had come across rank 5s, then a rank 4, then a rank 3 before skipping to a rank 1. It was as if some greater being was slowly leveling him up.

 Chapter 44: A Dragons Amusement

    ¡°Why hello, young fool. What brings you to my abode?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Are you the one who sent Gaira to that cage?¡±

    ¡°Why are you wondering?¡±

    ¡°... Just ¡®cuz?¡±

    ¡°Well, indeed I am. Why?¡±

    ¡°Want to fight now?¡±

    ¡°Oh, an unruly one alright. So, shall we have a crack at it?¡±

    The dragon stood up on its hind legs and rose upwards after pushing itself off the chair. Its wings spread even though they didn¡¯t work and it stretched upwards and then stretched its arm muscles.

    Rune fully went through the portal and stepped on the dusty, rocky terrain. He put on his gauntlets and dropped a double barrel shotgun and bolt action rifle over his shoulders. At his waist, three knives, which consisted of one trench knife and two combat knives, a katana, and the railgun hand cannon.

    He put his hand through the portal and indicated for the rest of them to step away from the area and to not enter. Then he moved up towards the dragon.

    The dragon was bipedal and had no armor save for its scales. It looked down at Rune with its pupils which seemed to be pure darkness, as if the abyss was implanted there, and the four horns loomed above and pointed towards him.

    Rune slowly drew his railgun and trained it on the dragon. The dragon had no idea what he was doing and watched in curiosity. Rune grinned in satisfaction and spoke.

    ¡°Shall we begin?¡±

    He fired off the gun and it hit its mark. Well, barely. The dragon moved it of the blast of energy before it could get hit in the torso, but it still couldn¡¯t fully evade as the beam hit its arm.

    The scales on its body were scorched and a few fell off, but now the Black Dragon learned its lesson. Once it did so, it would do basically everything in its power to not recreate that mistake.

    It bellowed in excitement as it had never faced an opponent that could damage it as much as Rune had in the first blow. From the gaping mouth of the dragon, a curtain of black fog covered the land and the rocks under it first dissolved into a liquid before evaporating into the air.

    Rune leapt back and unhooked his rifle and holstered his railgun. Aiming at the dragon, still belching his acid, and fired off a bolt of energy and magic crystals.

    It flew through the air at a speed faster than the railgun¡¯s energy, but the dragon mostly dodged out of its way. The bullet landed in its useless wings as it tried to side step the bullet traveling towards its heart.

    As soon as the bullet landed in the wing, the wing blew up and broke off several large chunks of its wings. Even though a single wing came off, the dragon spazzed for a moment due to the amount of pain it experienced before the wing reformed as a small nub.

    It had never experienced such an immense amount of pain in its entire life and it hadn¡¯t even felt a small pain in the past several centuries. This pain was one that the dragon had not felt for so long that he had forgotten the feeling one knows as pain.

    Although it had the power to regenerate, it could only regenerate in an area that did not have [Dispel Magic] affecting it. If there was such a thing affecting the area, then the regeneration would heal him up to a certain extent. This also only affected his internal body and not his scales.

    The dragon roared in pain and cut off its acidic breath short when Rune fires once more. This time. The Dragon was ready and it leapt out of the way. The bullet whizzed passed him and pulverized the backrest of the throne.

    It landed on the ground and dust spewed about it to form a shallow crater. Then it rushed Rune as he fired with his rifle, missing all his shots.

    Quickly, Rune shouldered his rifle and swung the shotgun about towards the dragon. He waited until it got closer before he fired off a blast which the dragon avoided by jumping above him.

    Then, with the utmost precision and speed, Rune trainee he shotgun in the air where the dragon would end up in the next moment. He fired and every single piece of shrapnel entered its body.

    The dragon continued with its momentum, but it couldn¡¯t land on its feet and skidded face first on the rocks. It shakily stood up on all fours as Rune was running towards it.

    The shotgun he held was one with ten chambers and could fire rapidly for ten shots before needing to be reloaded.

    The dragon lashed out with its tail with enough force to instantly kill a rank 1 Hierarch Dragon. If Rune was in his human form, he would have been completely pulverized as he flew back into the throne.

    It was just like that time where he was stuck in the wall before, but, this time, there was no sword to hold onto to get out. Instead, a cloud of black acid entered the new hole Rune found himself in.

    ¡°Nooo! Agh! It burns!!¡±

    Then silence. The dragon cokced its head and then sighed. It wanted to battle him some more.

    ¡°Oh my. That was so much fun, but it is sad that I lost a wing in the process. I wish it could have lasted longer.¡±

    He sat back onto his throne that was slightly melted and the backrest was completely annihilated due to a bullet. He sighed as he looked back and groaned as he was going to have to force some Dragonborn to work on another throne.

    Then, he felt a searing pain in his thigh and he quickly stood up. He patted his thigh to notice a large hole in it and the regeneration only mended the inner sides of the hole. He staggered and looked at the new hole in his seat.

    A little bit earlier, Rune had to quickly set up a large barrier about him and he desperately poured mana into it. Then, after a quick thought, he started to wail in fake pain to pretend that he was dying.

    The dragon had not encountered the action of acting for several centuries and was easily felled by this trick. He truly believed that Rune was dead.

    What Rune did was he shifted ever so carefully into a position where he could shoot upwards and, as soon as he shot, escaped the hole. He heard a noise and a rumbling voice above him and he shot.

    Then he used [gravity Control] on his gun to launch himself out. The bullet pierced straight through the dragon¡¯s thigh and it fell over as soon as it stood up. Then it got onto all fours, or what it could manage, and glared at Rune.

    It slightly galloped towards the seat and covered it in acid. It hadn¡¯t realized that Rune had easily left the hole and was actually hiding next to the portal.

    Rune quietly and quickly stuck his head into the portal and spoke to the rest of the group.

    ¡°Leave. Get off this temple until I come back out. Now.¡±

    He hissed in his somewhat muffled speakers. The rest of the group looked startled before they hurried to pack their things and run down the stairs towards the tied up innocents.

    Rune removed his head, but not due to his own movement, but due to the dragon swiping him away with its claws. He flew far, far back until the dragon looked like a small insect from how far away he was.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    He skidded along the ground and, when he touched the ground with his face, he tumbled further into the air. As soon as he stopped, he slowly moved his arms to correct his limbs once they were bent at the knees and elbows at strange angles.

    At the point when he had realigned his head, the dragon was making a ruckus on his way over to him. The ground rumbled and dust flew into the sky as it hobbled over with immense speed on its last three good legs.

    Rune held up his rifle and trained it on the incoming dragon. Then, once the dragon reached him, he did the unexpected and leapt upwards while pointing the rifle straight downwards and firing.

    The blast forced him into the air and he went straight above the dragon and it looked at him in perfect timing as its eyes searched for him in the air. In a rage, for, even though it had fun, it was furious that he made an unhealable hole in his thigh, the dragon leapt up underneath Rune.

    As it did so and, without its wings, it couldn¡¯t maneuver well in the air, Rune aimed down his scope knowing that he wouldn¡¯t miss. His finger tugged the trigger a little bit and the blast force knocked him further into the sky while the bullet rained on the dragon from above.

    The bullet flew down with immense speed and drove itself straight through its arm and the dragon seemed to slow down and it started to fall to the ground. Rune did so as well once he reached his maximum height and he soon fell downwards.

    The dragon landed first and steadied itself on its left side, because the right side was damaged beyond repair, and it opened its maw towards Rune. And, for the reason being that it was easier to kill something when you are inside it than it is when you are outside of it, he drew his shotgun and straightened himself up like he was going to do a pencil dive.

    He dove into the dragon¡¯s gullet and slid in easily as he started using all of the defense barriers and skills he could use. The acidic effect starting acting immediately when he touched the dragon¡¯s saliva. It was an acid strong enough to evaporate a pond of water with just a single drop.

    While he was still in the throat, he cast [Light] and looked for the passage to go into the lungs. Before, the lungs were in different places than a humanoid¡¯s body and not large enough for a person of his stature to fit through, but Rune believed that this dragon might be more anatomically similar to a humanoid.

    There was a small hatch and he struggled to pry it open while he was slipping on the burning liquid all around him. Eventually, he managed to get out his scythe and explode areas around the passage entrance, but the mucus and saliva kept putting out the fires and explosions.

    To keep his footing in the area, he drove knives into the fleshy walls and cast [Dispel Magic] all around him. Even if the [Dispel Magic] actually dispelled magic, it only worked on active, passive, and conjuration spells. It had no effect on enchantments which was a huge bonus for him as he was covered in them.

    The esophagus was, to his surprise, quite spacious and uncomfortably warm. Also, if he could smell, he would have passed out due to the strange mixtures all around him. The passage that he had opened up was to the lungs and he was carving out a careful strategy. Literally.

    He stored his scythe and hopped down the shaft into the right lung. The drop was actually high enough that a normal person would die if they fell from that height. Apparently, the dragon was standing upwards for him to fall into its lungs.

    The dragon had been hobbling over, back to its throne, and was leaning on it. It found that it was becoming harder to breath for some reason and felt like there was something in his throat that he was choking on.

    By the time he reached his throne, he felt pains in his throat and believed that Rune was still alive and kicking. To try and kill him off, the dragon held its good hand up, over its open maw, and acid gushed forth from a magic circle that appeared on its palms.

    It guzzled down the dark green and partially black fluid and sighed as if it just chugged a pint of beer. The fluid traveled down its throat and went straight to its stomach, but not before some of it ended up in its lungs. The hole that Rune had made was good for him to go in and out from, but it also let in a lot of unwanted things, such as the acid.

    Rune was slightly humming through his speakers in his helm as he worked. He was quite busy planting his explosives. Since he didn¡¯t make explosives that used [Dispel Magic] and the mechanism to set them off was using magic, he made hundreds of caltrops with [Dispel Magic] in them that were made of the metal the sand guards had for their armor and weapons.

    He made piles of them and placed remote explosives in the center of each pile to fire them everywhere. The only problem was that, if he was touched by even one of the caltrops, as in they went through his armor, he would likely pass out like the time before in the lab.

    When he was testing some bullets with [Dispel Magic], he accidently shot his foot after a ricochet and he became unconscious for several moments. Apparently, his armor guarded him from the effects, but, if penetrated, his form would become unstable for a few moments before it would be absorbed into his body.

    He set up four of these piles and tested out an enchantment, magnetic, on the bombs and, surprisingly, the caltrops stuck to the bombs quickly. Then he moved onto the next lung, but, by then, it was too late. Thee acid started to pour into the lung and the bombs were soon going to be melted.

    He had no choice. He whipped out his rifle and used [Gravity Control] to slingshot him out of the dragon via mouth. At the moment where he was right next to the teeth, he pressed the button for the bombs to explode and they did so.

    Even though he had made it out of the dragon, he had not come out unscathed as he was partially melted in most of his body. The internal fluids were slowly corroding him while the acid the dragon drank was disintegrating parts of his body.

    He crashed to the ground as soon as he got out of the dragon¡¯s mouth. His limbs were falling everywhere and he was now just a chest and a head with scrap metal surrounding him. He quickly used [Gravity Control] to gather everything to place into his storage. Then he laid out the random pieces of metal that used to be his limbs and he used his magic eye to heal himself.

    At least, that¡¯s what should have happened. The magic eye, unbeknownst to him, was not able to heal inanimate objects and he quickly put away the pieces of metal. Then he changed into the form that he looked forward to the most.

    It was the Majin form which, in theory, should be the most powerful due to him being the Demon King. He quickly placed the rest of his armor away as soon as he transformed and lay over him a new set of clothes.

    His clothes were the ones that he normally wore out to teach and such, his black and grey clothes with two knives in their sheathes. His jacket was slightly worn out, but it wasn¡¯t torn or shredded like the armor he wore before.

    His white hair was slightly stiff, but white as snow and his left eye was pure red with one black slit while his right eye had red irises and a black pentagram with white runes around it. His canines grew sharper and deadlier and, without his knowledge, had the ability to drain the life force of those that he bit. His ears became more pointed and his skin turned from a pale color to a deathly pale color, as if he was a fresh corpse.

    He now had two horns protruding from both sides of his head, like a ram¡¯s, and they had white runic symbols on the dark brown material making it up. On his backside he grew a tail that was thick at the base and grew thinner the farther it got from the base. It had no spikes nor barbs on it, but seemed to be made out of a harder material than the other Majin¡¯s tails.

    On his back, it looked like wings from afar, but, if one were to look at them closely, they would see that the wings were made of the same material as his horns. It looked like vines wrapping around each other and stretched leather to create wings that looked like a bat¡¯s.

    Above his head was a strange glowing fire that changed due to his mood. Red would mean that he is angry, blue is sad, yellow for excitement, etc. However, it always kept the form of the front part of a crown with three prongs that were connected a the base by a slightly curved line.This fire was proof that one is Demon King.

    He gained some new abilities that could only be used in his Demon King form. One was that his defensive skills and magics became more potent by at least ten fold. He also had the ability to steal the life force of others by biting them and adding their life force to his to heal himself. His physical and magical abilities also gained quite a large boost and he was now more agile than ever, especially with the addition of [Breakneck].

    A Demon King¡¯s form would be based off of one of the Seven Deadly Sins. However, in his case, they were based off of his ideals, beliefs, and personality. In this case, he would be more representing of Satan, but, in this case, it would be more accurate to name him something else. Something far more sinister than the Seven Deadly Sins or even the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Something like the Apocalypse in a tangible form.

    Although he had gained more muscle, it did not show and he appeared to be as thin as before. The dragon would have scoffed at his appearance if it could, but it was quite busy drooling blood. There were four holes in its body and was still bleeding from the other two. It could not speak as the airways were cut off and it was lying on the ground.

    Suddenly, it grinned slightly and it became shrouded in darkness. It was as if the darkness came from within and swallowed up the dragon. The darkness formed a large sphere around the dragon and it soon clung to the dragon and its form could be seen. Then a roar followed.

    ¡°I¡­ Am¡­ Nightmare¡­ This¡­ Catalyst¡­ Is¡­ Ready¡­ To¡­ Die¡­ And¡­ Now¡­ I¡­ Shall¡­ Use¡­ It!!!¡±

    It shifted its weight as the dragon covered in shadows seemed to have healed all of its wounds. Then it pounced on Rune with tremendous speed and, since Rune couldn¡¯t control his newfound power, he was stuck in place after trying to kick off the ground. Instead of jumping, he dug a huge crater in the ground underneath him and the dragon slammed into him.

    He tumbled away, still using all his defensive skills and magics, and landed back first on the ground. He tried to put one hand on the ground to his right, but ended up sending himself flying several stories in the air. He tumbled once more in the sky and, when he landed, he was half buried in the rocky terrain.

    Rune slowly raised one hand and looked at it. He felt as if he was brimming with power, but was completely unable to use it, even with [Physical Enhancement] to speed up his reaction speed. His reaction speed stayed the same while most other things, including his senses, became better.

 Chapter 45: A New Power

    Rune looked up at his hand and stared at it before dropping it to the ground. Once more, he was sent into a spiral of confusion in the air and landed, face first, in the rocks. He tried to move slowly, but found that he moved at a regular speed if he did so, then he used only a little bit of muscles and strength to push himself off the ground.

    His wings tucked in as he did so and he was able to get himself on balance as he stood up correctly. Then, with acute precision and timing things slowly, he walked towards the dragon. Even if he tried to move slowly, he was moving at a running pace.

    The dragon, currently covered from head to toe in shadows and with all of its would seeming to be healed, was confused at everything it just witnessed. At first, it tried to tackle Rune when a large dent appeared underneath him. Then, after he landed, he sent himself flying not once, but twice.

    ¡°Uh¡­ What?¡±

    Rune was walking towards the dragon in shadows as if nothing had happened. In fact, Rune did not feel anything other than unease as he got up from his falls. He wasn¡¯t sure if he could control his power, but he wanted to train himself in the only way he could in this situation. Fight.

    Rune moved his arm back and closed his fist. He was charging up a punch that was reinforced with magic. His acid gauntlets were fine as he had taken them off when he saw that it was a Black Dragon he was fighting, but he chose to not use them in case they broke due to Rune¡¯s own attacks.

    Then, using his back foot, Rune propelled himself towards the enemy and was launched from the ground into the air. He stayed on track this time and used [Gust] to make him fall even faster with a wind pushing him downwards, The dragon, too confused to launch a counter-attack, was punched in the face and it seemed like some shadows fell to the ground, as if they were armor around the dragon.

    The shadows started to move towards the dragon, but there were not like regular shadows. They were like pieces of cloth that danced wildly through the air. Since the dragon was moved back, they started to move over to the dragon¡¯s position when Rune tried to grab one of them. Tried to.

    He couldn¡¯t as the dark shadows seemed to slip through his hands. Using [Ethereal], he grabbed for them again, but to no avail. It seemed like he couldn¡¯t grab one, even if he tried. Frustrated, he moved towards them again and absorbed them as soon as they were around his hand. He sighed in relief as he finally did something to the shadows.

    The dragon, on the other hand, was watching him like a parent would to a child who was doing something that made absolutely no sense. It watched Rune try and play a game of tag with the shadows before absorbing them. Once he did so, the dragon became even more bewildered and shook its head as if trying to make sure it wasn¡¯t seeing things.

    It looked once more to see Rune do a victory stance by raising both hands in the air and shouting strange things that it didn¡¯t understand. Then Rune turned to look at the dragon again and leapt into the air. With his wings, he flapped them and strong gusts of wind whirled about him.

    It was immensely hard for him to keep himself in the air as he was not used to having wings. He flailed about for several moments as he was afraid that he would just fall. Instead of falling, it was like his body instinctively knew how to handle his wings.

    He flapped his wings that looked heavy, but were, on the contrary, not. It was as if they were actual wings instead of some strange looking pair of wings that were made of the horn material.

    The dragon came back to its senses as it had no idea that Rune had the ability to fly through the sky, even if Rune did not know that before. It knew that the enemies on the ground were much easier to handle as they had a limited amount of places to go as well as the fact that the dragon¡¯s wings were utterly useless. This became a problem for him quickly.

    It moved both of its arms in front of it and placed them palm first on the ground. Then it started chanting words that Rune had never heard before. Soon enough, a magic circle, darker than the ground that seemed to absorb all colors around it, appeared under its hands and it grew wider.

    It was like water spreading over a flat surface, but this kept going far beyond what was expected. Then, tendrils of darkness appeared from the magic circle¡¯s lines and they turned and whipped around towards Rune.

    All he could think at the moment when the tendrils appeared was, I am not into that kind of thing. Nope. I¡¯m just gonna kill the dragon first, then, hopefully, those tentacles will go away.

    Rune started to perform tactical maneuvers in the air to try and dodge each tentacle, but some were much faster than others. On tendril hit his spine and he felt as if his stamina and energy was depleting. He felt fainter and weaker and more fatigued.

    Rune flew upwards and pointed a hand at the dragon. Then he cast [Unholy Smite] which used the elements of Light and Dark to crush its foes underneath. What he was imagining was a man sized cross like the one he summoned before, but, this time, he got something much larger.

    It was all thanks to him being in his Demon King form and he got a large magic boost. The cross was far larger than a rank 3 Hierarch Dragon, but still a bit smaller than the rank 1 Hierarch Dragon before him.

    Even with the slight size different, the cross moved faster than Rune thought possible and far surpassed the speed of sound. Its speed was around mach 2.

    The cross embedded itself inside of the dragon, specifically its neck, and fully decapitated it while the white aura around the cross dissolved most of the shadow cloth around it. The dragon sunk to the ground and went back to its original, battered form.

    Unfortunately, the tendrils of shadows and darkness kept coming from the magic circle and Rune started to cast as many spells as he could at it. [Eldritch Blast]. [Ice Lance]. [Thunderstorm]. [Ice Age].

    He was fortunate that his mana lasted much longer than the tendrils of darkness and they dispersed as soon as the magic hit them. They puffed out into small specks of darkness and became absorbed into the ground once they landed.

    Ruen slowly landed on the ground. The reason why he was able to fly with his dragon form was due to how the brain in the form was wired differently from his humanoid forms. Of course, the Majin form would usually not use wings, but the Demon King was wired to do so.

    He landed on the ground and dust and rocks flew in the opposite direction of him as he did so and he generated large quantities of wind like a helicopter when landing. He barely had any trouble flying, but now the hard part came.

    He tentatively took a step forward as slowly as he could and sighed in relief as he didn¡¯t make another crater in the ground. Then he planted his front foot on the ground steadily and pushed off with all his might.

    He soared through the sky for several moments before dropping down in front of the dragon¡¯s corpse. After pulling out a knife, he started to descale the remains of the dragon and cut off its claws. Then, he turned his blade on the face.

    As quickly as he could, he gouged out the eyes with blood dripping from each one. And, with absolute precision, he took out every tooth from the lower jaw.

    With the pile of body parts behind him, he stored them except for the eyes which he stored as soon as they were gouged out. With the remaining pieces, he absorbed them and the cloth of darkness around it that was lying in the puddles of blood and acid.

    Rune couldn¡¯t figure much from his encounter, but he did understand one thing. That the dragon was ready to die while fighting him and, since it made some sort of contract, it was taken over by the contracted being. That being was one of darkness and it basically devoured the dragon.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    From that dragon and cloth, he only gained two skills. One passive, [Dragon Scales], and one active, [Shadow Step]. The former gave him more natural defense as well as more strength. The latter gave him the ability to travel through the shadows, but only shadows connected with one another.

    He was now able to move his Demon King form with one precision after he cut up the dragon. He could now take a step without destroying the surrounding area. Even so, he turned back into his human form as his group members did not know the current form he was in.

    <hr>

    Rena and Hika were busy teaching Gaira how to play with cards while Gaira was worrying about Rune who popped his head through the portal and told them to go to the base of the temple.

    Rouna wa lying down while in a lap pillow from Elisa after Rouna whined to her. Elisa was slowly patting the green hair on her lap which was silky and soft.

    Riika and Erin were both doing their own thing while waiting for Rune to come out. They were nervous as he hand come out for a while.

    Sure enough, he did, but not in his Cursed Armor form as it was destroyed a while earlier. He was not able to fix his armor in he current conditions as he needed Kelly¡¯s welding tool and a very hot heat source. He was probably able to make the heat source, but would likely fail at the torch as he needed it to be precise.

    He hopped down from the temple, now in Human form, and strode up to the group. He specifically walked over to Gaira after passing some Dragonborn who were squirming in their ropes and chains.

    ¡°It¡¯s done. You didn¡¯t want to fight him?¡±

    ¡°No. I just wanted to tear down everything he did. That was just a bonus.¡±

    ¡°Ok. If you say so¡­¡±

    Then one of the Dragonborn slid part of his gag out of his mouth and spoke in Draconic. Only Rouna and Gaira, and Erin a little bit, could understand.

    ¡°Thank you. We were under his control. We can show you the way out now. Please free our people from their cells first though.¡±

    Rune just stared at the person with a tilted head until Gaira spoke into his ear to translate. Then he stood up and told Gaira to ask the Dragonborn a question.

    ¡°Ahem. Where are the cells?¡±

    ¡°They are in the caves this way.¡±

    Then the Dragonborn moved towards a tunnel entrance and strode at a semi-fast pace. Rune then turned to Gaira and spoke to her.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know where he cells are?¡±

    ¡°I was stuck in that cage for several years with a minimal amount of food and water. I was too hungry to think and gone for too long. I had no idea that these cells even existed until he said something.¡±

    Rune nodded slowly and he followed the Dragonborn with slight suspicion. It was definitely strange for someone to suddenly just snap out of the mind control and no side effects disappearing. In the Manticore village, they had red veins in their eyes and spoke in a monotone voice. Here, the Dragonborns did not change at all.

    Of course, there were no signs that they were under mind control, but this mind control was due to a dragon who was definitely more powerful than the one before. That meant that their magic was more undetectable.

    They walked down a stone path and encountered several cages that were similar to the one Gaira was in, but these did not have the chains nor did they feel as powerful. The Dragonborn was leading the way and the other nine were doing something where Rena and Erin were staying. They were going to notify Rune if they did anything out of the ordinary for them.

    The rest of the group moved through the tunnels some more to reach a room where there was a lock and the Dragonborn pulled out a key. Then it placed it inside the lock and slid upwards. The lock moved along with it and then came to a rest.

    The door opened up in a criss crossed pattern and there was a small, cube room behind it. There was only a single thing on it, but it had twenty buttons lined up in a row and a lock that used the same key as the door. The buttons were on a pedestal that was about waist level and it had twenty green colored lights next to each button.

    The Dragonborn plugged in his key and pressed every button which turned the lights from green to red. The doors to the cages rose up and Rune could hear gears clunking in the walls.

    Several Dragonborn escaped their cages at a time and they all looked similar with their black scales and horns protruding forwards. Each one of them turned to Rune and the others and started to screech.

    They all bum rushed the group and Rune pulled out his katana. The Dragonborn behind them seemed to cackle for a little bit in glee before Rune got and stabbed in from lower to upper jaw. Blood spewed from the wound and his eyes rolled up into his head. The upper head was utterly annihilated with the brain matter splattering about the place.

    The Dragonborn slid down the blade some more when it finally reached the hilt and Rune kicked it off his blade. Then he spun towards the charging Dragonborn and slashed the air. Three balls of blue flames were sent flying into the crowd and a total of five of them started to be burned alive.

    Rune then pulled out his shotgun and fired off several shells before reloading. His katana was now in its sheath, but the sheathe was overflowing with blood as he sword rest in it.

    The next several moments were like scenes straight out of the Nine Hell¡¯s. Blood oozed from the cages and walls, flesh dangled from the ceiling, and meat squished in between the cage bars. Heads rolled and limbs were severed, but Rune only felt excitement as he tested out how strong he had gotten from the dragon.

    At the end of the blood bath, Rune was panting. He hadn¡¯t moved that much in his Human form in his entire life, not to mention how heavy the guns and blades were. He was used to having infinite stamina and no fatigue with his Cursed Armor form.

    Gaira looked upon the scene and stumbled to a corner that did not have blood, surprisingly enough, and threw up the beef jerky she was given by Rune¡¯s group. Rune stood back up and put away all his weapons except his katana that was still leaking blood from the sheath.

    Dark red fluid dropped out which made her gag even more and Rune sighed. He turned towards her and spoke.

    ¡°Hey. I was defending my group. Plus, they were probably still under mind control.¡±

    ¡°I-I know, but, blegh, we could¡¯ve imprisoned them or left. Not killing them!¡±

    She retched in the middle of her speech as she was turning back to Rune, but saw a Dragonborn head that was halved and brains were spilling onto the drenched floor.

    ¡°What¡¯s done is done. They decided to attack me and, at that moment, turned from innocents to attackers. Plus, they would¡¯ve found a way to escape and sacrifice more things like that.¡±

    Rune pointed at the strange lump of meat in the square room. There was a table that was made of dark stone and was in a rectangular basin to gather leaking blood.

    ¡°They were gone for too long and under a powerful spell. Maybe if they were under it for a few months, but not years. In that time, any mind would be corrupted. Plus, they will live on.¡±

    She looked up at him as tears flowed from her eyes. She wiped them and spoke.

    ¡°W-what do you mean?¡±

    ¡°They will live on¡­ as our party¡¯s experience points!¡±

    Gaira shuddered as she realized what kind of person Rune was. In her eyes, he was cold and cruel and kind of insane. In Rune¡¯s eyes, Rune was doing the best he could to not let anyone near him die while he was on the trip. That meant doing away with his sanity, even though he had very little before, and getting stronger to protect those around him.

    He could not waver, not even for a second, because that second might mean the end of someone¡¯s life. So, instead of letting them die, he would kill the ones trying to harm them.

    He crouched down and, making sure that Gaira wasn¡¯t watching, absorbed the bodies of the Dragonborn and stored quite a bit of them. He only did this for seven of them before Gaira turned around and looked at him. She gave him a look as if to ask what he was doing.

    Rune replied with a shrug and started to store the rest of the bodies and absorb the blood. Soon enough, while Gaira was watching in horror, the room was mostly cleared of any flesh, blood, and meat.

    When he was done, he was about to say something to the rest of the group with him when Rena spoke over the radio which was fuzzy still and had a lot of static due to the tunnels interfering with the signal.

    ¡°We have killed the other nine Dragonborn. They were trying to kill us using farming tools and stuff.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re on our way.¡±

    Rune gestured for the rest of he group to follow and he grabbed Gaira in a firefighter carry over his shoulder. Hey races towards the scene and found nine bodies strewn about. Rune put Gaira down and she walked over to Erin.

    ¡°How could you do this to your kin!? They are part of your race!¡±

    Erin gave her a little shrug.

    ¡°If they try to kill you, they are your enemies and you should take them out if they attack.¡±

    He stated it as if it was a fact and Gaira started to crouch and put her head in her hands. Rune tugged in his collar a little bit and shifted his weight. He was the one who taught Erin that.

    Then Rune walked up to Gaira and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and he could tell her face was a mess.

    ¡°Uh, I¡¯m sorry?¡±

    ¡°I understand now.¡±

    She sniffled and rubbed her face with a cloth Rouna gave her.

    ¡°I was too late to do anything. It¡¯s my fault.¡±

    Rune sighed again and grabbed both her shoulders and pulled her up to a standing position.

    ¡°If you want to do something, then I have the perfect job for you. I want you to first learn the basics, then You will teach students in my school about a subject. How¡¯s that sound?¡±

    She sniffles again and nodded slowly. Then he grinned and let go of her shoulders.

    ¡°So¡­ which way?¡±

 Chapter 46: Upstairs

    The group followed Gaira through a passage on the opposite side of the cavern as the caged tunnels. Rune already cleaned up the mess of nine ¡°innocents¡± and was in the middle of yawning when Gaira asked him a question.

    ¡°So, what is a ¡°teacher¡± exactly?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? You don¡¯t know? Basically, they are people who better society by enriching students with the knowledge they need to survive in life.¡±

    Gaira made a confused face and tilted her head. She was moving her lips a small bit, as if she wanted to say something, but couldn¡¯t find the right words. Rune looked at her confused face and spoke after thinking of a way to make his words simpler.

    ¡°You see¡­ teachers are, uh, people who help other people learn things to live.¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    She seemed to understand it and nodded profusely and Rune put on a face that was 2 parts confusion, 1 part frown, and 1 part smile. Then he shifted his jaw in his mouth to change his expression to that of a neutral expression.

    It seemed like him being Cursed Armor affected his facial muscles that he was not used to using. After all, his Cursed Armor only had rotating eyes now.

    Hika looked back up at the ceiling and scratched her chin. Then it looked like she had a grand epiphany and sighed for a long time. She was thinking about how she would have to go to school after the mission was done. She would rather be on a dangerous mission than go to school.

    Rena actually was getting tired of the mission and wanted to go back to the school and rest. She was quite keen on learning, unlike Hika, and didn¡¯t feel too great after the large amount of pain that she was in the day before.

    The group walked up some steps in the passage and they saw a light through cracks in a wooden door ahead of them. It didn¡¯t seem to be anything special, but there were no locks and just a handle.

    Rune hopped up the stairs stood hesitantly in front of the door. He moved his hand and grasped the handle and turned it.

    There was a blinding light and he could see sand. They were on the surface. Except, on closer inspection, they were in a massive ditch that was about two miles deep, but was curved. They seemed to be at the very bottom with the tunnel and door protruding out from the center.

    The heat was almost unbearable for Rune and he quickly started using a less fatal version of [Freezing Aura]. He sighed as he instantly felt cooler and the rest of the group came up. As soon as they were hit by the heat, they also felt the cold air all around them.

    ¡°Aaahhh.¡±

    Gaira started to stretch and felt good in the cool and warm environment. She stretched her limbs and proceeded to look around her surroundings. The rest of the group followed suit.

    ¡°Ok then. Let¡¯s get out of this crater. Get on.¡±

    Rune pulled out a large, empty food crate and split it into six platforms. Some people were going to have to squeeze, but they could easily do so. They each got onto one part of the box and Rune just placed his chest piece over his jacket and prepared to use magic.

    Then, with a sudden push and tug, the box pieces started to move and so did Rune¡¯s armor. He was using a combination of [Gravity Control] and [Gust] so that they could move faster and with more precision.

    However, the only problem was that he was using up a lot of mana at the moment and had already depleted his supply to about twenty five percent just after the massacre in the cages. He looked in his status to see his mana lower at an immense rate and he changed into the Demon King form.

    Of course, this had a lot of drawbacks. One of which being that no one knew he had that form.

    ¡°¡°¡°Wah!!!¡±¡±¡±

    Three surprised voices were heard from the box surfaces. They were Erin, Riika, and Elisa who each yelped at the same time while the others just put on confused faces. Gaira was too confused to say anything.

    Rune turned to look at the group as soon as he felt less tired and a large portion of his mana was regained. He looked at everyone and spoke in a voice similar to his own, but more rough and baritone. Even he was a bit surprised at his voice.

    ¡°It¡¯s just me, Rune. Don¡¯t freak out so much.¡±

    ¡°W-what? How can we not freak out after seeing you turn into¡­ that.¡±

    Elisa gestured to the entirety of Rune and Riika nodded without saying a word. By that time, Rune stopped using magic on himself and was steadily flying upwards. They still hadn¡¯t even made it a fourth of the way up.

    ¡°Anyway, where do you come from and what is your backstory, Gaira?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? I am a Black Guardian Dragon who used to live in the Majin continent. I was actually an advisor to two of the Demon Kings before the second one I served exiled me here for not performing my duties correctly.¡±

    ¡°What did you do?¡±

    Riika was curious and Rune was intrigued, but Hika was the one who asked the question. Elisa was holding the scabbard of Excalibur with a tight grip and was glowering at her.

    Rune saw this and moved his hand up and forcibly lowered her hands with [Gravity Control]. He didn¡¯t want to move around too much as he wanted to focus on moving on his path without any other hindrances.

    ¡°To be exiled? I tried to stop the Demon King from destroying all of Humanity and the Elves. It seemed that that one wanted destruction and death. But, you know, to me, it seems like Rune is something like the Demon King¡­ Why is that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s probably because I am the Demon King.¡±

    Gaira started to suddenly cough and cleared her throat. She had started to choke on some saliva as soon as she heard that.

    Then she started backing away from Rune as far as she could while still on the box. She started to stutter and point at Rune, but he just held up his hand and spoke.

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m not going to do anything to you. Plus, I¡¯m too busy with this mission, the school, and my family.¡±

    She started to calm down, but then had a question.

    ¡°Are you starting that school to kill better opponents? Like, the people who finish the school? What is your main goal?¡±

    ¡°First of all, no. I don¡¯t plan on killing my students. Look, you just made Rena, Erin, and Riika scared. Secondly, my main goal to to watch anime.¡±

    ¡°... annie may?¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯re saying it wrong.¡±

    By the time they finished with the small conversation, the group reached the top of the crater and Rune plopped everyone onto the ground. The sand made it hard for them to stand on, but they were already almost used to the unbalanced ground.

    Gaira was the one who was having the most trouble on the sandy terrain, but managed to stay standing on it. Rune looked about and increased his sight to see that his hovering platform was still floating, but was about a mile away.

    He sighed and decided to have the group walk towards it. The hovering platform would not be controlled by him unless he was within 100 ft of it. Currently, he was about a mile away.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    ¡°Ugh. Ok. Come on. We have to get a move on. Let''s start walking.¡±

    Gaira looked at him in curiosity as he put away the pieces of the box.

    ¡°Why not hover over there with the same way we came up the crater?¡±

    ¡°I need to recharge. The amount of mana I used was still quite a lot and I would end up with nearly zero mana by the time we reach it and I won¡¯t be able to do anything about monsters or I would be too tired to do so.¡±

    ¡°Like that one?¡±

    Rune turned around to see a cloud of sand hurled into the air. It spread around a single point and there was a blurry image in the center that seemed to near them every second. Then a shrill sound could be heard and Rune had to stop for a moment to think about ways to not jinx them.

    He breathed out with a long and deep sigh before drawing out his rifle and reloading it. Then he aimed at the being and used [Physical Enhancement] to aim at the being. He put his eye to the scope and entered a stance in which he would not be blown backwards.

    He waited until he saw what it was. It turned out to be some grey colored animal with flippers instead of legs and it was half submerged while the mouth was open and it was inhaling sand. There also seemed to be a hole on top of the being which sent the sand it ingested into the air. Rune guessed that it was some sort of whale with six flippers and didn¡¯t need water.

    He fired and the bullet flew from the chamber. As soon as it came out, the air pressure suddenly increased in its wake and some of the group were violently thrown about. The bullet traveled at such amazing speeds and it penetrated the beast¡¯s mouth.

    To be exact, it utterly destroyed the tongue of the beast and blood spewed about as the tongue dangled everywhere and the tongue matter was splattered everywhere. It made a strange noise that was like a bellowing that sounded like it was underwater.

    Rune pulled his hand back to pull the bolt and the next bullet escaped from the cartridge into the chamber and he pushed the bolt back into place. He pulled the trigger and the next bullet flew. This all happened in less than half a second.

    The bullet flew with such precision that it went in easily right in center of the whale¡¯s face. It made a large hole in its head and it seemed to do a barrel roll as it skidded to a stop in front of Rune. He put away his rifle and unsheathed his katana. He stabbed the creature right underneath the eye and was satisfied when it did not move.

    Elisa and Gaira both covered their mouths at the sight of the whale with a hole in its head, a mangled tongue, and a sword wound under its left eye. Elisa was on the verge of throwing up when Gaira did so and set off a chain reaction for her.

    ¡°Ugh. Can you try not to throw up every time I kill something? Now that I have to deal with smells, it becomes a hassle. Let¡¯s just get a move on.¡±

    Rune stored the whale being in his storage and was slowly edging away from the vomit all over the sand. He was holding his nose and the others in the group did so as well while trying to move towards Rune.

    It was quite obvious from everything he did up until the display just now that he was their best chance of leaving the continent alive while completing the mission. Everyone was intent on surviving through the hardships of the mission, even if they were just being dragged along due to Rune and his original mission that he took them on.

    <hr>

    The group reached the hovering platform without any other incident, but it took a little bit over an hour to reach it. The group was tired of walking through the sand and, when Rune made the platform touch the ground in front of them, they all sighed in relief. Rouna and Gaira both flew several times, but they were both dragged down by the part of the group that couldn¡¯t fly.

    They all filed on to the platform and Rune made a makeshift tarp covering and put down some of the cooling magic tools on the floor of the vehicle. The platform itself was hot and was similar to asphalt on a summer¡¯s day.

    The group was very reluctant to get on as, one, it was uncomfortable to sit on a hard surface and, two, it was a temperature that burned their hands. The platform was also much smaller in width and length than the wagon they were using before. Of course, wagons couldn¡¯t be made easily and Rune was not in the mood to spend enough time and concentration to recreate the wagon himself that he, Kelly, and Jared had originally made.

    Gaira climbed aboard and looked around before speaking up.

    ¡°Where are we going now?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s going to take some time, much more than the wagon, but we will go to the Stormy Isles. I suppose, though, it will be better to teleport you to the school now.¡±

    ¡°Wut?¡±

    Rune quickly stopped moving the platform and stood up. He took three steps to get to the other side of the platform where Gaira was and held out his hand. She looked at it for a moment before grabbing it.

    Then the surroundings around her changed and she could not believe her eyes. One moment she was on a floating platform with sand all around and, in the next, she was on grass with plains surrounding them. Behind them was a large amount of wood and stacks of bricks. There was also a large amount of people working.

    They stood in front of the gates. The actual bars were made of a metal mixed with magical energy and enchanted by Rune. On both sides of the gates were walls with small towers connected directly to the gate. On the towers there were three guards each which consisted of the Bastets.

    All the Bastets were trained to be as strong or stronger than the knights guard of the King. Elisa was one of the three Elite Knights and, under them, were the Knight Captains which had many Knight Guards as their subordinates.

    They each carried assault rifles and either a pistol or a sub-machine gun. They were trained how to use it and they each also had a small knife in their belt. They wore tailored, black outfits that each had the same design.

    They were surprised when the boss of their boss, the security chief, suddenly showed up at the front gates with someone who threw up at his feet. They hurried to open the gates and they swung open.

    The only reason why and how they recognized him in his Demon King form was due to the weapons on his back and the clothes on his body. They were quite aware of his ability to shapeshift.

    ¡°Yeah¡­ I forgot that people throw up afterwards¡­ Clean yourself up because I have to hurry back.¡±

    She held up a finger before throwing up again with a violent noise. It was like the sound of a person dying, but louder and more violent. Then she wiped her mouth and cleared her throat.

    ¡°Blegh. Ok. I¡¯m done now. So what is this place?¡±

    It was at that moment that two of the security personal walked through the open gate and saluted with a military style greeting for their superior. Gaira went from her squatting to a standing poise. She looked between the guards and Rune and realized what was going on.

    ¡°Why are they saluting you?¡±

    ¡°This is my school. This is where you will be working.¡±

    He moved one arm to showcase the building. It seemed like her face glowed in awe as she saw the large school that was undergoing even more construction to teach more people.

    ¡°Wow.¡±

    Ruen turned to a guard and told them to bring about the teachers of the Freshmen year. There were other teachers now, but there were currently only students in the Freshmen year. After several minutes of Gaira looking at the school, the teachers came down.

    Rune turned to them and spoke.

    ¡°Please teach her the basics of the subjects and what they are about. Then she will choose one and be a teacher in that subject. Now, I have somewhere to be.¡±

    Ruen briskly walked towards the lab and entered. The first thing he saw was that the room had become taller for some reason and there were two more floors. There were now even more things on each floor and there seemed to also be robots working around.

    One of the robots, one that looked like a female wearing a maid outfit, came up to Rune and spoke in feminine voice. He was surprised at first, but soon shook it off.

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Huh?! Oh, uh, I am Rune. Rune Samuv?¡±

    ¡°That is false. Your magic energy nor your appearance say that you are Rune.¡±

    He sighed and changed into a Human. He looked at the robot and spoke again.

    ¡°I am Rune.¡±

    ¡°That is false. Magical energy does not match.¡±

    From above, he could hear someone¡¯s voice calling down to them. It was Kelly.

    ¡°No! That is Rune!¡±

    She was quite far away, on the fourth floor, and had to shout for them to hear.

    ¡°Affirmative. Welcome back, master.¡±

    The robot held both sides of its long dress and did a little courtesy before walking away. Rune could hear gears turning and a slight metal on metal scraping sound. Kelly was going down to the first floor with an elevator built into the side of the lab.

    She came out of the cylindrical tube and greeted Rune.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a while, hasn¡¯t it? We made the room taller by enhancing the size of the pocket dimension so that it now fits almost everything. Here, let me guide you on a small tour.

    So, now we have robots, but they can¡¯t think for themselves yet. We haven¡¯t found a way to develop artificial intelligence nor a way to upload your mind to the internet. They are basically like manual labor that can go on without breaks.

    We have designed a smaller version of the internet and we used it to complete several apps. There is social media, photos, texts, emails, and other things. We have put those on the phone and set up a router and cell tower to connect all of them. For a test, we gave the students each a phone, but it is monitored by the tech staff to determine what bugs there are and if they are being used for wrong.

    The test staff are mainly people we taught for a short while about these things. They caught on quickly, but they can¡¯t seem to be able to get used to a keyboard just yet.

    What I find disturbing about the lab is that we receive things at a slower rate than outside and that we send things at a faster rate than outside. It seems that we can only use the internet outside of the lab.

    We have also developed more weaponry for use and, drum roll please, even developed a jeep. The only problem is the fuel source. We have changed from nuclear energy to electromagnetic and thermal energy which is much safer. As for the remaining nuclear material, we used it all up and placed the waste in a bin that is going to be shipped out to use for the battlefield where they will spread it to hurt the enemies. Luckily, it is only the monsters so far.

    As for the weapons¡­ we can get into that later. I¡¯m sure Sophia will want to see you, even if you only spent less than a second in the real world.¡±

 Chapter 47: An Hour and Forty Seven Minutes

    The second that Rune stepped out of he lab, he could feel a trembling from the floorboards. It was as if something was stampeding towards him.

    In front of him, he could see a body with two fuzzy ears pointing upwards that were charging at him. He spread his arms open to embrace the oncoming Sophia.

    ¡°I missed you!!¡±

    She spoke while rubbing her face in his chest. He started to pat her head and felt the amazing fluffiness of her ears. They stayed like that for several seconds before Sophia pulled away and stood in her tippy toes to kiss him.

    ¡°Yeah, I missed you too. How is Roxana?¡±

    ¡°You can ask her yourself. She is coming after all. Anyways, how was the trip?¡±

    ¡°It was¡­¡±

    He tilted his head up for a moment to honk about it. His mission wasn¡¯t detailed enough, but his main goal was to at least stop the Irregular Dragons who were going to terrorize him and everyone else just to bring a five headed dragon to the realm.

    ¡°... tiring? We haven¡¯t really managed to find any more leads on the Irregular Dragons, but I managed to kill some more Hierarchs.¡±

    Sophia had been briefed about the general idea of what their mission was before she was brought to the Manticore village.

    ¡°I hope you do well! I have just been teaching and making potions¡­¡±

    She said he last bit with a little guilt, as if she was feeling regret about not going on the mission with him. She looked down at her feet, but turned her gaze back towards Rune when she felt his hand on her head.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. You teaching people is enough here. Plus it¡¯s good exercise and a source of experience for me.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡±

    She nodded with more vigor than before and she seemed determined to teach as well as she could. Just as she was finishing that thought, a little tiger girl came and practically pounced on Rune.

    Behind her were two half-elves who were her friends, Lysp and Enya. The one who was hugging Rune with all her night was Roxana.

    ¡°Hi papa!!¡±

    She rubbed her face against his jacket. It seemed like she learned this from Sophia who did it constantly to him. Both Enya and Lysp were enjoying the look of her happiness, but it seemed like Lysp had a slight romantic interest in her. It was like a childhood¡¯s crush.

    ¡°Hey! How¡¯s it going? You doing well in school?¡±

    He looked down at her and smiled a genuine smile. He was tired from him having to deal with regular human needs and limits. Luckily, he was healed by the sight of his wife and daughter.

    ¡°Yeah! The teacher even complimented me on my homeworks!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±

    Then Lysp walked up to Rune timidly and he told Rune something.

    ¡°Um, my father wants to talk to you for a moment. When he heard you came back, he wanted to meet with you. He should be in front of the house now.¡±

    Roxana and Sophia let go of him and he started to move towards the front. Then a black silhouette appeared on the wall to Rune¡¯s right and a form materialized from it.

    The first thing that he saw when he turned was a pair of large breasts that were swinging towards him. Behind him, Sophia breathed in sharply and started to run towards him.

    In the next instant, Rune had finished a combat maneuver and had thrown the large breasted demon over his shoulder and into the wall. Sophia stumbled and fell on Rune, knocking him over, in the next second. Not anticipating the accident, he was swept off his feet and the two of them fell over each other.

    Enya was covering both Lysp and Roxana¡¯s eyes as she herself turned away. The scene wasn¡¯t too great, but it was fine in the area where Rune and Sophia were. They only ended up kissing while the demon was bleeding in a crumpled pile of limbs.

    ¡°Ahh! Sorry! I tripped on my own foot in a hurry!¡±

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m more worried about the thing that tried to assault me just now.¡±

    Sophia quickly got off of him and was blushing as she had done all that in front of the three children. Rune sat up and looked at the bloody pile of limbs that was rearranging itself to reform into Hela.

    He sighed and pushed hins led to an upright position where he looked down on the succubus with a look of annoyance. Hela got up and started to pick the blood from her hand.

    ¡°I¡¯m more powerful than ever now!¡±

    She held up a victory sin on her right hand that was extended towards him. Unbeknownst to Rune, she learned it from Tyler who dropped by a lot to check up on people.

    ¡°See!! My demonic powers have grown!! I can now regenerate!! So please, hit me more!!¡±

    Rune grabbed her face and started to walk towards the front of her house. She was making some strange sounds and Rune did not want to turn around.

    As soon as he opened the door, he saw Ulf standing on his porch. He moved his arm to push Ulf to he right gently before moving into a throwing stance.

    From behind him, he could hear a voice full of ecstasy.

    ¡°Yes!! Throw me!!¡±

    And he threw her straight into the ground. A massive hole appeared in the grass and some nearby students watched in shock. Many of the students had gotten to know her, but were mostly disgusted due to her unusual personality and fetishes.

    As soon as he threw her, Rune covered the hole with his [Earthen Guard] and turned to Ulf as he was done with some business.

    ¡°You wanted to see me?¡±

    ¡°A-ah, yes. I did. Um, anyway.¡±

    He cleared his throat as he decided to choose his next words carefully. He watched the devastating scene up close.

    ¡°So, I was wondering if you would allow my son, Lysp, to be engaged with Roxana¡­¡±

    Rune looked at him to see if he was serious before sighing.

    ¡°Sure. Just wait a couple years before they actually marry and it can be called off at any time by either party. Also, both children need to agree.¡±

    ¡°Ah, thanks.¡±

    ¡°No problem. Just check in with me if they do get engaged.¡±

    Rune walked back into his home and Ulf followed him inside to ask Roxana and Lysp if they agreed to the engagement. Just as Rune was going back over to Sophia who was sitting on the foyer sofa, the door burst open.

    It was Hela who seemed to be a bit upset and was pouting. She stomped over to Rune and looked at him as she put her hands on her hips.

    ¡°Why did you leave me? I want to be hurt more!!¡±

    Rune slowly turned his head and glared at her. She immediately regretted her words and tone of voice as soon as Rune turned his entire body towards her. She seemed to shrink down in fear and trembled.

    This was due to him using bloodlust to get his point across. The point being that he didn¡¯t want to deal with a masochist.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Then he softened his expression and looked at Sophia. She smiled as he asked her a question.

    ¡°Want to go get some food?¡±

    She nodded fiercely and he pulled her up to a standing position. Then they teleported.

    The world seemed to distort around them and, in the next moment, they were in the capital of the Human continent.

    ¡°I used up most of my mana so I¡¯m really hungry. If I eat some food, I should be able to get some more mana back.¡±

    Sophia was more used to the teleportation than others and was only feeling a slight headache. Then she shook it off and he two of them held hands to walk as they were going to find a place to eat.

    It turned out that, in the teachers¡¯ lounge, Sophia learned of several great restaurants and cafes within the capital. She wanted to check out a cafe where they sold many sweet pastries.

    There weren¡¯t too many disturbances within the city. Only one king occurred where five large, burly men decided that they could easily take on Rune and steal his things and use Sophia.

    Of course, Rune was used to fighting much larger and more powerful beings and just flicked one of them. They flew high in the sky while Rune knocked down the rest of them with a single sweeping kick that started with them being surprised and ended with their legs being broken.

    Then, after a period of time that was less than a second, the man who went skyward fell to the ground, instantly breaking over half of his bones. Everyone around could hear a loud crunch as they could see the bones from his leg emerge from his body.

    He then quickly cast [Heal] and their wounds faded as their legs and bones straightened. They were still unconscious due to the pain they had felt, but now they weren¡¯t dying. Rune wiped a bit of blood from the edge of his jacket as best he could after he stood up.

    The two continued on their way to the cafe with no other obstacle in their path. People were actually steering clear of them for several streets since they all heard men screaming and a man, bloody and battered, fly into the air. To be truthful, they were scared of him. The only ones not feeling the least bit scared were Sophia and Rune.

    Within fifteen minutes of walking, they found the place, sat down, and were ordering food from the waitress. The interior of the building was clean and there were polished, wooden chairs and tables all around the place. Even outside, they had some seats to eat at. The exterior of the building was just as clean, if not more so, and had a sign that read ¡°Delightful Cafe¡± in large, black letters.

    There weren¡¯t many people there for many people did not have the money to waste on sweets nor did they like sweet things. Since Sophia grew up without a taste of such sweet and savory delicacies, she gained a sweet tooth as soon as she had one. Rune was just a person who liked baked goods.

    <hr>

    While Rune and Sophia were off eating food, two things occurred. The first one was with the rest of the group in Hell¡¯s Gate. At the moment when Rune and Sophia stepped into the shop, they were being attacked by giant wasps.

    Rouna was quite busy with casting poison spells to kill off the wasps and the rest of the group tried to help as best they could. They fired off bullets from their guns, but it seemed that nothing was happening as, every time they killed a wasp, another one would take its place.

    Rena was currently dual wielding sub-machine guns and downing several at a time. Each wasp was like a bullet sponge where each one could take up to ten bullets and still live. Of course, when they were filled with bullets, their messy remains splattered all about the ground underneath them.

    Elisa was having a hard time shooting her pistol as she had never shot one before. She was muttering under her breath something that no one else could hear.

    ¡°Rune!! I¡¯ll get you for this!! You dare stick me on a floating death trap several stories high and surrounded by disgusting bugs?! I promise I will get you back for this!!¡±

    She was loudly whispering and some people turned their heads to try and listen in on her, but no one could understand and they went back to filling the insects with bullets.

    <hr>

    The second thing that was happening was that Jared was sighing as he used his machine to help with the construction of the city. His sigh was due to the heat and how much he didn¡¯t want to work.

    To him, this was basically his first job for he didn¡¯t count researching technology as one because he had fun during that time. This time, he was in a vehicle that had a giant scoop in front of it and a crane with a scoop on it connected to a portion of the vehicle that could rotate on the hull of the vehicle.

    This machine was basically a loader mixed with an excavator and ran on magical energy. To refuel, he would just go to the lab and get another large battery cell. Within the batteries, they had electrical energy which was turned into magical energy before entering the machine. They were also rechargeable as well.

    He was using the machine to create a divet in the ground to set up the road system and he was done with about ten roads. Unfortunately, he had ninety more to go. It was only midday and he already had his lunch break, but he was thinking about stopping for the day.

    Of course, he couldn¡¯t. He was the only one who knew how to operate the machine and, even if he taught someone, they would likely not be able to use the only machine they had as well as he could.

    In the lab, it took his several years to just come up with how everything in the machine would come together and it took even more time to actually build it with such low manpower and a small supply of resources.

    He was sweating like a pig and was seriously thinking about deserting when he saw someone come up to him. It was a younger pair of people who were slightly acquainted with him. The two younger people were a boy and girl, but they were only friends with zero romantic interest in each other.

    They looked at him with pleading eyes, as if they knew he was going to stop working, and they put both their hands together to seem like they were begging.

    ¡°Please work! We know it¡¯s hard, but don¡¯t give up! We are counting on you!¡±

    This gave him the push he needed and he started to work again. Meanwhile, the two kids jogged away and high fived. This was all part of their plan. It mostly consisted of making him feel bad for them and to have him work so they could have jobs.

    They weren¡¯t that young, but they absolutely looked like they were younger than their actual age. The two of them were both 15 years old and had a lot of experience in manipulating people.

    They weren¡¯t ¡°bad kids¡±, it was just that they wanted to earn money in actual jobs instead of the strange and odd jobs they had taken before. The two of them were both from the slums, but they only just met in ALF for the first time and seemed to be like a match made in heaven with personalities that were similar and contradictory enough to let them get along.

    So far, in the town, three apartments were already made and one of them had even installed an elevator for easy access. That one was the highest that they planned to build with twelve stories and a secure foundation.

    Kelly was the one who had created the basic structure of metal beams, but she had Rune enchant each one of them with a sturdiness and durability enchantment which exhausted his entire mana supply, leaving him stuck in the lab for several days. When he came out, he was thankful that only about a minute and a half passed.

    On the perimeter of the city area, there were barrier mages working on the magic barrier structure and how it would be formed. The core for the barrier needed nothing, but to stay in one piece. Rune decided to place a fake core under the school and the real core was buried underground where only he knew the location of it.

    There was also a cafe, two restaurants, three different stores, and six more apartments that seemed to be almost completed. Within a couple days, many people would find houses to live in and employment in work sectors. Even now, some people were already working and getting pay for helping in the building process or helping Kelly and Jared with things in the lab.

    The apartment complexes were going to be made with a sturdy foundation of metal and limestone. Then there would be balconies with glass doors leading up to them. Each floor would house anywhere from four to ten apartments depending on the building. There would be at least one bedroom, a kitchen connected to a dining area, a bathroom, and a small living room/foyer.

    There was a smithy being made, but it was far from being completed and it was quite evident that it was a pain making it.

    Along with the original workers, there were the people that Jared had brought in along with the people the king had sent over. There was a total of around 300 people working, each equipped with construction tools and safety gear.

    <hr>

    Back to the cafe, Rune was wiping the mouth of a slightly clumsy Sophia who had finished a creampuff. He was smiling a goofy smile as he saw how cute she was and she was blushing as she was embarrassed. The reason why she was clumsy was due to her being only focused during potion and alchemy making and she wasn¡¯t really used to the outside world.

    At this point, they were finished with their meal and they had paid for them. They decided to leave the shop and, at the moment they stepped out, teleported back to his home.

    She immediately braced herself against Rune and then wobbled over to the sofa. She was happy that she got to go out with Rune, but exhausted by the walking and the teleportation.

    Then Rune waved goodbye to her, told her to tell everyone else that he said ¡°Hi¡± and left.

    <hr>

    Rena was having a hard time dealing with the insects. She was burdened with more work as Rouna had used up most of her mana and was resting to try and get some back. Currently, she was lying face first on the floor trying to speak to them, but they were too tired to listen.

    Elisa was putting down covering fire for Rouna and was sitting down next to her. She was in quite the predicament as she was terrible at shooting and there was no one else to rely on. Rouna couldn¡¯t move in the slightest and was lying with her arms at her sides.

    Erin was using a chain gun that used mana as its power source. Since Erin was a Dragonborn, he was able to use magic, but he was a neutral element dragon meaning that he relied more on physical strength than magical prowess. Even so, it took a lot of strength to hold the gun and even more to withstand the pressure after each blast.

    Riika was cowering under a shield with her radio. The radio was now just a smaller part of the radio, but still effective. She was forced to ditch a large chunk behind in the caverns as the rest was broken and barely good enough to be called scrap metal.

    Hika was expertly using a burst shot rifle where she could shoot three insects with just a single tug on the trigger. Each bullet from the rifle destroyed the head of a single insect. Their brains turned to mush and their heads became shredded as she killed.

    As all hope seemed lost and Riika was desperately trying to not die, Rune appeared in a flash of blue light. He looked around and created three rings of dark smoke around them. As the insects breathed it in, the life seemed to leave their eyes as they tumbled downwards where, as soon as they fell, Rune stored or absorbed them.

    Then the ring of fog drew nearer to the group and he cast [Ultimate Shine] which dispersed the fog leaving the rest of the group a clear image of the sand dunes around them and clear skies with no insects.

    Rune had first decided to cast [Dark Fog] which would have likely killed everyone except him if he wasn¡¯t careful. It wouldn¡¯t harm him not because he was the user, but because he was immune to Dark attacks and effects.

    He looked around at the group and sighed. He was currently in his Human form and was not wearing any armor, just his usual dark clothes.

    ¡°It looks like I need to train people more¡­¡±

 Chapter 48: An Isle

    Rune used several of his spells to make the hovering platform move more quickly. He also decided to fly at a higher altitude as to not run into as many monsters. Occasionally, he sniped some monsters that were under them while they had no idea what was going on.

    Of course, after every kill, he jumped down to get the materials or absorb them and flew back up with his Demon King form or his White Dragon form which had grown bigger due to the last dragon he killed. Whenever he transformed he gained a little bit more experience as that type of being and how to move more fluently in such a state.

    After the insect incident, the rest of the group decided to rest while Rune stayed awake and ready to watch and guard them if anything came their way. For him, who was the most skilled marksman of the group, he could easily shoot something as small as a mouse from half a mile away due to his skills and spells.

    The other thing was that he was the only one who was able to use his Cursed series as no one had his blood running through their veins. His creations of the Cursed series were on par with, if not greater than, miracles that occurred on Earth, like walking on water or turning water into wine.

    There were many differences in his curses and the many gods¡¯ miracles. The main two differences were that he wasn¡¯t a god and that his curses were mostly for complete and utter destruction. Also, a god¡¯s miracle would usually be enacted to help someone or benefit the god, unless the god was one of evil intent.

    So far, he had only created four different Cursed weapons as he wanted to only give extreme power to the weapons he used the most. His rifle, his katana, his scythe, and his chains.

    His rifle had three different settings where the user could fire off beams of energy in three different sizes. The katana had balls of flames hanging around it and devoured blood that it touched except for the user¡¯s. The scythe was able to cut through almost any material and had the ability to disintegrate any being that the user wished that was weaker than the user. The chain was able to be moved by the user¡¯s will alone and would be able to weaken, paralyze, blind, and knock unconscious anyone bound within it if they didn¡¯t have the resistances or immunities.

    They were moving on their way quite smoothly until they came upon some turbulence. Dark clouds like dark, evil-looking sheep could be spotted overhead and to the right a bit. Seeing how the Stormy Isles were named as such, he turned the platform to move towards the darkness.

    The group that was sleeping now woke slightly at the shifting ground underneath them. The wind was picking up and it was beginning to get harder for Rune to keep it straight and to head on into the storm. They could hear lightning strikes and rain poured down ahead of them.

    Rune took the tarp above them and tied it down so that it would have much less of a chance of blowing away. The rain soon started to hit the tarp and everyone became completely awake due to how hard it was. They could hear thunder and see flashes from the lightning and everyone, save for Rune and Rouna, was getting nervous.

    ¡°Ahh. A fine day to watch anime. Unfortunately, that doesn¡¯t exist here¡­ yet.¡±

    Everyone looked at Rune as if h was a lunatic because they had no idea what he was talking about. They had no idea that one would usually watch anime inside and they thought it was some sort of sport or such. Everyone became even more perplexed when Rune didn¡¯t decide to elaborate on the subject.

    He just looked straight ahead, through the slightly open flaps of the tarp and watched as they sailed further into the storm. Some water was drizzling in through the tarp entrance, but it just poured off of the platform and kept going on its journey to the ground.

    The reason why nobody had fallen off yet was due to them being a bit more used to being unbalanced due to the teleporting and, due to that, they were having an easier time not being motion sick and could keep their center of gravity in check. It was quite the fortunate side effect of teleportation.

    Of course, they were also very cold and Rune had put away the cold magic tools. He wasn¡¯t too fond of the heat and decided that it would be better to be cold and not die than to be warm and accidentally burn up the tarp. His only option for warmth at the moment was fire and, even with just an accident, he could accidentally cook someone alive.

    And so, the rest of the group shivered in the frigid air while Rune didn¡¯t feel anything in his Demon King form. The reason being that that form had a natural defense against weather and temperature and would automatically heat him up if anything happened. However, since it would heat him up, it wouldn¡¯t be able to cool him down and he was the only one who could feel the warmth.

    Erin and Rouna were shivering as they weren¡¯t White Dragons who were resistant to the cold and were cold-blooded beings who relied on warmth. Even so, their most perfect temperature that they thrives in was seventy degrees and the heat of the desert was ninety while the storm was thirty degrees Fahrenheit.

    After several minutes of traversing he dangerous and stormy skies, Rune could see through several openings that there seemed to be some sort of land formation. It was at that moment as well that fate decided that it didn¡¯t like Rune and a lightning bolt crashed down upon them.

    It destroyed Riika¡¯s radio and heir comms as well as made a large hole in their tarp. The ground of the platform was slightly melted and everyone jumped as a fire had started to spread, but was soon put out by the rain.

    Suddenly Erin stood, scabbard in hand, and looked ahead at the hovering land masses. He went near the entrance and held his sword up high.

    He seemed to be about to shout something when lightning struck his blade and blew it up. Many didn¡¯t know this, but magic crystals could easily become unstable due to a large amount of unknown energy to that crystal. That energy this time was electricity and the blade burst, leaving a massive hole in the platform and sending the unconscious student into the air.

    The hovering platform shook as time seemed to slow for Rune. He couldn¡¯t act fast enough, but he could watch as it all played out.

    Erin was sent off of the platform first. Riika seemed to try and move her hand out, but it was too late. The explosion sent her off in the opposite direction. Rouna saw her fly off and jumped to save her while Elisa was in the middle of being shocked. Rena was being cling onto by Hika when the two of them fell through a hole that was made when the platform broke. Rune was too late in catching all of them and decided to at least save one.

    The explosion created by lightning and Erin¡¯s sword caused the magic crystals the hovering platform was made of to become unstable as well. They were now on a large bomb.

    Rune reaches and grabbed Elisa and flapped his wings once to leave the platform. In the next second it exploded, their stuff littered all around the platform was now destroyed and no wreckage was left.

    As he flew, he realized that Elisa was feeling cold and was shaking. The rain and cold air had gotten to her and she was in the middle of having a cold. Her skin was pale and her cheeks rosy as she felt lightheaded and promptly passed out when he was carrying her.

    Rune couldn¡¯t see anyone else as they descended into the island. Underneath them was a large amount of land that was covered by either vegetation or rivers. He could hear some strange animalesque cries that sounded strangely like dying birds and strange mewls along with growls like a dog.

    The reason why he couldn¡¯t see the others was due to the heavy rain, flashes of light, and the dense bunchings of trees. He was now stuck with Elisa and had to take shelter as quickly as he could.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    They landed in between a bunch of bushes where there were thorns, but Rune¡¯s thick skin and Elisa¡¯s armor protected them from it. IT was a good thing as well as the thorns actually had paralysis effects on them. The effects were strong enough to knock out a Regular Dragon, but not strong enough to pierce through armor and was only effective in the bloodstream.

    Rune was, instead of holding her like a satchel under his arm, carried her in a fireman¡¯s carry and stepped out of the bushes to find mud everywhere with roots of trees. But, what made him the most nervous, was the strangely large amount of bones lying all around.

    The ground di have bushes, but it was more open than he thought and you could clearly see in most directions for a decent distance. The ground was muddy everywhere he stepped and he was forced to wade his way through the calf high mud.

    The trees seemed to be creepy as they were curved to make strange J shapes upside down. The leaves seemed to be as sharp as blades and the few patches of grass laying on the ground were like razors and were sharper than swords.

    As he walked through the strange forest, he heard a low growling and slowly turned around. The growling was coming from the behind him and his right hand, that was not occupied with carrying Elisa, was moving towards the katana handle.

    His eyes saw, in his peripheral vision, that a creature with fur that was a pale green color with mud stains all over it was poking its head through the bushes. It looked extremely similar to a husky and Rune was tempted to keep it as a pet, but he had no time for that at the moment.

    The wolf being got closer and he realized something different about it. It was more like a Chimera than a wolf with wings like a bat and a tail that seemed to branch into several different snakes. There were at least twenty snakes that slither around and the wings were folded up on it¡¯s back.

    It opened its maw to reveal the two rows of sharp teeth that would easily shred and rip apart Elisa in an instant. Rune drew his blade as calmly as he could.

    Then, without any warning, it pounced. It was fast, faster than most of the Hierarch Dragons he had faced before which basically meant that these wolf beings were faster than the two weakest Hierarch Dragons he faced.

    Even so, he sliced upwards with a quick draw. The blade found itself outside of its sheath and the being flinched for a second after being faced with an enormous amount of killing intent from out of seemingly nowhere.

    The blade cut upwards and blood splattered everywhere. Some of the blood even followed Rune¡¯s blade and seemed to cling to it until it suddenly stopped. The blood flung upwards and painted the trees around them. The two halves of the wolf slid on the ground, but, instead of both halves going around him, one fell to his left and the other fully hit his legs and sank Janet the mud a bit. Quickly, he absorbed one half and stored the other and wiped the blood from his face. His blade had no blood on it while he sheathed it and it seemed like Elisa had gotten some blood on her armor.

    Rune turned the other way and started walking. It was annoying for him to wade in the mud while carrying a person, but he couldn¡¯t fly underneath the trees as there wasn¡¯t enough space and he didn¡¯t want to be above the trees in case he missed something or something attacked him from the cover of leaves.

    While looking for a cave, he found several more wolves and managed to store a partially intact one as she had choked it to death with a single hand. The snakes tried to bite him, but his skin was too thick and he had activated several skills that made the fangs break on contact.

    And, as luck would have it, he found no cave. Instead, he decided to climb a tree after he cut off all he dangerous leaves on it. He placed the sleeping Elisa on the tree and pulled out a pistol.

    He started to enchant the rounds and make it a Cursed weapon. It was a fairly short ritual which made the object into a Cursed one and all he had to do was pour in enough mana or bathe it in enough blood to become something extraordinary.

    The pistol glowed a light yellow color and red energy surrounded it. It was truly a sight to behold as it glowed with such an energy that it was like a second, slightly dimmer, sun appeared in his hands.

    Then he loaded in a cartridge and flicked the hammer down with his thumb. This pistol was in the shape of a Desert Eagle and was now enchanted to fire off an even more powerful explosion that would send the bullet out of the chamber at mach 3. The gun was also enchanted to paralyze the enemy and to not allow recoil from the bullet at all, including the time when the bullet leaves the gun¡¯s vicinity.

    <hr>

    Rouna was gliding down with Riika on her back. Currently, she was in her dragon form and was trying to find a good spot to land in. They weren¡¯t in any danger at the moment, but Elisa needed silence and to be still if she wanted to find the others using her farsight gift.

    She soon spotted a slightly open area which had a rock in the center of it. Mud was all around it and it had some strange, glowing moss growing on the rough surface.

    Since the rock was larger than her, she decided to land on it and placed Riika down. Riika sat up and held her head in her hands. She was dizzy from the flying and the explosion and was very confused.

    However, as soon as she sat up and when Rouna was in her human form, the ground shook and the muddle rippled as it was more liquid than solid. Rouna looked towards the left and then towards the right, but found nothing that could cause the quake. Unfortunately, the source was right underneath her.

    The rock rose upwards and Riika started to slip off of the rock and seemed to lose her grip on it as well. Rouna, with lightning fast reflexes, caught her and stabbed her hand into the rock formation to hold on. Her skin, even in her human form, was sturdy and durable enough to not get damaged by even swords swung onto her.

    However, this rock was different and her hand became bruised and bloodied just by digging a simple hole. Apparently, this rock was made of a special substance that could harm even her.

    Underneath the two of them, a large Rock Elemental appeared and was looking around. It had limbs of solid rock imbued with magical essence to make them harder than even several layers of refined steel. The limbs were connected using magic and a light blue energy could be seen in all the joint areas. The head was directly connected to the body and was somewhat circular, but more of an oval shape. There was a dim, blue glow where the eyes would be and it had no other facial features. For fingers, it had eleven rocks to make up three fingers and one thumb for each hand. The shape of the arms and legs was like a rigid and rocky log that was rounded out on both ends.

    After twisting its body several times, it moved its right hand up to the top of its head where Rouna and Riika were, but it had no idea that they were there. As the fingers and hand got closer, Riika became more and more uneasy as the situation seemed to get worse.

    Just as the hand was about to either touch or crush them, Rouna spat out a ball of poison that was concentrated enough to send the hand away. To be more precise, she had opened her mouth and the poison appeared in a ball in front of it before it was sent off as a projectile.

    The Rock Elemental moved its hand, slowly, in front of itself, confused as to what happened. Then it noticed something odd, something that wasn¡¯t on its hand before. There was a strange, green substance that was oozing in between its fingers.

    This time, with both hands, it swung towards its head to try and crush what may have been on it. It was a stupid and unintellectual being who only slept for years until bothered or did what interested them.

    Originally, the floating isle that the group had found themselves on was one where the ground was literally pulled from underneath, creating a chasm of darkness and frightening curiosity where no one traversed.

    The trees were already on the ground before the soil and rocks were uprooted from the sand around them. The reason why everything became muddy was due to the heavy rain that covered the isle 24/7. Then, due to the amount of magic keeping the isle up and how it is leaking into the soil, the plant life has grown to be quite deadly with all of their qualities being able to kill. The animals have learned to adapt in the past several centuries they have been on the isle and thus became natural killing machine adept at killing even the most pesky of weaker dragons.

    Currently, this was the only Rock Elemental on the isle as it was inside the ground when the isle was lifted. It had been bothered several times in the past, but those beings mostly became flat chunks of meat by the time it was done with them.

    Rouna, with her quick agility, dragged Riika¡¯s hand to the area she was holding and made her hold on tight. Then she transformed into a dragon and swiped at the arms of the elemental. It was useless as, with each attack, the giant became more and more furious and it moved faster the more rage it had.

    <hr>

    Rena and Hika were falling through the air at a decent speed. They weren¡¯t too worried about the fall, mainly because Rune enchanted their boots with a feather fall enchantment. What they were worried about was the looming danger they felt from the forest beneath them.

    Suddenly, leaves shook and strange looking bird appeared from the trees just to disappear back below. Then, in the distance, a rocky figure could be made out and they saw a mound of rocks moving. It looked around a small bit before moving its unnatural hand towards its head just to be repelled by a green substance.

    They decided to move in that direction once they were done falling.

    <hr>

    Erin had crashed a while ago and was feeling dizzy. He was the only one who felt the fall from such a height and was in the middle of trying not to drown in the six-inches of mud he was in.

    When he got up, he looked around and decided to lean against a tree.

    On his way, he was cut by something and he looked down. He was now bleeding heavily and he looked for the culprit. A tall strange of grass.

 Chapter 49: Are Those Rocks?

    Rouna was desperately trying to stave off the imminent threat of the large hands made of rock. The attacks by the Rock Elemental became increasingly faster the more she hit it and her claws were becoming duller after each strike.

    Riika was having a lot of trouble holding onto the rocks. Her hands became bloodied and her nails cracked. She was holding on with all her might so that she might not have to fall from a height that was about six stories high.

    Rouna then used a skill known as [Partial Shapeshift] in which she kept her wings, teeth, and claws in dragon form, but the remainder became human. She reached over her shoulder and unslung the light machine gun she was hauling.

    With steady hands and impeccable accuracy, she fired rapidly at the opponent. Each round she had in the gun at the moment was one that would explode on contact.

    The bullets rained down upon the being towards its hands and chest while avoiding Riika. Small dents were made where the bullets landed after a small explosion of fire and ash.

    The bullets were working, but to an extent. The way things were going was making her uneasy. Then, as she launched another volley, the Elemental raised its hand to smack her down to the mud below.

    She fired at it, but the bullets never connected. Instead, the hand moved down to crush Riika who was closing her eyes as she was at her limits.

    Then, as all hope seemed lost, the giant increased its speed downwards as Riika opened her eyes. She let go at the exact moment of impact and she fell down. On the way down, before hitting the ground, her left leg hit something and she yelped in pain.

    The left leg was bent at an angle that would make those that couldn¡¯t handle blood and violence vomit. Blood was leaving her leg and made a spiral in the air as she continued her descent where she hit the ground.

    ¡­ Or she would have if not for Rena catching her at the last moment and stopping her fall. Her leg was still broken and the only one who even knew a slight bit of healing magic was Rune. Not very smart on his part.

    She let out a scream like a dying cat that was being blended in a blender. Then she fainted after a moment of screaming in complete pain.

    Rena was a bit scared of what just transpired and handed her off to Hika who just came out of the woods. The two of them had started sprinting the moment they touched the ground while avoiding monsters left and right.

    Hika was lagging behind Rena ever so slightly and, when it seemed like she would catch up with her, Rena increased her speed once more which caused her to sigh as she was doing now. She looked at the leg of Riika and she gagged as it looked awful.

    She started to think of ways to contact Rune, but could only think of using Rouna;s farsight to do so. They lost their radio and Riika was not conscious to manage them even if they had the tools.

    In a way, it was like they were cut off from society and felt lonely and scared after using the technology for quite a long time. The only things she had left was her burst rifle, several clips of ammo, two grenades, and some pieces of beef jerky, not including the clothes on her.

    She loosened the rifle strap and aimed at the being¡¯s eyes as Riika was now out of the way. Three shots were unleashed from the muzzle of the gun and they found and met their target. They went right into the eyes, and managed to bounce off the target.

    The eyes that were blue became red and the magical energy binding its limbs with one another turned the same color. It looked down at her in fury.

    <hr>

    Erin was having some trouble at the moment. He was currently staring a wolf in its eyes while grasping the remains of his sword in his right hand. In his left, he held a small shotgun.

    He had his chain gun on his back, but he wasn¡¯t able to use it against such a fast enemy. He noticed from the way it bounded towards him that it was agile and swift. He was now thankful for Rune¡¯s lessons. Specifically the lesson where the title was ¡°How and Where to kill a Wolf¡±.

    Rune really didn¡¯t have much to teach the kids about weapons as that would only last half a year. Instead, he started teaching combat procedures and how to kill. He decided that it would be easier for Freshmen to learn about weapons, then about fighting easy targets. Then he would teach the students of higher years about the same things, but more advanced forms and versions.

    At one point, he was talking about how some weapons could be moved more quickly than others and he started to get off track. Then, during the next class, he discussed killing wolves as they were fast beasts and someone asked about it at some point in the class before.

    The ¡°How¡± part was the different ways someone can get close to and kill a wolf. The ¡°Where¡± part was the different places one should stab or shoot a wolf, like the eye.

    In the next instant, the wolf pounced on him and, by luck perhaps, he swung his broken blade at just the right time. In fact, since he was using his broken sword, he misjudged the target and managed to hit it in the throat.

    Blood spewed like an upturned faucet. It was a mix of saliva and blood where the mix came to be a dark red with bubbles. The mixture sprayed all over the mud and, since Erin was shaking due to his wound on his leg, the blood sank into the mud¡¯s rippling surface.

    After a long amount of time of shooting wolves with his chain gun from afar as the wolves couldn¡¯t see him nor dodge the bullets, he came across mounds of bodies.

    There were wolves and some strange looking reptiles littering the ground. Periodically, the bodies disappeared, two at a time.

    He was truly scared of what lay beyond as the ring of corpses was a near perfect circle. Each corpse had a single burn mark and smoke came from the inside of their mouths, like they were smoking without the cigarette.

    Suddenly, he felt bloodlust. A large amount at that as he turned towards the source and tried to stand his ground just to be forced down by an unknown pressure.

    The bushes moved and a hand could be seen reaching it towards him. It dropped acid that evaporated the mud underneath.

    Then, perhaps by a miracle, the hand stopped and Rune pokes his head through the bushes.

    ¡°Next time, if you see this many bodies, know it will likely be me. Now, come on. Help me sort the bodies and let¡¯s get that leg bandaged up.¡±

    Erin stared, in shock, as he truly thought his life would end in that one moment. Then he nodded and entered the circle of flesh while carefully avoiding any and all vegetation.

    Erin could see that there was a small platform atop a tree without leaves. A ladder connected it to the ground and he climbed up to find Elisa.

    Rune cast a spell on him and his leg wound healed in a few moments. Since he wasn¡¯t very well versed in healing magic, the most he could manage was to cure non lethal cuts and gouges.

    ¡°Rest up. We¡¯ll wait until the rest of th group catches up. Rouna should be able to find us.¡±

    <hr>

    A very tired Rouna sat on a tree branch to try and catch her breath. She was exhausted from all the attacks she used on the Rock Elemental.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    She reverted to her human form as it took less magic to do that than to partially shapeshift. Even though becoming a dragon would not use up any mana, it would make her a larger target and she was already regaining enough mana as it was.

    She sat while leaning on the tree trunk with her LMG in front of her. At the moment, she was too tired to even lift the gun.

    Rena was busy distracting the Elemental as she swung around it with her chains. It was like a certain friendly neighborhood superhero, but with a far shorter range and had killing intent.

    She swung her kamas with extreme precision whenever the Elemental swung. The fingers were easily cleaved through as magic crystals refined by Rune were much harder than Rouna¡¯s claws. As soon as a finger was cleaved, through, the finger fell to the ground and sunk into the earth. Then a new finger formed from the inside of the hand as if the rocks were a fluid and then turned into a solid as soon as it popped out.

    It seemed like a futile effort, but, after every slice and reformation, the Elemental grew slower. Unfortunately, at the same time, Rena also got more tired and her stamina was on the cusp of running out.

    After several more attacks, she landed on the ground and headed for the cover of the trees. She waded through the mud that was waist deep and was trying not to sink. Her clothes were also getting wet and gunky in the process and it was getting increasingly more difficult to move, not to mention that her stamina was running out.

    Rouna was about to leap out to save her when she suddenly found Riika in her arms. She looked around in confusion as she looked for Hika who was supposed to be in charge of taking care of her until they met up with Rune.

    The unconscious girl in her arms was sleeping quietly, but the wound affecting her leg looked terrible. It seemed to be cauterized by Hika¡¯s matches and stopped bleeding, but it made it that much worse to look at. It was like looking at a burn victim after they died in a fiery explosion, but just the area on her leg.

    Hika was found running on the branch she was on and leapt from the edge. In gym class, her long jumps were the farthest out of everyone, without her skills. With her current skills, which she usually used for fast strikes, she launched herself and was able to land just about near Rena.

    She put Rena¡¯s arm over her shoulder and started to pull her to the side. She looked up at the Elemental and fired off several shots to keep its hand at bay.

    Since the giant was made of hard rock, the bullet had very little effect at keeping it at bay and she threw something at it. It was cylindrical and filled to the brim with Ice magic crystals.

    It was a cryo-bomb that could freeze enemies and caused the Elemental¡¯s movement to stop as the shards of Ice magic crystals entered its body at its torso, right arm, and legs.

    The rocks froze and the magic also seemed unable to move as ice connected and stuck together. The mud around it froze as well and Hika stopped. It did look quite vulnerable at the moment and she wasn¡¯t sure if the grenades she had worked.

    She still had four more to spare and threw up two more just in case. She turned back to everyone and they sighed.

    <hr>

    ¡°Where do you think they are?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but, uh, is she getting worse?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Elisa? Probably, but I can¡¯t seem to teleport in these conditions. Maybe if we get out of this area¡­¡±

    Rune was talked to Erin who was taking care of Elisa at the moment. He was reloading his current pistol and pulled the hammer down. He was in charge of taking care of enemies in the near vicinity and Erin was in charge of making sure Elisa didn¡¯t die.

    During their short conversation, Rune had shot a wolf in the face and Erin got the rare chance to see the new weapon of mass destruction up close without dying because of it.

    The bullet traveled through the air and seemed to enter the being¡¯s body, but there was no blood. Instead, the bullet entered the wolf¡¯s body and never came out and produced an electric shock around the area it penetrated. The wolf opened up its mouth and flames appeared, but not because it was breathing it like a Red Dragon but because it was burning from the inside.

    It gurgled blood and frothed at the mouth before it crumpled to the floor and smoked from the mouth. Erin, after watching the show, gulped in fear as he saw the devastating impact of the single bullet attack.

    The ground shook at that moment and Erin tripped and fell off of the platform into the mud. He surfaced and gasped for air as he struggled through the mud. He looked around to see that the source of the quake was not nearby.

    Rune stood and faced a certain direction, as if he was a dog who noticed the smell of meat. He leapt into the air and changed into his dragon form and flew upwards to look in the direction of the quake.

    He saw a large being made of rock that seemed to be covered in ice. It had fallen over and was now broken in several large chunks, but it was still much taller than the trees around it.

    He glided back down, turned into his Demon King form, and picked up Erin by the scruff of his neck and held Elisa like a satchel under his arm. Then he flew upwards and headed straight for the location.

    <hr>

    The Elemental had fallen over and the mud level had risen up to just about where Rouna was on the tree branch. Rena and Hika were both on a higher branch looking at the broken figure in front of them. It seemed that they being was killed by the ice and, mostly, by the fall.

    Suddenly, they could hear wings beating after they each celebrated their small victories in their minds as to not cause too much attention around them. It sounded like a single pair of wings that was descending upon them.

    Then a humanoid figure landed on the frozen Elemental and dropped two people. Carefully, Hika unslung her rifle and looked through the scope.

    ¡°Oh!! That¡¯s Rune. We have to tell him that we are here!!¡±

    Rena was the first one on it as she flung a flashbang in the air and Rune immediately saw it right before covering his eyes. Erin was the only one unfortunate enough to look at the flash of light and it made him unable to see for several minutes.

    Of course, being deprived of his sense of sight, he almost slid off of the Elemental before Rune snatched him by the collar once more and dragged him back up. The he grabbed Elisa and Erin and carefully flew to the others.

    The light was still in the air, but Rune couldn¡¯t think of anything he could do to stop it as the Light magic crystals were now in affect and they had the enchantment to stay in the air for a certain amount of time.

    ¡°Elisa is sick. It seems like Riika is also devastated. I¡¯ll take both of them back to the school¡¯s nurse and come back as soon as I can. Ok? Good.¡±

    With that, Rune dropped Erin who was still blind and picked up Riika. As the others watched him leave, he decided to get off of the isle as quickly as he could. Once he got off, he teleported to the school.

    His plan was to go there, drop them off, and teleport to an area or monument near the isle. He couldn¡¯t teleport from the isle, ergo he couldn¡¯t teleport back to the isle. Thus he was going to fly as fast as he could back.

    He didn¡¯t want the group to rely on him too much and he gave them several crates full of food that wouldn¡¯t go bad within a year at the very least. He also gave them a couple bins and pots to heat things up, like water.

    The rest of the group was to scout out the surrounding area and try not to get hurt. However, the first thing they wanted to do was rest. They were too tired from defeating the Elemental.

    <hr>

    The fire crackled underneath the tree canopy. The rain was blocked out and smoke rose up through the leaves. The wood was slowly turning black as the fire burned more fiercely.

    Rena and Hika set up as campfire as Erin and Rouna set up pots and bins about to collect the rainwater. The rain above was pouring now and the two were having a really easy time collecting the water.

    Once they returned, they placed a pot of water over the fire. It took a while, but they managed to boil the water and everyone sat around it munching on some food. They were currently eating some delicious jerky, again, but none were in the mood for talking after they had witnessed two of their comrades getting or being injured.

    Underneath them, they sat on some food crates and the mud underneath was frozen with the help of Hika whose odachi had the Ice attribute within it. The ice was connected to several trees as well as the actual ground so that they weren¡¯t floating and were stagnant.

    ¡°So, what are we going to do now?¡±

    A curious Rena spoke up as she finished up her bag of meat. Upon the completion of her sentence, she licked her fingers. She had a strange habit of using as little fingers as possible to touch the food as she ate.

    Rouna had finished eating for quite some time and was lying with her back against the food crate. She turned her head to face Rena and spoke after some thought.

    ¡°We should probably move in a group and look at the surrounding area. Rune wouldn¡¯t be happy if he came back to find us doing nothing.¡±

    Then she turned her head back and stared intently at the leaves above. She was more concerned about the well-being of Elisa at the moment to really think of anything else.

    Then Hika tried to lighten the mood, but to no avail.

    ¡°Yeah, we want to leaf this area in a group. What? No one?¡±

    Her pun was one of the worst ones that the others had heard in their entire lives. They sighed and she followed suit as there was nothing else to do for the day.

    It was already about nighttime since they each knew about when it was during the day and they had to rely on only that as the sky was shrouded in storms. Then, after deciding who would take watch, they slept.

 Chapter 50: Search

    The rain pitter pattered on the leaves. The air was cold and damp, but the rest of the group only felt warmth and comfort. Several strange looking monsters approached the camp numerous times, but were all driven away.

    Everyone was sleeping in their comfortable sleeping bags and the ground under them was still solid. The fire still crackled, but was slowly dying as no one was tending it and there was little to no fuel left.

    At the moment, it was the last watch before everyone woke up and Hika was the one guarding everyone. She had heavily wounded a large lizard that could spit out a green liquid that started to melt anything it touched.

    Her weapon was an odachi filled with the Ice attribute since it was made with a White Dragon¡¯s scales. It did look very much like a katana but longer, but it had some very large differences as Rune pointed out to her while on the hovering platform that exploded half a day before. It was serrated near the hilt and went upwards on the blade for about a foot. The second difference was that there were two holes in it to make it lighter and to attach chains or rope to. The third was the weight which, since dragon scales were lighter than most metals, weighed less than a normal blade, but the amount of force was greater than a mithril greatsword.

    There were several blood stains about the area, but none were from her and none of the previous lookouts had lost any either. They were mostly the reptiles and wolves¡¯ blood with some of their severed limbs or tails around. Even with the amount of carnage surrounding hem, they hadn¡¯t managed to kill a single one.

    She wiped the sweat from her forehead as she looked around. Her blade was dirtied with the dried blood of those she hurt, but she paid no mind to that as, when she sheathed it, the sheath cleaned it up. She had some blood splattered on her clothes which were made of synthetic fibers and were quite easy to move in. She was wearing a jacket that insulated heat, pants that wouldn¡¯t tear, and a shirt that was covered in a camouflage design, but instead of green, it was yellow for they planned to be in the desert more than the jungle.

    At the end of her watch, she hopped out of her perch from a high branch and made her way to the rest of the group who were lying on the ground, but in comfort. She landed on the ground without making a sound as she was trained by Rune to do so and her foot falls were as silent as her fall.

    She shook the rest of the group awake and they slowly stirred. They were quite groggy from waking up after several hours of short rest. Especially Rouna who took watch before she did.

    They climbed out of their sleeping bags and rolled them up like how Rune did it before. Erin was having the most trouble actually getting out of the bag as he was tired from his previous small voyage in which he found Rune at the end.

    They each readied their weapons and poured the remaining boiled water into their water bottles and water skins as some had metal canteens. They each separated their bags of food to be proportionate to one another in case they were separated so that they still had food.

    ¡°Ok then. Let¡¯s go in¡­ this direction!¡±

    Rena spun three hundred and sixty degrees before pointing in the direction she was looking in before. Hika just giggled and the rest chuckled at the way she decided which way to go. There was too much tension about them and they needed some way to blow off steam.

    They started to walk and made sure that their gear was all good to go. Erin had put on some metal pads on his legs to keep them from getting scratched like before. The reason he didn¡¯t put them on before was because he felt like they were constricting him of his freedom and it was actually quite heavy on his legs. This time, though, he was smart enough to put them on.

    The group wandered onwards as they occasionally cut through the undergrowth and the roots that would sometimes stick up out of the ground. They only managed to encounter a single enemy that was a wolf. They decimated it and, at the end of the battle, intestines and limbs were strewn about.

    Everyone was already tired, even without that battle, and barely managed to scrape by. The only fortunate thing about the situation was that they were able to deal the first strike in surprise and followed through by killing it.

    It seemed like the only one able to stay standing after that fight was Rouna who ended up filling the corpse with bullets from start to finish. She then hauled everyone up to their feet as they leaned against a tree and continued onwards.

    <hr>

    The nurse¡¯s office only had four people in it at the moment and two of them were injured. The walls were white and there was a desk pushed up against the wall which was also white. Shelves lined the left side of the room while curtains and beds were against the right. The shelves were basically empty except for the health and mana potions that Sophia produced which were quite effective. There was a stack of papers on the desk which were lists of what to put in the nurse¡¯s office and there was actually a large amount of unused space.

    Standing near the door that was opposite of two windows was Rune, with his arms crossed, and Kelly, who was fidgeting with her fingers.

    ¡°How come we have large amounts of incredible tech, but we don¡¯t even have medicine?¡±

    Rune tilted his head slightly as he spoke to indicate that he was obviously confused by the fact.

    ¡°Well, I mean, none of us are doctors. We are¡­ were students at a high school. The only reason why we are able to recreate and better the technology from Earth is due to my and Jared¡¯s knowledge and that we have the ability to advance our research in that subject further due to the almost infinite amount of time we have.¡±

    Kelly was getting nervous around Rune. It was mostly due to the menacing appearance he donned when he was in his Demon Lord form. Not only that, but his facial expression, that was usually neutral, was now angry and his eyebrows were furrowed. Also, since she was usually only with Jared and some automatons, she was definitely nervous around him and even more so since he was her boss.

    ¡°... And no one thought to work on the health subject?¡±

    ¡°Um, that¡¯s kinda, how to say, really boring. Get a doctor or something.¡±

    Rune sighed and put his hand on his face for a face palm. After a moment he looked back to the two figures on the white matresses of the nurse¡¯s office. Of course, since modern medicine hadn¡¯t found its way to Arborea, there was no one with extensive knowledge of health, much less first aid, ergo there was no nurse or doctor in the office.

    ¡°You should realize that, even though doctors do exist, they, one, cost wayyyy too much and, two, can¡¯t even do something as simple as help a patient recover from a cold. This is why epidemics are a problem. Luckily, there are Healing Mages, but they can only help minor wounds and small colds.¡±

    ¡°I understand your concern, but isn¡¯t it also kinda your fault for not having us force, I mean, teach someone how to research wounds and medicine?¡±

    ¡°Wait. You just said ¡°force¡± just now, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Uh.¡±

    Kelly looked around to try to find a way to escape the situation. Unfortunately for her, Rune took a step and blocked the door. She shook her right hand in the air to express her frustration at not being able to leave and Rune looked at her silently.

    After several seconds of making her extremely uncomfortable, he started to speak.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    ¡°Have you¡­ ¡°forced¡± anyone to research at all?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­ maybe?¡±

    She started waving her hands while giving an explanation as to why she did it.

    ¡°I mean, two people isn¡¯t a lot and they were able to grasp the knowledge quite easily until we reached the section on how to work on computers. I think that was when we lost them....¡±

    Her speech start to speed up as she was making excuses and he just put up a hand.

    ¡°Just send some paperwork to the career building in the capital. Tell them that it comes with pay and housing for their families, effective immediately. Next time this happens, just tell me.¡±

    Rune turned to leave the room and, as he closed the door, he could hear her sigh.

    At the moment, he was frustrated by two things, not including the lack of doctors. He had went out thinking that they could handle the situation when they weren¡¯t ready and they came back with both injured. One internally with the cold and one externally with a leg that was bent at a terrible angle.

    Actually, Elisa was getting better much more quickly than he anticipated. On the other hand, Riika only finally stopped bleeding. Part of her bones were visible when sticking out of her knee and there was a large blood stain on the pure white mattress. They straightened out her leg and cast healing magic on her several times.

    He was going to have to have strength and intelligent tests to see who was qualified to go with him next time. The strength was going to be to see if they could withstand the conditions and also attack with a lot of power. The intelligence test was to have someone realize what their limits were and what they would do in specific situations.

    He stroked his non-existent beard. I could actually teach this stuff in my classes. At least no one died yet and it was a learning experience. Wait, did I just set off a death flag?

    <hr>

    After a while, they reached an open, but muddy, area. It seemed like they exited the forest and reached a new terrain where it was more like a swamp without many trees. The only other problem was that it was pouring as if someone kept dumping buckets on them.

    The group was wearing protective clothing, but they were clearly not suited for heavy rain and it was not waterproof. Instead, they relied the barrier that Rouna set up above them. It wasn¡¯t placed in a fixed position and moved around along with them.

    Te barrier was tinged green above them, but was mostly clear above them. The rain streamed down it as it would for an umbrella and the group trudged on through the mud.

    In the middle of the muddy area, they could see a slight outline of something tall and like a rectangle, but more of a tower. As soon as this sight came into full view, they regained some more morale and set out at a faster pace than before.

    At last, they reached the base of the tower, but, instead of one, it seemed to be a giant pillar with hundreds, if not thousands, of large runic symbols carved into it. Each symbol was different, but all glowed with the same murky yellow and green light.

    Rouna and Erin seemed to be staring at the symbols as if in a trance and it seemed like the two of them went pale. Hika looked upwards, but to no avail as the peak of pillar was shrouded by fog. Rena took a glance around the pillar. It was quite wide, much wider than the largest dragon they had seen.

    Suddenly, ripples were made in the mud and the ground shook. Everyone except Rouna fell down and found themselves sitting in mud that went up to their waist when standing. They all looked up at the pillar as soon as the three got up.

    The mud stained parts of their clothes and armor and Hika got a little bit annoyed. She was known for, even in the short amount of time in the class, dressing up nicely and fashionably even in strange outfits. Rena and Erin paid no mind to it as they were both used to getting muddy and grimy.

    Then, whistling through the air. Three sharp cries from above, like a battle cry. A murky and distorted shape in the fog above. The being came crashing down onto the place the four of them had been moments before.

    Luckily, they heard the whistling long before it landed and were able to back up and ready their weapons. Erin had his chain gun at the ready. Rouna had spells that were to be cast at any time. Rena had taken out her dual kamas with a chain connecting them. Hika had unslung her burst rifle. They were ready to fight.

    <hr>

    The air whistled past the being as it descended. The being was taking a long rest up until four unwanted guests entered its domain. The pillar was its home and the top was far above the clouds and storms where it could rest peacefully.

    That all ended when the guests pulled weapons on their host, but the host itself was not very friendly either. It was actually a hydra, but, instead of being snake-like and having a large body, it was more like a slender body with a long tail and three dragon heads. Each head was similar, but different.

    The head on the right was one with six horns that all pointed in front of itself and had amethyst eyes. The one in the middle had two horns that grew towards the back and branched out, like antlers, but ended in sharp points and was absolutely symmetrical. It had teal eyes. The one on the left had four horns that pointed upwards after curving back and its eyes were a scarlet color.

    The scales were a light shade of blue and had jagged spikes randomly sprouting from its back. The tail ended in a split, like a snake¡¯s tongue, but with three parts that wriggled around slightly, but didn¡¯t have the capacity to move much as it was at the end of the tail. There were no wings on the being, but it had a passive ability to turn any kinetic energy it built up falling into a shockwave once it landed.

    All three head were dragons of the same element. The blue dragons were of the electric or storm aspect and could each fire off different types of spells. The left could use defensive. The middle was offensive. The right was buffing spells.

    It had an elaborate background that could easily be summarized up in one, long sentence: A god placed a curse on three Blue Dragons that were each Rank 3 Hierarchs and they were transformed into a single hydra that had more power than when the three used to work together in their own bodies. It was a large mistake on the god¡¯s part, but he was in a hurry and forgot to turn it into a full, weaker hydra.

    It landed on its six legs and all three heads looked at the group, one by one. It scanned the faces to see who would be the hardest to kill and decided that it should kill the slightly tired Rouna first.

    As soon as it landed, it created a large quake as soon as it landed. Mud sloshed violently, like a tsunami, and the four people were sent back even further.

    Everyone was covered in mud and sank underneath the muddy waves. The hydra waited for them and, sure enough, their heads popped up to breath in air. The first one to surface was Rouna, followed by Rena, then Hika, then Erin.

    Without any introductions or warnings, the hydra unleashed one of its weaker attacks that could easily annihilate a village or small town. A beam of crackling lightning escaped he middle head¡¯s mouth and vaporized all in its path. The rain evaporated and the mud dried while the rest of the group dodged the beam.

    The left head opened its maw to show the hundreds of large teeth it contained and a barrier appeared around the hydra. The electricity was blue as it flickered around the hydra like a cage, but moved as it moved.

    The head on the right started moving its mouth to chant something in ancient draconic which was the base of the current draconic language that Rouna and Erin spoke. Lightning escaped its mouth and spread around the barrier to reinforce it.

    The barrier Rouna had set up broke when they were forced to dodge the hydra¡¯s breath. The group was already sipping wet, but it just made things worse as it affected their aim.

    Rena looked at the hydra in despair and muttered under her breath.

    ¡°Where is Rune at a time like this?¡±

    At the moment, Rune was about seven eighths of the way there, but he was constantly badgered while at the school by students and was forced to go the next day.

    ¡°We have to handle this ourselves! To prove we are not weak!!¡±

    Rouna had heard her and was standing up, as proud as a loli dragon could be. Her hands were on her machine gun and she was prepared to fight.

    Almost like an inspiring figure, the others rose behind her and readied their guns. Hika used her sword and thrust it into the ground.

    Pillars of ice erupted from below and ice spread across the wetlands. Everyone hopped upwards to keep from being devoured by the ice while the hydra got a first look at being frozen.

    The hydra¡¯s legs were all frozen in several feet of mud and pillars of ice closed in on it, like a crushing wall. The hydra roared with all three heads in as much fury as it could muster and the ice started to crack under its pressure.

    Quickly, Rouna fired off several poison rounds intro the left hydra¡¯s mouth as it roared and the rest of them shut their mouths. The poison coursed through he left head¡¯s veins, but never reached the rest of the body.

    It gritted its teeth and flared at Rouna as it tried to overcome the obstacle known as poison. It barely managed to hold on even though the poison she fired off was one of her more deadly poisons.

    She grimaced as the dragon was found to be more powerful than previously imagined. Rena saw this and decided to strike as the left head was trying to not faint. She stabbed the right head in the left eye, leaving it vulnerable and half blind.

    The dragon head on the right squinted its eye and realized that, sure enough, it couldn¡¯t see from it. Even so, the hydra was still going strong and lumbered towards them with even more vigor.

    Rouna sighed and held up her hand again to cast another spell.

    ¡°This is going to take a while¡­¡±

 Chapter 51: A Fight

    The hydra bellowed in rage as it was furious at Rena. All three maws opened up and a shockwave of sound erupted from them and blew the group away.

    Everyone fell on their behinds when they couldn¡¯t keep their balance. Then, once they started to try and get back up, they realized something. They couldn¡¯t get up.

    It was as if an invisible weight was pressed down upon them and the ice underneath was also crushed and mud spewed upwards. They even found that they had trouble sitting up with their heads barely above the mud and ice layer.

    The only good part about the current situation was that the hydra was not attacking. All of its eyes were closed, while one was bleeding, and it seemed to be concentrating. Then, as if it sensed a new presence, it opened its eyes with immense speed.

    It turned its middle head to an area behind it and saw the life form. The rest of the group couldn¡¯t see it, but it was wolf monster that just happened to wander into the area. It was scorched by the lightning that the middle head let loose.

    The other two heads glared at the rest of them and started to open their mouths and seemed to chant something. Whenever they chanted, it sounded like hissing in a soft and creepy voice.

    The two heads cast spells around it and five balls of electricity appeared and floated around the hydra. Each one crackled with energy and, whenever sparks flew out from it, it evaporated the surrounding ice and mud.

    The group, now able to stand, hopped upwards, onto the ice still above the mud, and spread out. Rouna decided to take the being head on with Erin following behind her. Rena took the left and Hika took the right.

    The middle head soon returned to its original place and looked about itself. It saw that it was surrounded and the other two heads were still chanting. It took this chance to fire something from its mouth.

    It landed on the ice in front of Rouna and seemed to pulse as it stuck to the ground. Then it pulsed, like a heart beating, and blew up. Smoke appeared from seemingly nowhere and bolts of electricity lashed out.

    Rouna was hit by several of them and jumped away after she got hit three times on the arm. Lichtenberg marks appeared in the places it hit her arm and she winced in pain once she realized that she had gotten hurt.

    Erin was caught up in the smoke and soon couldn¡¯t be seen. Rena quickly glanced at the smoke and Erin to see if he was alright, but she couldn¡¯t see him, even with night vision. However, one should not take their eyes off of the enemy when in battle.

    The hydra¡¯s middle head let loose a torrent of lightning that swerved around in the air, like a stream, and formed a shape. It became the shape of a dragon with the body of a snake or, to be more precise, a snake with a dragon¡¯s head.

    It moved around in the air majestically for several moments before looking down at Rena and lunging at her. She was staring at it and seemed to be entranced right up until the moment where she leapt from the lightning.

    It sank into the ice and, through the ice¡¯s translucent form, she could see the lightning swerve around in the mud. Hika saw this and evaded an attack from below. She was forced to do a barrel roll just to avoid the large spell.

    The middle head threw one more of the same spell into the air and, once it tried to get Rena, it flew up into the air. Rain evaporated around it and steam formed above it.

    Then, the smoke cleared and everyone could see Erin. He was convulsing on the ice and was frothing at the mouth. He was marked with lichtenberg marks everywhere on his body and he stopped moving.

    Rouna hesitantly moved towards him and the hydra grinned in glee. Then, to the hydra¡¯s dismay, it was shot. Shot with a large caliber bullet that traveled at immense speeds from a chain gun that was in Erin¡¯s hands.

    Erin saw up with a lot of discomfort and coughed. When he did so, a small bit of blood emerged and landed on the ice. He stared at it with a little bit of disbelief before looking at the hydra. He raised his chain gun with a single arm and fired it.

    Thirty five bullets in total landed in the hydra before it stopped casting and jumped away. The defensive balls of electricity dispersed while the dragons formed of lightning flickered as the middle head¡¯s concentration wavered.

    The ice under the hydra broke under its weight once more and mud covered its lower body. It was bleeding red from the thirty five holes in its chest. The right head started chanting something and several holes vanished with the bullets being pumped out of it. The rest were anti-magic bullets while the ones that exited were elemental bullets with the Ice attribute.

    It looked down in surprise with all three heads as it noticed that several holes were still bleeding. It staggered and blood gushed forth from the wounds like a waterfall of red. It landed on its side and slowly turned over onto its stomach.

    All three heads closed their eyes and chanted magic spells. It cast three barriers, two orbs of electricity hovering around it, and five lightning dragons appeared. All three spells surrounded the hydra which was now closing its eyes and the wounds were slowly closing one at a time.

    The group, however, could not wait that long and decided to attack while it was still recovering. Everyone shot in seemingly synchronization as their guns were trained on the heads. None of the bullets reached them whatsoever, but they managed to disrupt the middle head¡¯s concentration and one of the five lightning dragons vanished.

    Then the other four pounced onto to all of them. From the sky, each lightning dragon tried to take out a single opponent, but was met with ice as they all dodged, albeit slowly. They kept on attacking and the group was forced to dodge more and more until the lightning dragons vanished.

    They had been hit with ice and mud far too much and was absorbed into the ground without further aggression. Everyone backed away from the hydra as it looked towards them.

    All of its wounds had disappeared and it had stopped losing blood. All of its heads seemed to twist their faces into evil grins as best they could. The right head was still blind and it had been a bit too long for it to heal that wound, thus it was extremely furious at Rena.

    All three heads lunged at her and every spell that surrounded it vanished into thin air. Rena, too tired to dodge, held up her gun to try and block it and was pushed back. She tumbled and rolled and broke the ice in several places until she found herself sprawled on the ice, like a squid dropped onto the floor.

    She straightened her limbs and found that nothing was broken, surprisingly enough. Her clothes were torn in several places and she was getting rained on by enough water to fill several ponds. She shivered on the ice and sat up to look at the three headed beast.

    The hydra started to run at her until, lo and behold, Rouna had replenished most of her magical energy and cast three spells. They all were spells that created poison, shaped them into spirals with grooves, and sent them barreling at the enemy.

    They hit the hydra in its side and it did a complete 180 as it landed on its back. It flailed its six legs about before setting itself back on its feet and glaring at Rouna.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Rouna turned to look at Rena, then at Erin and Hika who were behind they hydra. She cupped her hands to emphasize her voice.

    ¡°I think it can¡¯t use spells anymore. Shoot it now!!¡±

    Still, even if it couldn¡¯t fire off any more spells, its speed was faster than everyone else¡¯s at this point. It hadn¡¯t used up a lot of stamina while the rest of the group did. It swung the left head and whacked Rouna in the side. It was trying to bite her, but its perception was a bit off as that head was still being affected by poison.

    It kept on turning and ended up also hitting Erin who coughed blood on the clear ice and fell through it. Mere moments later, he gasped and his claws gripped tightly onto the ice and he dragged himself back up. He was shivering the most and was trying to crawl away.

    The hydra looked at him with one head and took the opportunity to take a giant bite out of him¡­ Or that would have happened if the other two heads hadn¡¯t gone and left to go in the other direction to try and damage Hika who was almost completely fine. She was holding a small shield over her head with her left arm and had her rifle in the other to have better aim in the rain.

    She fired three shots as the head was dragged back and they all landed in the leg as visibility was still very, very poor.

    It was rather fortunate that she even managed to hit it while rain and wind were playing an important role in the current event. The wind and the movement of the hydra placed the bullets in its leg and it staggered once more as blood let loose.

    She has hit an artery and was aiming to shoot a second time. Of course, it was just her luck that the beast regained enough mana for another spell just at that moment and a defensive barrier was thrown up, deflecting every bullet sent in its direction.

    They all rebounded off and broke through the ice and cracks were made. Several holes formed and mud sloshed about in those divots. The hydra took the liberty to take a step forward, as all the heads turned towards her, and headbutted her with two heads at once.

    They slammed into her stomach and chest and she spat out a mixture of saliva and blood. She was now bleeding internally from a broken rib that had slightly punctured her lung. She lay still on the ice, not wanting to attract any more attention and to let the hydra think that she was dead or dying when she was actually only in enough pain to kill an elephant.

    The only ones standing now were Rouna and Rena. Erin had flopped over and was spitting out tiny chunks of coagulated blood in his mouth and Hika was busy fending off death.

    The hydra turned on those two and it seemed like it really did want to finish them off. The middle head rose up, above the other two, and a bright, blue light appeared in the back of its throat.

    It let loose a thunderous roar and five bolts of electricity shot forth towards them. Hika and Erin could only watch in a daze as it seemed like their death was nearing ever closer.

    <hr>

    In a certain nurses office in the Human continent, Riika was wearing a cast made of a flexible plaster casing with slight cushions inside. She was in the process of being healed and she was currently waking at the moment to take her daily prescription of healing potion.

    Elisa was already awake, but still had a slight cold as she lay in her bed. The curtains were pushed back and they could see one another now and Elisa turned her head to the right to look over at Riika who was downing a bottle of red liquid that would help her leg heal faster.

    ¡°How do you think the rest of the group is doing?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Riika turned to look at her and put up one finger to indicate that she was still drinking the potion. After there was barely a drop of liquid left in the container, she spoke to Elisa. She was feeling immensely better after the treatments and she was able to move her body without her leg hurting.

    ¡°They should be fine. They are much stronger than us. Even so, Rune is heading back to them as we speak. He might even already be there now.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re probably right¡­¡±

    Still, Elisa couldn¡¯t shake off her uneasy feelings that something would or has happened to the group. The isle was unknown to all manner of intelligent life save for the dragons. Who knows what things could be there.

    <hr>

    Rune was having a bit of trouble now. He was flapping his wings in the sky and was looking about, but the rain was heavy and fog touched the ground. All he could see was the very tips of treetops and that there were several open areas shrouded by rain or fog.

    If he tried to use his advanced hearing, he would be overcome by the strange noises coming from beneath him and, if he used advanced sight, it would prove to be of no use. Smell, touch, and taste would do absolutely nothing as there was nothing in the sky that those senses could be used on.

    In the end, he just had to look through each of the large, open areas that may have the group.

    <hr>

    The lightning struck a barrier that Rouna only barely managed to throw together in front of them both. The barrier exploded in a fog of poison that dispersed without dealing damage to anyone. Hika and Erin finally understood what was going on and they crawled their way to the edge of the fight.

    No one wanted to be caught up in a fight with a hydra, much less a really powerful one when you were severely injured and had very little stamina to work with.

    The hydra seemed to grow increasingly more annoyed by the second and let loose another volley of lightning. They streaked through the air and Rena and Rouna watched helplessly as they could do a thing.

    However, with the help of science, lightning is drawn to the ground and it likes to take the shortest possible route to it. Since those two had clearly gone quite far with just upper arm strength alone, the lightning changed its route and went spiraling downwards, through the ice and straight into the mud.

    Only a caster with powerful enough magic potential could make the lightning fly farther. This was the limit of the hydra¡¯s magical prowess.

    Hika sighed a sigh of relief as she realized that, for the second time in the past minute, she was not dead. Erin just kept moving onward, completely oblivious to the fact that he almost died.

    The two kept moving until¡­ fwump. They flopped onto the ice with one last heave and stopped moving. They weren¡¯t dead, but they were tired from everything and their entire body ached in pain.

    The hydra snorted, realising that it could kill those two once it finished killing the current two that were standing before it. Rena aimed her gun and fired several shots. They all penetrated the beast in different places. The only similarity was that the neck of the left head¡¯s base was being shot at.

    Countless holes appeared in it with anti-magic bullets and she reloaded her clips at speeds only A and S rank adventurers could move at. She was filled with one of the most powerful forces a person could be compelled by: the will to live.

    She didn¡¯t want to be killed and she also wanted to save her friend from imminent death. That meant only one path stood before her. She must kill the hydra.

    The hydra was still stunned by the display of speed and in enough pain that it stopped to try and block the bullets while lying down. The only thing that did happen was that the entire left head, neck and all, slide downwards and crashed through the ice and some mud made its way onto it after a huge splash.

    Blood leaked everywhere and part of the spinal column could be seen jutting out from the meat hill on the hydra instead of a neck. Dark red flowed out like a river trying to escape the beast and it made several puddles that slightly melted the ice as the warm liquid became cool.

    The middle head roared in rage and pain and let loose its most powerful attack on Rena. Its maw opened up farther than anyone thought possible. Its teeth glinted light from the crackling light in the back of its neck. Its tongue was flat against its bottom jaw.

    Air whirled around the hydra and the right head closed its eyes as if focusing on something. It snapped its eyes open and opened its maw in the same way the middle head did.

    Just then, a shot rang out. Several shots followed suit and bullets streamed through the air. The right head¡¯s eyes widened in surprise as they didn¡¯t think their opponents would go out of turn.

    The ten bullets fired found themselves in the eyes of the middle head. Both eyes burst opened like a tomato being smashed by a baseball bat.

    Once those eyes were out of the picture, the bullets flowed past the empty eye sockets and utterly and completely destroyed the brain. Brain matter flew out from the newly formed hole in the back of the head and through the eye sockets. Truly a gruesome sight as its head hung limply to the side.

    The one who fired was Rouna. The only problem now was that she was too tired and both Rena and Rouna had been lucky to have their bullets hit their target while it was distracted. They couldn¡¯t do anything now, but wait for their death.

    Erin shakily sat up and propped himself up with an arm. He aimed his chain gun and¡­ boom! An explosion of ice and mud rattled the area. Wind shook the group around and they were sent even farther away.

    Once Erin landed on ice, he checked his gun. He hadn¡¯t fired a shot.

    What had happened was that something came out from the sky and landed on the hydra with enough force that it blew it to smithereens. No, with that much force, some pieces of flesh should have been leftover. It seemed like something absorbed it.

    ¡°Hey! You guys look terrible. Should I bring you back to the nurse¡¯s office?¡±

 Chapter 52: How to Break an Isle Part I

    Rune strode up to Hika and picked her up and placed her on his shoulder. Then he carefully laid her down next to Erin and cast [Heal Greater] on the two of them. A green light appeared before him over the two and their wounds closed and healed. Their bruises faded and their bleeding stopped. Even their breathing became normal once more.

    The two lied their to rest and Rena and Rouna staggered over to them. Rune healed them too as their blood leaked from their mouths and cuts. Even frostbite was healed from their toes.

    Rune looked around them and raised a barrier made of hardened mud which became more like an igloo. It kept the rain out and the ground underneath them was now solid and not slippery.

    Everyone, save for Rune, lied down on the floor and found it comforting and warm, at least more so than the ice and rain. Everyone was tired and no one really wanted to keep going with the trek.

    ¡°When you guys wake up, tell me if you want to continue on this trip. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll bring you back to the school.¡±

    The group nodded without really listening to him and drifted off to sleep. Everyone was actually in a deep slumber as just walking through the isle made them tired.

    Rune looked around outside for a moment. He had to actually walk outside and move around the igloo to patrol which was quite the hassle. He couldn¡¯t hear anything either due to the rain beating the ice and igloo like a drum.

    He sighed and sat underneath the igloo entrance and looked out to not get rained on. He liked dry weather more than he did rain, but he liked the cold more than the hot. He certainly was a strange existence, even without the many forms he could change into.

    And so, with rifle in hand, he watched the area. Even though he was in his Demon King form, he did not need as much sleep as a regular human. He just needed to sleep for an hour before regaining all his stamina and magic.

    He saw that they were each carrying a bag on their backs and carefully took them off without waking them. He checked the contents, starting with Erin, and saw that they still had sleeping bags, but no food and minimal water.

    From his storage, he took out a barrel of water and dozens of bags of dried meat and other things that wouldn¡¯t go bad within two months at least in the current climate. He divided them up into four separate piles, each relative to the person¡¯s size, stature, and how much they can eat before they get full, and placed them in their bags.

    Then he used [Water Control] to take out most of the water that had made their clothes wet and shoes soggy. He took that water, full of grime and dirt, and threw it outside as far as he could away from them.

    He unfurled their sleeping bags and placed them on the ground after placing a tarp first. To do so, he had to carefully raise everyone up with his [Gravity Control] and place them in the sleeping bags on the tarps which required extreme precision as to not wake them up.

    Then, after all was said and done, he checked his status to find that he had gained two magic spells. One was [Lightning Offensive] which allowed him to use any offensive Lightning spells until rank A. The other was [Lightning Buff] which allowed him to using any buffing magic that was related to Lightning until rank A.

    He stroked his chin and looked back at the two new magics. They were extremely powerful, but not as powerful as his [Water Control] spell. Still, rank A was one of the highest tier spells. The only rank that surpassed that was rank S and all the others.

    For rank S, they were divided into five categories. S was a spell that could turn the tide of war or destroy a large city. SS was a spell that could cause damage to the entire region if left unchecked. SSS and above were titles with few exceptions, such as the skills or magics given by gods.

    SSS was a rank where there were immunities and they were able to gain a single, if not more, SS spells. SSSS was a title that could rival the smallest of gods in its weaker stage. This rank is usually given to Demon Kings and they get the same things as rank SSS, but either much more of them or they are more powerful. The last was rank X meaning that the world would be destroyed if something like this were to appear. This last one is given to the sealed gods in different worlds, such as Tiamat.

    All of the Seven Deadly Sin¡¯s titles and skills were SS and Rune had each and every one of them, just like how a Demon King should. Some curses, such as the Curse of Iram, was one that was labeled as S rank due to it being unstable and able to either produce more blades or being able to freeze over an entire city.

    Rune sighed as he looked out. He was someone who did not like going in alone to strange, unknown territories. That was why he usually had friends to party with him in most of his video games. But, even so, he knew that there would likely be more casualties if he kept them going.

    He got up and looked back at the group. He pulled out one of his teleportation crystals whose teleportation destination was set to the ship. Strangely enough, it was still there, even after all this time.

    He wrote a little note and started to get to work.

    <hr>

    Rena sat up. She was till half asleep and her eyes were closed, but she was still somewhat conscious of her surroundings. Things like Erin¡¯s snoring or the rain pouring around them could be heard by her.

    She stretched her arms and sighed. After opening her eyes, they soon became even wider.

    She and the rest of the group were moving through the air. She checked her surroundings to find that she was still above the isle, but they were on a metal platform with a barrier around it to prevent rain from entering.

    Everyone was there except Rune and Rouna. In the center of the platform was a blue crystal the size of one¡¯s fist. On one side of it, it had a sticky note with some words scrawled onto it in ink.

    She got out of her sleeping bag and was surprised when there wasn¡¯t any shaking, even when they were going through the air at such high speeds. She plucked off the note and read it aloud, but still quietly.

    ¡°This will take you to the ship once you exit the isle. Rouna is staying with me for a bit to ¡­ I dunno. We are probably going to find the dragon(s) that are keeping this afloat and kill them. Have fun with Nacht and Lacht and say that I said ¡°Hi¡± if you see them¡­. P.S. There should be a teleportation portal to go to the school and back. It should look like a door.¡±

    She slowly lowered her hand and sighed. At least she didn¡¯t have to worry about Rune or Rouna and she was going to go back to a regular school life.

    <hr>

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s wise to send three children off without supervision?¡±

    Rouna looked at Rune who was busy making his weapons more powerful. He looked up at her and sighed. He waved his hand as if he felt no guilt sending teenagers off to go back to school. Probably because he actually felt no guilt doing so.

    ¡°You sound like a parent. Don¡¯t be so harsh on them. I was able to kill dragons when I was their age.¡±

    ¡°... You are their age though. Well, two to three years older, but still. You are an anomaly.¡±

    ¡°Aw. Thanks. You¡¯re making me blush.¡±

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t a compliment.¡±

    Rune waved his hand once more to dismiss her from speaking.

    ¡°If you take negative comments about yourself as compliments, you wouldn¡¯t take things seriously.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    Rouna still managed to spit out her words before Rune could speak.

    ¡°Exactly! I really don¡¯t take this too seriously. This mission is a bit dirty and muddy, but the monsters here are weak. Of course, that won¡¯t mean that the boss is weak.¡±

    ¡°IS this some sort of game to you? People¡¯s lives are at risk here!¡±

    ¡°Hey! Calm down. I know that, but, you know, it kind of is a game to me. And, even if people die, there are still resurrections spells that High Priests can use.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but for hefty sums of money. About ten gold PER PERSON!!¡±

    She emphasized the last bits of her words, but realised that it wouldn¡¯t get through to him, no matter what she said. It was as Rune said, it is a game for him¡­ Well, at least most of the time.

    ¡°I can pay for about fifty people per month then, excluding my payments and food costs, but I see your point. Let¡¯s not delve too deep into this topic or else you will find that I will talk of something disturbing.¡±

    ¡°?¡±

    She opened her mouth, but closed it soon afterwards. She had no idea what he meant by that.

    ¡°Disturbing things?¡±

    ¡°How do ya feel about automatons with souls in them. People can live infinitely without food or water, but will need electricity or natural resources. If the latter, then we can assume that the¡­¡±

    Rune droned on about things that Rouna did not understand for about several minutes before she stopped him by shoving her small hands over his mouth. She was getting a headache just by thinking about it.

    However, she could pick out some bits and pieces like ¡°chinese water torture¡±, ¡°slowly boiling alive¡±, ¡°world wars¡±, and ¡°cannibalism¡± which she felt was disturbing the more he talked about those things and more.

    What Rune was actually talking about was that, if automatons needed natural resources, there would be world wide fights to obtain such goods and that there may be people torturing others to get such goods. If there was a finite amount of vessels for souls, people would want more, bringing them to fight with each other to end up in a world war. Then starvation would haunt everyone and people would resort to cannibalism as the weapons of mass destruction would kill many plants and animals.

    ¡°Ahem. Anyway, how are we gonna find this source. We have to kill it, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It must be at least one dragon, if not more. I can only imagine that only the power of several Hierarch dragons could do this.¡±

    ¡°So, which way?¡±

    ¡°I am unsure. Perhaps maybe we can look at the pillar over there.¡±

    Rouna pointed at the large column that the hydra had leapt off of and both looked at it. It was actually kind of menacing when one looked at it from a far enough distance.

    The reason why Rouna was with Rune was because she had woken when Rune was putting the finishing touches on the hovering platform. He was placing enchantments on it and rigging the crystal to the center.

    Apparently, a dragon¡¯s hearing was extremely good and they would wake at the sound of metal clanking on metal. This was actually a defense mechanism to protect their treasure.

    ¡°Munya.¡±

    Rune almost let out a laugh as she said something he had only heard anime characters say. She looked at him and rubbed her eyes.

    ¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡±

    She started to yawn during the last part of her words and stifled it as soon as it tried to come out. She looked around to see that they were all on a platform and Rune was putting the finishing touches on it.

    ¡°Um¡­ Saving you guys? From the horrors that await?¡±

    She stood up and walked over to Rune. She wasn¡¯t too intimidating as she was smaller than a teen and had the body of a smaller, slimmer person. The only problem was the overwhelming bloodlust that Rune felt in his face.

    ¡°Ok, you caught me. I just wanted to send you guys home so that none of you would get hurt¡­¡±

    ¡°Starting to have a conscience, eh?¡±

    ¡°... So that I won¡¯t have to keep sending you guys back to the school. It¡¯s starting to become a hassle. The more someone gets injured, the more likely I have to fly, teleport, and care for them.¡±

    ¡°...Oh.¡±

    Rune sighed and kept working on the platform. It wasn¡¯t as fast nor as large as the previous one, but it would get the job done¡­ probably.

    ¡°Anyway, since you¡¯re up, you can at least help, right? Keep this straight from a sec while I¡­¡±

    And so, back to the present. The present where Rune was talking about cannibalism and Rouna was trying to not listen.

    Rune stood up and dusted himself off. Rouan followed suit as they head towards the pillar. Unlike before, Rune was actually able to block out all the rain while constantly making an ice path around him.

    Once they reached its base, he looked up and spoke to Rouna.

    ¡°What does it say? Hey, can you read it?¡±

    The first sentence he muttered under his breath while the second was a genuine question for Rouna. She nodded and looked at the runes engraved into the material.

    She started to walk around it and Rune had to follow her to make sure that she wouldn¡¯t go off and accidentally die or something.

    ¡°If thy dare to enter¡­ head west of thine obstacle ahead.¡±

    ¡°That many runes for a simple sentence?¡±

    ¡°No, there are usually more characters to a sentence in draconic. This is ancient draconic with less characters.¡±

    ¡°... Ok?¡±

    ¡°Um, yeah, you probably wouldn¡¯t understand it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ So, west, huh? Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Rune took a step forward before remembering something. He swiveled around on his heels and looked at Rouna.

    ¡°Which way is west?¡±

    <hr>

    And so, after many hours of walking and flying and Rouna using her farsight, they managed to reach a large cone whose point was buried deep, deep into the ground. There were five balls of metal surrounding it that were each placed at equal intervals with chains connecting it to it.

    The actual cone seemed to be made of large sheets of metal that were twisted around and there were pieces of metal randomly sticking out like some sort of bird¡¯s nest made of metal. The metal spheres were actually smooth and round and had no distortions in it.

    The surrounding area had turned from mud to rock and was definitely more solid than the ice Rune created under his feet. Rune stepped forth and Rouna followed as well and they could soon feel vibrations under their feet. It was as if there was a huge earthquake. He stepped back onto the ice that was separated from the rock and felt nothing.

    Tentatively he stepped back and march on. His feet were starting to become numb which the metal greaves made worse since they were made of multiple chunks of metal. Rouna had her boots on which were made of leather and metal, but her skin, or rather scales, did not allow her feet to become numb.

    ¡°Do you think the top is the entrance?¡±

    ¡°Hopefully.¡±

    With that doubtful answer, the two of them sprouted wings from their backs and flew upwards. High into the sky. Actually, Rune just had his wings folded up and they just extended outwards when he flew up.

    From the air, they could see that there was indeed a hole to enter, but it was surrounded by several Blue Dragons that each had their own individuality. They were all Hierarch Dragons each with more power than five of the hydras the group faced combined.

    Of course, Rune wasn¡¯t one to run from a challenge and he flexed his might. He raised both his hands into the air and started to cast magic.

    <hr>

    Down in the Nest as they called it, two guards were talking to each other in low growls and grunts which was also known as Ancient Draconic. They were speaking to each other about the Blue Irregular Dragon.

    ¡°That guy seems pretty arrogant, right?¡±

    The dragon on the left moved his arm to point downwards.

    ¡°Oh, thank Tiamat, it¡¯s not just me! He¡¯s so strange!¡±

    The dragon on the right was so relieved that he sighed. He was keeping his feelings about the boss a secret which were that he really didn¡¯t like him and that he was mentally ill.

    ¡°I know, right? He keeps asking for parfaits and stuff and I have no idea what that means!!¡±

    The Irregular Dragon was a huge fan of desserts and liked fruits. He happened to peek into Earth¡¯s world for several minutes, but, within that short amount of time, he was able to deduce that desserts were amazing. The only problem was that no one knew how to make the ones he was looking for in Arborea.

    ¡°The other day, he ordered my friend to fly in the sky with him on his back! He¡¯s like some sort of sadistic, psychotic leader. If he wasn¡¯t my boss, I would steer clear of him.¡±

    The leader liked to force his own underlings through terrible things to make himself feel much better about not having desserts.

    ¡°Even his name was weird.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it was like-¡±

    The dragon on the right looked upwards at the sky.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°The rain¡­ it became ice¡­¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that normal?¡±

    ¡°No, not here.¡±

    Suddenly, a spear of ice as large as the dragon stabbed through it and pinned the dragon to the metal Nest. The life faded from its eyes as it drew its last ragged breaths. It coughed up blood and vomited up a lung.

    From the edges of the wound where the ice pierced the dragon, blood trickled down and flesh covered the part of the ice that had already gone through the dragon.

    The dragon on the left looked up to where the ice spear had come from. Now, it was like a volley of arrows where they were going to start killed dragons in a single blow.

 Chapter 53: How to Break an Isle Part II

    Spears of ice punctured the fools who had inadvertently incurred Rune¡¯s wrath. The person they were working for had decided that it was a good idea to send a dragon his way and now they were going to pay for it.

    Rune started by casting Ice Age in the surrounding area which turned the water droplets into small pieces of hail and allowed him to cast even stronger Ice magic. He also knew that dragon¡¯s did not like the cold much and decided to use this as an advantage.

    For Rouna, he gave her a necklace to wear that prevents the cold from reaching her. It would most definitely be useful as she would be near Rune most of the mission and he was the center of the cold.

    The dragons beneath them were trying to find cover or trying as fast as they could to deploy barrier magics. However, even with all the magic shields and barriers, the ice spears penetrated through and skewered the dragons one by one, like shish kebabs.

    In about five minutes, only three dragons managed to survive and the other seventeen were pinned to the ground. Rune slowly approached the Nest¡¯s surface and landed.

    He saw a dragon hiding under one of the pieces of metal sticking out of the interior of the Nest and he pulled out a gun. A single shot rang out and the dragon¡¯s heart was blown away.

    The dragon with a newly formed hole flopped to the ground and died. It didn¡¯t bleed though because Rune¡¯s blast has cauterized the wound the moment it was created.

    The other two dragons that saw this started to turn around and run into the forest. However, the moment they started to flap their wings, the sound could be heard by Rune and, without looking, he fired off his rifle. The rifle was on his shoulder and tilted in such a way that it utter destroyed one wing of a dragon and blew off the head of another.

    He put another bullet in the chamber and turned around to find the dragon whose wing he destroyed was trying to run on its four limbs. He swapped the gun from his right hand to his left and used a spell that he realized he hadn¡¯t used in a long time.

    A column of blue magic was sent from his hands and it bolted out towards the dragon. It latched on and turned to ice. That ice soon became the restraints of the dragon and it found itself bound to the floor by the [Frostbite] spell.

    Its left hind leg stuck to the floor and it tripped. It fell flat onto its face and turned its head around to see an evil grin. One that would usually be found on an insane serial killer¡¯s face.

    It immediately shrunk down to become a human and he begged for his life.

    ¡°Pl-please don¡¯t kill me!! I¡¯ll give you everything I have!! Here!!¡±

    Lightning struck in front of Rune and a mound of treasure appeared. It was a vast fortune that the dragon had amassed over the past three centuries. It must have been deathly afraid of Rune to do so for dragons do not give their treasure out to just anyone.

    Rune turned his head to look at the treasure. Then he looked back at the dragon while pointing at the pile.

    ¡°And you¡¯re giving this to me?¡±

    ¡°Y-yes!! Let me live, please!!¡±

    ¡°Well, one person has to tell the tale, right? I just wanted information, but thanks for the extra cash. I¡¯ll be taking that, thanks.¡±

    ¡°O-oi!! Wait, you just want information? I¡¯ll tell you, but, please, give me back at least thirty percent of my treasure.¡±

    Rune put his index finger on his chin and tapped it several times before speaking.

    ¡°Nope, I¡¯m good.¡±

    And he put all the treasure that was all around him into his storage. He was quite happy indeed with the money he just got from, what was basically, a hold up.

    ¡°Oh, this is like Per***a 5! Well, except the fact that I get money AND information! How fun!¡±

    Both dragons, Rouna and the lightning dragon, looked at him with much confusion. He coughed as he stopped talking about video games and focused at the task at hand.

    ¡°Where is the Blue Irregular Dragon? Who is he? How do I make a bone chandelier out of him?¡±

    ¡°Wut?¡±

    Both dragons turned to face him at the same time as he mentioned the last bit. He waved them off and spoke again.

    ¡°Just tell me who and where he is. Wait, is it a she or a he?¡±

    ¡°... It is a he¡­¡±

    ¡°Ok then. Where is he?¡±

    The dragon had to think for a moment. It was actually in a lot of shock as it had been in a near death experience, had its money stolen by a random demon person, and was being confused by all the strange things that Rune was saying that made absolutely zero sense.

    ¡°Uh, um¡­¡±

    Rune carefully and slowly took out his trench knife and stabbed the dragon person in the right foot.

    ¡°Grahhhh!!!!!¡±

    Pain seared through his body, as if he was on fire, then it stopped as quickly as it had started. He looked down to look at the wound to see that there was a new hole in his foot that had become cauterized. He looked at Rune and thought, He really likes to burn things, in such a calm manner that it seemed like he had forgotten being burned for a moment. But that thought only lasted a moment before pain coursed through his entire body leaving him paralyzed in fear of being hurt more and his body becoming numb from the pain.

    ¡°Speak in proper sentences.¡±

    Rune growled as he poured bloodlust into his words. The dragon started to move his mouth and tongue to make sentences and spoke.

    ¡°H-he is in the center of the isle!! If y-you just go down that door and the stairs, you will reach a labyrinth. He is at the center of that!!¡±

    ¡°Any shortcuts through the labyrinth?¡±

    ¡°N-no!! It keeps changing its paths so there is no shortcut!!¡±

    ¡°I see¡­ Any other things worth mentioning?¡±

    ¡°Um, you cannot use any transportation or telepathic magics once there and many of the monsters down there are resistant to most magics.¡±

    Rune scratched his head and slung his rifle over his shoulder. He unholstered his pistol from his belt and lazily pointed it at the dragon.

    ¡°What do you mean by ¡°many of the monsters¡±? I thought there were dragons here.¡±

    The dragon desperately tried to look for a way out to no avail and sighed. He hung his head in defeat and spoke.

    ¡°The boss doesn¡¯t like other dragons and keeps unintelligent beings around unless he wants something from us.¡±

    ¡°What is his name?¡±

    ¡°Oh, y-yeah. It is Ogrush.¡±

    ¡°...What kind of name is that?¡±

    ¡°A truly terrible one.¡±

    ¡°Ok. You want to ask anything?¡±

    Rune turned to Rouna who was patiently waiting her turn. She spoke as soon as he asked.

    ¡°Is the Irregular Dragon the one holding up this isle?¡±

    ¡°Y-yes. Now, if y-you don¡¯t have any questions left, I s-shall take my leave.¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    The dragon tried to speak in a confidant tone, but utterly failed with his stuttering. Rune sighed, rolled his eyes, and swung his arm downwards¡­ upon the ice shackling the dragon to the ground.

    ¡°Leave. Spread my name! But only once I have killed all the Irregular Dragons!!¡±

    ¡°A-aye!!¡±

    The dragon saluted and turned to run with his tail between his legs. Rune laughed as he realized that he had scared such a powerful being with ease.

    ¡°Now. Let¡¯s take this dragon head on, shall we?¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡±

    ¡°Oh, but first, thanks for the meal!!¡±

    Rune clapped his hands together like how he saw people do it in anime right before they ate. However, he wasn¡¯t planning on eating...

    <hr>

    A large, taloned finger pushed a button that was on the wall. Above that button was a crystal that would take in the vibrations from the speaker¡¯s voice and transmit them to the crystal it was linked with. It was much like a short ranged radio.

    In a gruff and powerful, but hearty voice, the being spoke. Its maw opened and closed quickly to convey its message. In Ancient Draconic, it spoke, but it knew that, if no one could understand his fast speaking habit, he could speak in Common where all of his underlings could understand him.

    They were used to him speaking quickly and not understanding it at all. That was why he had everyone learn Common as a second language.

    He stopped talking in draconic. He kept trying to use that language for he was most used to it and hoped that the others would pick up on how he spoke. Sadly, that never, and will never, happen. He started to speak in Common.

    ¡°ONE OF YOU, COME DOWN HERE AT ONCE!!!! I WANT TO PLAY!!!!¡±

    Of course, his definition of ¡°play¡± was so completely different than the other dragons that, at first, they thought he was talking about hunting something for fun instead of him beating them. Once they ¡°played¡± for the first time, they were scarred for life.

    ¡°ANSWER ME!!!! COME DOWN AT ONCE!!!!¡±

    Yet again, no one answered. He was growing increasingly concerned. He had heard from the Black Irregular and the White Irregular Dragons that there was something going around killing their underlings. He was convinced that that being wouldn¡¯t be able to come to his sky domain, but he was still fearful.

    Something that could easily take out one of their kind was still a threat, even if weaker than the Irregular Dragon itself. They could cause heavy damage to themselves or destroy their entire kingdom, leaving them with nothing but the blood and corpses of their allies and a new space in their caverns where treasure used to be.

    ¡°THIS BETTER NOT BE A JOKE, YOU HEAR ME?!?!¡±

    However, the situation was dire indeed. Not only had the one thing he had been fearing come, but his subordinates were nearly decimated. He did not only have underlings on the Isle, but most of them were stationed there while the stronger ones went out looking for villages to conquer.

    The only ones actually guarding the area were Rank 2-4 Hierarch Dragons on top of the Nest. They were weak compared to his pioneers which were made up of three Rank 1 Hierarch Dragons which were also, coincidentally, his only Rank 1 Hierarch Dragons.

    Sweat beaded down its forehead. The current outcome was one that the dragon feared the most. This situation was one where he had lost his underlings and was not able to make them make him parfaits or try to learn what a parfait is made of and how to make it.

    ¡°QUICK!!!! BRING ME THE BUTTON!!!!¡±

    He pointed at a Mid Tier Vampire who had been captured after she had tried to kill one of his subordinates. This person was one of the two humanoids he had with him in the labyrinth that he had constructed.

    She bowed in fear and scurried off to find the Button. The Button was a prototype made by himself to mess around with the labyrinth to his advantage. He could press the button and it would read his brain waves to figure out what he wanted to labyrinth to be.

    She hurried back and presented the Button to him. It actually looked quite strange in her hands as it was made for the large Dragon who was a hundred times larger than she, but she wielded it like it was a feather on the palm of her hands.

    ¡°M-my lord.¡±

    The dragon plucked the button from her hands. The button was a bright red color and the object it was on was a rectangle, much like a remote for a tv. The dragon had peeked through the realms to see that, on Earth, there were many red, flashy buttons that seemed important.

    Both maids bowed. One had red eyes and pale skin, the Mid Tier Vampire. Her hair was a pale blonde color and quite long and her stature was smaller than the average height of human females in Arborea. She had the ability to turn into mist as well as turn into a bat, but she knew that, if she did so, the Irregular Dragon would kill her in mere moments of transformation.

    The other maid had two horns, but one had been broken off when getting captured by a Hierarch Dragon. She had battle scars on her abdomen, back, and arms, but was still going strong. She was of the species known as Minotaur, but her clan, as well as several others, had went from being more bull than human to becoming more human than bull. She was much taller than the average human male in Arborea and held herself with dignity.

    The Vampire race was proud and liked to rack up achievements, but not as much as the Minotaurs who thought achievements and power was everything. The maid Minotaur Girl was one of the few who was smarter than most others in her tribe, but still not the brightest among people. The Mid Tier Vampire was not as powerful as a Pure Breed Vampire, but still stronger than the Vampire Spawn.

    Naturally, Vampires had special abilities, but Pure Breeds held all, followed by the Mid Tier, and, lastly, the Vampire Spawn. It was random what the Mid Tier Vampires received, ability wise, but they were special as they had the chance of gaining a resistance to something depending on who the parent was who was not a vampire. Vampires are just humans who have turned and Pure Breeds are the first turned who revere the ancient gods of death. Vampire Spawn are just the slaves of Pure Breeds as they have been infected and have not been born a Vampire. Mid Tier Vampires are Vampires who have Pure Breed Blood in them from either the parents or other ancestors and some traits may not manifest at all.

    In the current Mid Tier Vampire¡¯s case, she had Pure Breed blood coursing through her as her mother was one and her father was a regular human. Still, strangely enough, all Vampires have one thing in common: Immortality. Even the Vampire Spawn. And so, she traversed the world in search of adventure to find that there was another continent.

    She had flown across the sea and replenished her stamina and mana with blood. Once she reached Hell¡¯s Gate, she had to fight for her life to survive every encounter. She only barely managed to scrape through and gain enough experience to gain quite a few levels.

    She had been living her life well enough and was living in a large city full of monster people. They welcomed her, at least most did, and she had a great job of going out and dealing with monsters.

    Of course, that all went south when she took the job to investigate the floating isle when someone discovered it. The guild put up a request to have a party of people sent up there and to kill whatever was there if it was not friendly. That something they were sent to kill was all of the Blue Hierarch Dragons and a Blue Irregular Dragon. And that was how the entire team, other than her, was annihilated.

    For the Minotaur Girl, she was part of a tribe of people who were nomads. They traveled and stopped and hunted and so on and so forth. One day, a dragon had come from the sky asking for a representative. They received her and that was that.

    ¡°Hahhhhh.¡±

    Both maids sighed as they remembered their backstories at the same exact moment. Both were terrified of what may come if they go against the dragon and both were sad as they wanted to leave.

    With a slight grunt, the dragon got up, out of his chair and stood up. He was easily taller than the Rock Elemental that the group had faced earlier and he was much more intimidating. He was one of the eleven strongest beings in the world.

    There were eleven unparalleled beings in Arborea, other than the gods. One was a large serpent in the water whom only a few knew about. One was an invisible beast that flew through the air. One was a small, but mighty wolf that liked to doggy paddle in lava. One was a giant wyrm who ate and lived in the ground. One was a being who was only awake during the day and it flew with its majestic bird wings through the air. One was a being only awake at night and prowled the ground with its padded paws.

    The other five were just the Irregular Dragons who controlled elements too, but were not nearly as strong as the other six beings. They were beyond anyone¡¯s control, including the gods. They had the power to travel through dimensions and worlds and went where they pleased. Especially the wolf who played around in lava who also managed to accidentally cause many volcanic eruptions on Earth, like in Pompeii.

    Still, while being one of the strongest eleven in the world, he was still afraid his spot would be taken as he was the least strong of the strongest and many were nearly as powerful as him. He was always paranoid of what was coming to kill him whenever and wherever he was.

    That paranoia made him lock himself up in a labyrinth and he was the only one who was able to successfully move through the maze without guidance. For his subordinates, he used telepathy to tell them.

    Just a he was going to press the button to make the maze impossible to move through, he found himself face to face with an explosion of rock and dirt. His large door blew up, right in front of his face.

    There, standing in the doorway, was a very angry Rune who had to run/fly through the passage while carrying a Rouna who only pointed while closing her eyes.

    Past the debris and ruin, he walked with Rouna tucked under a single arm. He walked right on up to the dragon and drew his blade. Without further adieu, he stabbed the dragon¡¯s foot with his katana.

    <hr>

    ¡°Ok. So we seem to have gotten this far, but what now?¡±

    ¡°Mmm!¡±

    Rouna reached upwards and tried to hop onto Rune. All she ended up doing was sliding down his clothes and making him extremely confused. He grabbed her up and held her. Her legs and arms dangled and she sighed.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to point out which way to go. Follow my directions.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    He figured that she would be able to do something of this caliber, but would have liked it if she could have walked on her own.

    She closed her eyes and pointed forwards, the only way to go in the one way hall. Rune looked upwards to the large hatch that he had dropped through. Sighing, he started to run.

    In the monster infested maze, it would certainly be strange if he didn¡¯t encounter and monsters. Thus, he found three beasts of enough destructive force to down an armada with their total might.

    He ripped his gun from his holster and fired thrice, only bothering to stop being on guard once he absorbed them. One bullet to the head, each. It had went in their bodies and murdered them from the inside out.

    Their brains boiled and strange juices dripped from the nose, ears, and mouth. It smelled like burnt trash, foul and inedible. Of course, his thoughts were to dispose of it as soon as he could, and he did.

    The first monster was a cat-like monster with the body of a bear. The second was a something like a six-legged rhinoceros for a beak for a mouth. The third and last was something that would leave a bad impression on those who saw it, a dead puppy with enough cuteness to die for, literally. That was its special skill, to kill something with a cuteness overload after activating its [Puppy Eyes].

    Rune actually shot without thinking and didn¡¯t bother to check the corpses as Rouna pointed out the next direction and he had to comply.

 Chapter 54: How to Break an Isle Part III

    Onwards he went. The tunnel system became more and more repetitive for him as time went on. There were even some clich¨¦ traps and monsters within the labyrinth.

    ¡°Oh, really?¡±

    Rune looked down as he had not failed to see the large pile of disappointment in front and behind him. He shifted around Rouna in his hands, like one would adjust their bag or purse.

    ¡°Are you serious?! A boulder and a river of crocs?!?!¡±

    Indeed there was a boulder, but the crocodiles were several feet longer than a regular one and was more like a serpent with legs and tough, green scales. The snapped upwards and tried to get to his high perch. He was on a slight cliff with a boulder slowly rolling towards him.

    Below, where Rouna was pointing, a rock jutted out within the crocs¡¯ range and a small doorway was there. It was actually only small looking to Rune because that was just how far away it was. Truth be told, it was large enough for a small dragon to fit.

    Firstly, Rune developed a strategy to deal with the boulder. After that was dealt with, he would decide either to freeze to crocs or to electrocute them beyond repair. But, first things first, the bould was coming near.

    It was actually much slower than how it should be. It was as if someone was pushing it into him with the strength of a child. Okay, probably with more force than that, but it still didn¡¯t change the fact that it was really slow.

    Rune had to walk up the hill a a couple steps and stood several feet in front of it. Then, with the force he could muster without any skills whatsoever, he punched it. In his Demon King form, all he had to do was tap a building in the wrong way and it would be demolished. For the boulder that was several times denser than a building and even stronger, he had to punch it.

    But, since it was a punch and not a tap, the boulder literally blew up with enough force that several pieces of rock became embedded in the solid metal walls. However, a good portion still remained.

    He hefted it up with his right hand, not wanting to put Rouan down, lest she accidentally die, and chucked it at the crocs. They were alarmed that, instead of a person, a rock appeared and decided to cram its way into its maw.

    ¡°How¡¯s that for forcing a maw open, huh? Anyways, you can go die from that¡­ and this!!¡±

    Then he also decided that it would also be best if he used one of his new magics from [Lightning Offensive].

    Lightning flew down from his hands, well, one hand since he was still carrying some baggage under his arm. It struck the croc who died from being forced to eat a rock and it chain attacked the rest due to the water.

    ¡°Well, that was certainly fun. I wish I could have more, but¡­ it seems like I have a job to finish. Hmmm. I do want to get back to Sophia¡­ Let¡¯s kill ¡®im quick!!!¡±

    Rune hopped down and absorbed the crocs. He landed on the ledge with precision and, thanks to his form, was able to not break his legs.

    ¡°I guess forwards is the only way now. Well, not really, but the only way to kill him¡­¡±

    And so, after some arrow traps and rooms that slowly filled with water and even more killing, he made it to some kind of door. It was quite large and was too shiny and golden to be in the dank halls of the labyrinth. Braziers full of blue flames were placed on either side and he could hear two sighs that sounded like they occurred at the same time.

    He rummaged around in his storage.

    ¡°Oh, uh¡­ hmmm. This is starting to get full of junk¡­¡±

    He could barely find a thing in his mess of items. The storage was useful, but it was like a hole. You drop something in and, if you keep filling it up, it will be harder to regain that thing.

    ¡°Oh! Here it is!¡±

    Since they had reach the door and Rouna couldn¡¯t help but be suspicious of whatever Rune pulled out of his storage, she opened an eye to take a peek.

    It looked like a small satchel with many bumps and grooves on it which seemed to indicate that the object was rather rough and untidy. There was a thin, black string that was tightly pulled around it to keep it shut.

    Rune unwound the string and started to put something together. He held it aloft with his spells and still managed to carry Rouna who was getting tired of being held by someone.

    With a grin on his face, he threw the satchel, the string falling behind it with one end in the bag and the other in Rune¡¯s hand. He dropped his end of the string and lit it with a [Fireball].

    The string burned furiously and spread along. It travelled all the way to the satchel where, lo and behold, it blew up. Rouna looked at Rune with concern as she questioned why he smiled when he had found it. The real question was where was he going to use it if he didn¡¯t against the current door?

    Boom!!!! Kabam!!! Explosions!!!

    Massive amounts of gunpowder, c4, and unstable radioactive particles. If such a thing were to be sold on the black market anywhere, one, the seller would make millions and, two, the damages would be catastrophic. However, there was a small amount of radiation and it wouldn¡¯t be enough to cause disease and things of the sort. Mostly because the particles would rapidly expand when heat was around and something to deconstruct it was in the system making it explode in a massive explosion.

    ¡°Ahhhh. Fun times and happy things.¡±

    ¡°Wut?¡±

    Rouna looked at Rune like he was insane. She actually was not too sure whether or not he was sane. Mostly because he talked about random things that no one understood or about murder and the occasional refrigeration of corpses.

    ¡°Well, I mean, look at that explosion!! It is so¡­ Grand!!!!¡±

    ¡°Get back to the mission at hand!! Think about what will happen if you fail!!! You won¡¯t ever get to be with Sophia again!!! Think about what you like doing¡­¡±

    Rune thought about some things that should not be mentioned in a book without sexual content nor profanity.

    ¡°... because you won¡¯t be able to do them again!!!¡±

    That made him mad. Mad enough to stomp on in and stab the foot of the first thing he saw. Thus leading up to the current situation.

    ¡°GRAHHH!!!!¡¯

    The dragon shouted in pain and it couldn¡¯t heal and the force was enough to crush a couple buses. Rune pulled it out, resheathed it, and quickly drew it and resheathed it in such a way that it seemed like he hadn¡¯t moved at all.

    The Mid Tier Vampire maid had her head in her hands, trying her best to not die, while the Minotaur Girl was watching the scene. They sensed immense bloodlust from both the dragon and Rune and suddenly¡­

    ¡°My THIRST for BLOOD shall NOT be QUENCHED by your PETTY BLEEDING!!!! GIVE ME MORE!!!!!!!!¡±

    Rouna had to cover her ears once Ruen started to scream about blood. It was flowing all over him, like a shower, but he was still not satisfied. He was licking the blood from his lips and even managed to catch some with [Gravity Control] to further gorge himself. A rather strange side effect of the traits from Wrath and Gluttony with just a hint of Greed.

    ¡°NAY!!!! THY SHALL DIE FIRST!!!!¡±

    ¡°Hah!!!!????¡±

    Rune snarled at the dragon and swung his sword upwards, furthering his endeavor to drink more blood.

    ¡°ENOUGH!!!! DOWN TO THE LOCH WITH THEE!!!!¡±

    The dragon pressed a button and a trap door opened up underneath them. As they fell, they could hear his words.

    ¡°REMEMBER, THIS WHOLE NEST IS MY LABYRINTH!!!!¡±

    Then the door closed and darkness engulfed the two.

    <hr>

    ¡°Ya know, I think I might get addicted to his blood. It was mmmhh good!¡±

    Rouna¡¯s only thought was how strange Rune was with all the bloodlust and desire to kill. Some would argue he was stranger than strange, but still strange.

    ¡°Wat¡¯reu talkin¡¯ ¡®boutttt.¡±

    She messed up her words and was only able to say them slowly and not for too long. Her eyes were still closed, but she knew what Rune was doing. He was trying to decipher her words.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°...Water you? Water¡­ Oh!! What¡¯re you!! Oh! What¡¯re you talking about!!¡±

    Then a new voice appeared. It sounded smooth and kind. Soft and warm, without any hostility or harshness in it at all.

    ¡°That seems to be correct. I think that she is awake, but seems to be a bit tired to become fully awake.¡±

    ¡°That certainly sounds like a dragon!¡±

    ¡°Wut snds like a drag on?¡±

    She criticized Rune¡¯s comment and she could hear the new voice, likely a female¡¯s, chuckle.

    ¡°You two seem to be quite close. Are you perhaps in a relationship?¡±

    While Rouna couldn¡¯t see, she could still guess what was going on around her. Rune was waving his hand to deny her words strongly.

    ¡°Nope. Not at all. I already have a wife.¡±

    He spoke in a completely serious tone that seemed unlike his usual, murderous self. This was because he loved Sophia more than anything else along with Roxana, his daughter. He felt that he had no more room for any other women except her in his life.

    Rouna used her Farsight to look around the room. She could see that they were in an area that had walls made of cement and that there was a steel door. There were no windows, but the place didn¡¯t seem like a prison at all. Instead, it looked more homey and serene.

    There was a table across the room from the bed that she was on. On it, cloth made of an unknown material was placed over it to cover the entire surface and it hung from all four sides. There was a bowl of some peeled apples and pears.

    The woman that Rune was talking to was beautiful and she had an aura of nobility, but also of kindness and warmth. She was almost the opposite of Rune personality wise.

    ¡°So, what brings you two to my domain? Was it that Irregular Dragon?¡±

    ¡°I think so. The one who was taller than the rest and held a button?¡±

    The woman nodded and gave him a light smile as if she was pitying them. She seemed to wear a slightly somber expression before smiling once again.

    ¡°He has been a nuisance since a couple centuries ago. He decided that he should take the forest that I was guarding and placed it into the sky. Then his magic transformed the beasts to go from a friendly and passive state to that of a feral killer.¡±

    ¡°Must¡¯ve been hard being trapped in a lake for that entire time.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it has¡­¡±

    Rouna bolted upright and looked dead on at the woman. The other two in the room just looked at her as she stared at the unknown woman for a lengthy amount of time.

    ¡°Um, do you have a question for me?¡±

    ¡°Who or what are you?!¡±

    The woman smiled again and seemed to be in a cheerful mood. She took a step forward and introduced herself.

    ¡°I am Lilac, the Goddess of the Forest¡­ well, I used to be. Now I am a Goddess of the Lake since the Irregular Dragon sealed me here. I am just a minor goddess.¡±

    Rouna stopped glaring and started thinking. It would definitely make sense if she was one as she had that air about her.

    ¡°Hmmmm.¡±

    Still skeptical about whether or not she was a goddess, Rouna stared at her clothing. They were clothes that covered most of her body, save for her head and calves. They were made of some sort of silky fabric and they waved around every time she moved.

    She had a dress that went down to her knees, like a blouse, but was much more fancy and glimmering. She had two hairpins to keep the bangs out of her face, one on each side. Her hair was long and straight and went down to her waist. She had tied it into one very long braid and put it over her shoulder.

    ¡°Here, I know, let me do a ¡°Miracle¡± for you!¡±

    The woman smiled and clapped her hands as soon as Rouna heard the sound, a table appeared with what was basically a feast on it. There were pitchers of water and juices and they poured he selves out into three cups.

    Rune took one and drank, not caring if there was poison in it as he was immune to poison and mental attacks, since charming enchantments could be placed on cups.

    ¡°Huh.¡±

    Rune had taken a sip and noticed that his tongue was feeling good. The taste was something so amazing that it would make anyone pay hundreds of gold pieces just for a sip.

    ¡°See? ¡°Miracle¡±!¡±

    In the world of Arborea, Miracles were different from the miracles on Earth. The miracles on Earth such as parting a sea, walking on water, and turning water into wine could easily be done with magic in the current world. The miracles in Arborea were what most from other worlds called True Miracles, or Miracles with a capitalized M for short.

    Those Miracles consisted of things like making things appear out of thin air, summoning powerful beings, giving a, or many, blessings. Those were how gods showed people that they were gods and how they made them worship them. Otherwise, the Miracles could be turned into Divine Punishment where the gods could smite the people.

    Currently, what happened was actually a Miracle, albeit a lesser one, that consisted of making a feast out of him air. It also wasn¡¯t teleportation or storage magic because here is always a light whenever those two Magic¡¯s are invoked.

    ¡°And now you know!¡±

    She kept smiling her smile and she must have done it for too long. She stopped smiling and had to rub both her cheeks eight her hands to massage her facial muscles.

    ¡°Ow. Is it okay if I stop smiling? I¡¯m not used to it after several hundred years of not doing it.¡±

    Rune nodded and she turned her expression from one of happiness to one of noire neutrality. Her mouth was neither a frown nor a smile and looked like a straight line.

    ¡°Ow. Anyways, this is my home. Pardon my lack of windows, but I can¡¯t have them breaking from the water pressure, now can I?¡±

    Rouna stopped moving everything but her eyes which landed on the goddess.

    ¡°Water pressure?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes!¡±

    Her voice was still the same serene and gentle voice of when she was smiling, but they felt harsher due to the lack of smile.

    ¡°This is my loch, my lake. I said that before, didn¡¯t I?¡±

    ¡°Yep, you did.¡±

    Rune nodded again like his head was on a hinge and it would move up and down whenever someone asked a question.

    ¡°I was locked up in this artificial lake and he dumped a lot of wild magic into it to keep me from leaving, that magic became a seal to seal only me, but it also mutated and transformed the water creatures into grotesque things of insanity and they went from passive beasts to bloodthirsty killers.¡±

    Rouna used her farsight to look outside of he house to find that the water was murky and disgusting. Far away from where she was looking, she could see blurred shapes that writhed and wiggled about in the muddy depths.

    Suddenly, her body shook in fear and surprise as a giant fish with teeth the size of knives brushed past her vision. It was long and large and it¡¯s spine glowed a strange orange color which also blended into muddy background. The fins were connected to talons and the fins themselves looked more like flippers. The eyes were large and here were four of them. Each looked around randomly as if taking in everything. Its actual face and body was disgusting to look at with mottled green and yellow scales.

    Rouna opened up her eyes and found herself in the room once again. She sighed as she was grateful that there were no windows so that she didn¡¯t have to see the monstrous marine life forms,

    ¡°Oh? Did you take a peek at those hideous beings? Yeah, I puked the first time I saw them. Can you believe that I had to be stuck down here with them until I finished up my house? Ugh!¡±

    She shuddered at the thought of having to breath in the mucky water and being next to the fish that kept trying to eat her.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not focus on that now. Although, if this lake wasn¡¯t here, then those fish would die and I would be freed from the seal¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh?!¡±

    Rune last ones up from whatever he was working on. Nowadays, whenever he had time, he was just fiddling with something in his palm.

    ¡°We just have to evaporate this lake, right?¡±

    The creepy and evil smile appeared once more on his lips and his face scrunched from one with no interest at all to one that wanted to abuse its power.

    ¡°Y-yes?¡±

    The goddess was clearly startled by the sudden outburst and she shivered as she looked at Rune¡¯s face. Rouna actually sighed as she was somewhat used to that face, but would never be completely fine with it.

    ¡°You see, all I need it some of this¡­¡±

    He opened up his palm and turned it to face the wooden floor. Then a burst of purple light and a barrel made of metal appeared. On it, words that Rouna did not understand, but was able and capable of reading.

    ¡°Oi-el?¡±

    ¡°Oil!!¡±

    Rune said it¡¯s name and she felt hat something terrible would be coming soon.

    ¡°Do you not have oil here?¡±

    ¡°What is oil? I have only heard that some heroes of old mentioned it once or twice before.¡±

    Rune sighed and face palmed. He didn¡¯t understand why they didn¡¯t know what oil was. There wasn¡¯t just black gold, but also cooking oil and a fluid to put on something to light it on fire more quickly and with more heat.

    The reason why people did not know what oil was was because they used animal fats in cooking and hey called that, at least most of time, grease. Oil was something foreign to them as they had neither vegetable oil nor any other oil.

    ¡°It is a thing that¡­ burns really well and¡­ um¡­ can sometimes make explosions.¡±

    He had a hard time picking out the words because he had never had to explain to someone what oil was.

    ¡°And thus, we can make a huge fire even underwater!!¡±

    He paused before speaking again. This time, he started roles his chin.

    ¡°... probably. I think it depends on what type of oil it is¡­ Jared was the one who made this so I don¡¯t have a clue about what it really is.¡±

    He hefted the barrel onto his shoulder and opened the door. Rouna held up her right hand quickly as she motioned for him to stop as she didn¡¯t want him to let the water in.

    His hand edged ever closer to the doorknob until¡­ a click and a whoosh. The door opened with a bit too much force that the air around it moved enough to make a sound.

    What lay beyond the door was¡­

    ¡°What a nice living room. You even have a sofa and a shelf of books!! Where did you get these books?¡±

    Rune looked around, still wielding the barrel on his shoulder. The living room had a chandelier with magic lights on them. The sofa was made with a smooth, but flexible material stretching and covering the insides. The inside of the sofa was a cushion of air. To be precise, air magic filled the furniture piece and made it comfortable. The shelf was covered with books of all kinds. There were at least a couple hundred.

    From the living room, there was a kitchen to heir right and a staircase off to the side. There was a washroom to the left of them and on the opposite side of the living room as the kitchen.

    ¡°Those books are copies from the original texts given to me by the Travelers.¡±

    ¡°Travelers?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they are the ones who moved between the worlds when my superiors decided to bring more people and a diversity of weapon skills and ideas to Arborea. I translated all of hem into common so that I could read them. Since I have some more copies, would you like some?¡±

    ¡°Really? Then I will take one of every copy you have, please.¡±

    ¡°Oh? An avid reader had come. At some point, we should talk to each other about books.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ Are some of these skill and magic books?¡±

    He pointed at a row that had some titles like ¡°Learning a Spear¡± or ¡°Fireballs and How to Make Them¡±.

    ¡°Yes. Those are ancient techniques passed down by the first generation.¡±

    Rune muttered under his breath, but the other two were easily able to hear him.

    ¡°This would be good for my classes¡­¡±

 Chapter 55: How to Break an Isle Part IV

    ¡°And that, my fellow companion and reader, is how we burn a lake. Any questions?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I have one.¡±

    Rouna raised her hand right before Lilac was about to.

    ¡°Can you repeat that one more time, but in a way that both of us can understand it?¡±

    He sighed an extremely deep sigh and decided to shorten up his explanation.

    ¡°Basically, just spread this everywhere and light it on fire. Then the lake will burn in such a way that-¡±

    He was cut off when Rouna¡¯s expression turned into one of someone seeing something strange but had gotten used to it.

    ¡°Just spread it. That¡¯s it.¡±

    ¡°... and my house?¡±

    Rune had a solution to such a question.

    ¡°You can come with us when the lake has been burned up and the house will burn as well, but I can store about ninety percent of it. Just the insides though. Don¡¯t worry, the books are in good care!¡±

    He had stored all the book copies he could get his hands on into his storage. The books themselves were actually made of paper and not some other material. The covers were made of thin layer of wood, but that wood was a special type where it could bend without breaking and was durable. The titles were etched into those covers.

    ¡°... V-very well. My house will be burned down, but I should be able to build another. Just, um, store as much as you can, please.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I plan to.¡±

    He got up from the comfortable sofa and gestured for Rouna and Lilac to rise from it as well. As soon as they did so, he stored it and some air could be heard filling up the empty area.

    He walked over to the book shelves and stored the entirety of the shelves. Then he started storing everything he could see around the house.

    After a while, he leaned against the wall and slid down it. He was tired from storing everything and he wanted to rest.

    ¡°Would you like something to eat?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Yeah¡­ If you could, that would be great.¡±

    She clapped her hands again and food appeared on plates on the wooden floor. Rune thanked her and grabbed a sandwich on a plate.

    Munching on the food, he listened to Lilac and Rouna¡¯s conversation with one another.

    ¡°So Lilac, you are a minor goddess, correct?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am. I only protected the forest and, nowadays, oversee the loch. Although, most of the time, I don¡¯t go outside. It¡¯s too scary out there.¡±

    She shivered at the thought of things coming out of the darkness and eating her. She was still not completely aware of all the surrounding wildlife in the lake and, while she could fend off some of the weaker ones, she was not confident in her offensive abilities.

    She was a goddess of nature and thus had life skills. She had the ability to grow things more quickly, to bring rain, to clear rain, purify water, and heal among other things. Since she was a minor goddess though, her skills and magics were much, much weaker than that of a major god¡¯s magic.

    ¡°Maybe we could have a lake or something for you to reside in. I¡¯m sure we can come up with something.¡±

    ¡°Owf couwf we can fink of somfing!¡±

    Everyone else had a hard time understanding Rune when he had sandwich in his mouth and was waving his food around. He swallowed and looked at Lilac who was looking at him to see if he came up with something.

    ¡°Easy. We just have to make something that suits your needs or your wants. So, what kind of thing do you want to rule over?¡±

    Minor gods had the ability to change the areas they ruled over or they could be wanderers. However, they couldn¡¯t choose an environment that went outside of their alignment, such a a lawful good god could not go to an area where chaotic evil reigned.

    Major gods did not have such a luxury, but their powers were far greater than the minor ones. They were not assigned land and areas, but, instead, ideas. Those ideas gave them their powers and, if that idea diminished, the power would do so as well. For example, say peace spread throughout the world, then the gods with the war idea would lose a lot of power.

    ¡°Hmmm. I would like someplace peaceful and untainted. Maybe a place with nice, cute animals.¡±

    She was one of those people who liked to fluff fluffy animals. Her absolute favorite type of animal was a rabbit as those were the ones who she got along with the most.

    ¡°We can have a park, clear of garbage, and have a small forest there with a lake in the middle of it.¡±

    ¡°That¡­ that could work.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but first, we should take care of this lake. First of all, we need to get to an area above the water¡­ or we can stay inside the house and shield ourselves as it burns. I will take care of the lake while Rouna shields you and herself. I will join later. Here.¡±

    Rune handed Rouna his shield that would be of great help for, when it was struck, it would let loose a torrent of fire to counter. She held it proudly as if she were bestowed a gift of the gods.

    Rune placed the barrel of oil that he had kept in the corner into his storage. Opening the front door, he was faced with another metal door that had a valve on it to keep the water out. He closed the door behind him and turned the valve.

    The valve on the door not only unlocked the outer door, but also locked the inner one. The water started to rush in as soon as he turned. He remembered the feelings of slight fear as he was unsure of what true terrors lied in the murky depths.

    On his way down to the bottom of the loch, when he was dropped in, he had encountered several eels that had the ability to shock opponents. They looked disgusting with their cold, dead eyes shifting to all different directions.

    He had to crush them into disgusting balls of slimy flesh before they could bite or come even closer to him. And, since his lust for power was greater than the fear and disgust he was feeling, he absorbed the balls of flesh.

    Gaining nothing other than an increase of ability score points. His points were:

    Endurance Mobility Strength

    (2702)72,900 (2502)62,500 (2402)57,600

    He was even more disappointed when he found out that they didn¡¯t increase much, by just about a point or two when he absorbed them, and he gained no new skills or magic.

    Then he had happened upon Lilac¡¯s house. She, herself, was floating upwards towards them to catch them. When she saw Rune, she shivered as she could feel his strength and saw the seven Sins rampaging inside of him.

    Still, she had seen through that Demon King guise and decided that, as long as he didn¡¯t think of her as his enemy, he wouldn¡¯t do anything to her. And so, she formed a bubble around the three of them and brought them inside.

    Rouna was being carried by Rune for she was tired after using Farsight for too long and from seeing the nasty looking beings in the lake. The lack of oxygen was also not helping her whatsoever.

    Soon enough, the water poured in and filled up the small corridor. He was holding his breath now and he opened up the door to the outside waters.

    His clothes were getting soaked and dirtied, but he could always force the water out of his clothes when he was done. For now, he had to focus on his current task.

    He transformed into his Leviathan form and his body expanded to grow several tentacles instead of his legs and his upper body became something like a dragon, but more of a marine version. His body became a white color and, the parts that were not white, became a light or dark grey color.

    He wriggled his tentacles to move upwards. He was not used to moving tentacles and was forced to learn in the new conditions. However, since he had become far stronger than he was since the last time he was in his form, he was now more able to move upwards with more ease as his tentacles moved more quickly in the water.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    He reached an area where he could not see the house anymore, but he could see, somewhat, the surface. He had seen several shadows that seemed to vanish for they feared his current form.

    He took out several metal containers of oil and carefully removed the lids in such a way that the oil spilled out in all directions except for his. Then he formed several pockets of oxygen and oil around him.

    Using his most powerful fire spell, [Fireball], the weakest of fire spells, he lit the oil ablaze. Fireballs flickered to life for a moment before igniting the entire sphere over and over again until all six spheres burned. Then it started to spread out and more oil caught on fire.

    Since it was dark all around him and, in his current form, he had night vision, he was able to see things somewhat clearly. However, with the new light entering the stage, he could see more than he wanted to.

    Hundreds, if not thousands, of nasty looking creatures gazed upon the sight and closed their eyelids, if they had them, and winced at the light. They had grown only in the dark with magic evolving them into the monstrosities of today. With the light, their pale skins and musty color and empty eyes were filled with a new feeling that most haven¡¯t felt in a while. Blindness.

    They were so used to the dark that some of their eyes literally burned up at the light and the shriveled spheres of meat that used to be called eyes were now dangling and floating from their eye sockets.

    All around him, the creatures were swimming in place. He just looked about in horror and a bit of curiosity to see the new, more horrible and trauma inducing sights.

    He was below the spreading fire, busting out more oil barrels and flinging them about when he saw all of them. Instinctively, he threw up his hands and cast as much magic as he possible could until he had less than ten percent remaining.

    [Ice Age]. [Lightning Offensive]. [Eldritch Blast]. [Blindness]. [Bind]. [Ultimate Shine]. [Unholy Smite]. [Sinful Darkness].

    Just about everything that could work underwater, he used. The creatures were either blown to smithereens, poisoned, paralyzed, or frozen to death.

    To be honest, those beings didn¡¯t deserve any of the attacks that Rune set upon them. Still, powerless as they were against him, they could do nothing about his purge that lasted a couple minutes.

    Ugh! That was¡­ Ugh! I don¡¯t ever want to do this again.

    Those were his only thoughts as he traveled downwards towards Rouna and the goddess. He saw downwards as the fire burned even better than imagined and evaporated water almost instantaneously.

    He turned back into his Demon King form and entered the house. He found Rouna and Lilac, standing in defensive stances in the center of the living room. Rouna held the shield high above her head and Lilac was standing behind her with her eyes closed tight.

    ¡°The fire is going to be here soon¡­ but I think it will be in a minute or two. Take a breath before you do that. When did you even start doing that?¡±

    Lilac peeped open her right eye and looked at Rune. Then she looked at the ceiling and then back at Rune.

    ¡°Well, um, I think about¡­¡±

    Rouna answered for her as she was far less nervous as Lilac who was trembling, but she was still afraid that she might die due to the plan.

    ¡°When you left.¡±

    ¡°Sooo, about five minutes ago.¡±

    ¡°Has it been that long?¡±

    Lilac scratched her cheek and thought about it.

    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll go to you two. Lilac.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Can you turn carbon monoxide into oxygen?¡±

    She put on a confused look and stared at Rune with furrowed brows. He was asking her this when he was forming three different barriers around them. Even though he had less then ten percent of his mana before, he was now at twenty percent and, even one percent would be enough for a minor barrier of air.

    For now, he was putting up a water layer with ice in it, so basically ice water, followed by a layer that was a vacuum with no air or oxygen and void of most other gases. He was waiting for Lilac to answer before putting up the last barrier which would cut off their oxygen supply as he was planning to use [Earthen Shield].

    ¡°What? What is Car Bon Monox Cid?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    He sighed.

    ¡°Can you make stuff for us to breathe in?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I can.¡±

    ¡°Great. Then do that starting¡­ now!¡±

    He put up the barrier as soon as the ceiling blew up. Different pieces of wood and metal flew around them as he did so and some parts were even on fire.

    From the new hole that formed in the ceiling, water rushed in and filled up the house. The only good part, that no one knew about, was that the water level of the lake had decreased to about a third of its original amount.

    Inside the earthen and stone barrier, it was quite cramped. It was about the size of two small closets and about the same height as them too. Rune had to crouch down and sit on his knees to keep from hitting the roof. Rouna and Lilac had to squish in to the other side as he took up a lot of space.

    At the moment, he wasn¡¯t paying attention to the way he was sitting or how much space he was taking up because he was trying to set up some more barriers.

    Lilac, who helped when the roof blew up, was shivering in the corner. She filtered the air with one of her skills and refreshing air filled up the room and everyone felt like they could breath a little easier.

    Rouna was trying to take up as little space as possible due to her not really doing anything helpful. At the moment, she curled up into a little ball, fell on her side, and closed her eyes tightly.

    Even though the barriers, mostly because the vibrations and sounds came from around and underneath them where only the earthen barrier blocked, hey could hear the sloshing of water followed by the crackles of flames soon after.

    <hr>

    In a cafe in the Sphinx village, Mya, Nya, Rena, and Hika were sipping tea. Erin was out buying a new sword or looking for ideas to make a new sword. In fact, once all the fighting was over for them, he became sad that his main weapon was destroyed by some lightning. He thought it was regular lightning, but it was actually lightning condensed with mana to be a bolt of electricity that was a hundred times more powerful than regular lightning.

    He also needed to get some bandages and ice since he was slightly burned from that event. His front felt terrible after his adrenaline and shock wore off and, once he got to the ship, he collapsed into the wood.

    Lacht and Nacht were busy governing the village at the moment: Nacht Had to deal with all the paperwork and expenses while Lacht was traveling through the entire village, which was more like a small city, to collect taxes from the businesses.

    Henry was busy writing a book and was thinking about publishing it. Many of the books that were published were fairy tales and educational textbooks, courtesy of ALF, the Academy of Learning and Fighting. He wanted to make a book of fantasy that would be read for recreational purposes.

    The ship was still on the docks and no one had actually went there other than Erin, Rena, and Hika. They were a bit too scared of Rune to do anything to the ship.

    Some diplomats from the Manticore village came to tell Nacht and Lacht who their new village chief was. It was someone with enough knowledge and intelligence to actually govern the village and he had the capacity to learn politics via other advanced civilizations.

    ¡°Ahh!¡±

    Both Mya and Nya sighed as they took a long sip from their tea. Hika was teaching for a biscuit that was on a pretty, little plate in the center of the table.

    The biscuits at the cafe were sweet, but not too sweet. Here were some different iterations of the same biscuit with different sweetness or ingredients, but they all tasted amazing.

    Hika munched in the biscuit and turned to look at Rena who hadn¡¯t touched her tea at all. After two small nibbles of the soft pastry, Hika spoke to her.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    There were many things that Rena was thinking about, but the main thing was how Rune decided, on his own, to drop the three of them off at the ship. She then thought about how she could have strengthened herself to be more powerful to be of use to him.

    She sighed when she, once again, thought of the immense difference in their abilities. It was clear to anyone how much of a difference was between them. She was someone who rivaled rank A-S adventurers, but he rivaled some of the gods. He wasn¡¯t as powerful as the gods of war, but, strength wise, he was stronger than the minor gods of tactics and revenge.

    ¡°I-I¡¯m fine.¡±

    She sniffles as she thought of how useless she was. She couldn¡¯t even stand by his side.

    Nya and Mya both looked at her in complete synchronization as the took another sip of tea. She was the one drawing the most attention in the entire cafe.

    Everyone else who was not sitting with them wanted to her her up, but didn¡¯t know how and that brought the mood down. Even people on the other side of he cafe were sighing due to the somber feel in the air even though no one knew what was wrong.

    ¡°Sure, you aren¡¯t as strong as Rune, but you are great enough to rival even some of the strongest people in the world!¡±

    That much was true. Mostly because the term ¡°people¡± described humanoids that were a part of the Majin, Human, Dwarven, Elven, and Beast Folk races. Thus indirectly meaning that dragons, monsters, and other mythical beings were left out of that group.

    ¡°Really?¡±

    She looked up with hope in her eyes. People would have called her cute, but no one wanted to get in the way of Hika trying to cheer her up.

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    Hika smiles as she spoke in a voice that was much louder than most would prefer.

    Mya and Nya looked between the two of them and spoke in unison.

    ¡°... Don¡¯t you two have school?¡±

    It was Monday.

    Hika looked at them and spoke, but with a tone that easily said that she forgot that she had to go back to school. Her eyes widen and she looked back at Rena who finally came out of her slight depression.

    ¡°Oh, f-¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think that the fire would burn through four barriers. What the heck is in this stuff?¡±

    Since Jared made it without his knowledge and he basically took it after he got permission, he had zero idea what was in it.

    Rune looked down at the smoldering ash that was the remains of the house and, quite possibly, random fish.

    He looked around to see the scorched ground and burned remains of a variety of things. He kicked some of it and it crumbled before the night of his shoe.

    ¡°Oh, yeah. I forgot.¡±

    He used [Control Water] to remove the water than had drenched his clothes. Then he burned it with a decent sized fireball.

    ¡°Did you feel something? Like the seal being lifted? I don¡¯t know what lifting a seal feels like.¡±

    Rune spoke while Rouna dusted the ash that had fallen on her when the barriers were dispelled. Part of her green hair and her skin was smudged with pure darkness as that was what the ashes looked like.

    ¡°Well, I do think that I felt something¡­ but I was kind of, um, hunched in a corner trying to filter the air. It felt like a weight that was on my shoulders have lifted.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°W-what?¡±

    She looked at Rune whose eyes had turned from curiosity to disinterest. He spoke in a neutral tone.

    ¡°That¡­ was the most cliche thing I have heard so far.¡±

    ¡°Huh?!¡±

    She was confused as she didn¡¯t know what he was talking about. When she started to speak, Rouna put her hand on her shoulder and shook her head. The message she sent to her via body language was something like, ¡°Don¡¯t ask. It will only end up confusing you more.¡±

    Rune pulled out a book and looked through it. He scowled and out it back. He wasn¡¯t sure of it at first, but he soon realized something.

    All of the skill and magic books were about things that he already knew or had better versions of.

 Chapter 56: How to Break an Isle Part V

    ¡°AAH!!!! IT FEELS SO GOOD TO GET RID OF LOWLIFE LIKE THEM!!!! I WONDER HOW THE GODDESS WILL DEAL WITH THEM IF SHE SEES THAT DEMON!!!!¡±

    Ogrush the Blue Irregular Dragon bellowed after he dropped the two into the loch. He knew that that goddess disliked Demon King¡¯s since one had attacked her several times in the past. However, even though he knew that, that was the extent of his knowledge.

    The Mid Tier Vampire quivered in fear as she didn¡¯t want to die and his voice was too full of bloodlust. Whenever he spoke, he let out enough bloodlust that even his subordinates were afraid of him.

    The Minotaur Girl was using her break time now. She saw that Rune broke in, cut his leg, drank some blood, and fell. She wanted to step out of the room before the dragon laughed as he did so whenever he felt he gained a victory.

    She sat in the break room with a tray of food. She liked to get steaks and something called ¡°hamburgers¡± which was foreign to her.

    There were actually three others that served the dragon directly. It was the Minotaur Girl, the Mid Tier Vampire, and the chef who was a familiar of the dragon. Strangely enough, unlike the dragon, the familiar was friendly and took care of the subordinates.

    The familiar was a shapeshifter, but liked to be in the form of a small tabby cat. For some reason, it became a familiar sight to see a random kitten floating in the kitchen making food.

    She took a bit of her food and nodded in satisfaction. The only break and bliss she received from her being a servant was the amazing food that the chef cooked.

    The familiar was used to be called ¡°Chef¡± as its real name was Meintenistoros and no one wanted to say that.

    Through the almost sound proof walls, she heard laughter and felt bloodlust. She shivered as goosebumps appeared on her. She looked at the only one who was not disturbed by the bloodlust, the Chef.

    It was sleeping with a chef¡¯s hat on and it looked absolutely adorable. It was curled up on the table in front of her and it only reacted to he bloodlust by twitching its left ear once.

    The Mid Tier Vampire was silently crying as she covered up her ears. She felt like her eardrums would explode, but, if they did, she could regenerate them. It happened in the past.

    In the first year of her enslavement, she heard his laughter up close with no protection. Blood trickled down her ears and she was frozen in place. Her eardrums has ruptured and the bloodlust kept her from doing anything about it.

    She shuddered at the memory and kept on covering her ears. The room shook and quakes and, due to the door blowing up earlier, a piece of rock fell. Down it went as it was wrenched from its place when the door fell.

    Plop. It his her head and she winced. She couldn¡¯t do anything other than cower in fear and cover her ears until the laughter stopped.

    She rubbed her head as it healed. She turned to the dragon and sighed as she wondered how much longer she would have to put up with him.

    The next day, she heard crackling and looked at her feet. She wasn¡¯t sure what was going on, but didn¡¯t want to find out. It was at this time that she decided that it would be a good idea to take her break with the Minotaur Girl.

    She went into the break room and strode up to the window to the kitchen.

    ¡°Can I have a bowl of beef stew?¡±

    Her voice was beautiful and her speech was smooth. Even so, it didn¡¯t compare to the cute voice of the small floating cat.

    In a small, squeaky voice, it spoke.

    ¡°Got it!¡±

    They spoke in common, but due to all the years of her being a servant, she could also speak Ancient Draconic.

    The other maid decided to get a hamburger with cheese, or a cheeseburger. She wondered how meat would taste with bread and cheese, but never tried it until recently.

    Just as the burger was in her hands and she moved it to her mouth, an explosion could be heard. The ground shook and her plate fell, but the burger was fine. For the Vampire maid, she held her stew so that it didn¡¯t fall.

    He two of them looked at each other as the familiar rushed out of the room.

    The Minotaur Girl shrugged and took a bite of her burger. She did wonder what that explosion was, but wanted to eat more than that.

    The familiar had to rush its master¡¯s aid because it sensed danger. It slammed open the door with its small cat paws and floated out in a hurry.

    It zoomed down the corridor and turned the corner to find¡­

    Rune decided that it would be a good idea to rest for a couple minutes before he attacked the dragon. He ate some food to regain his mana faster since eating helped to regain mana and the goddess¡¯s food helped to gain mana and healed smaller wounds.

    After the feast of all kinds of food, he had regained over seventy five percent of his total mana and decided to let loose.

    Specifically, he let loose [Ice Age] on the ceiling of the loch and then flew upwards to punch it. Then, surprisingly, it easily broke.

    The dragon, on his throne, fell into the empty lake and took a lot of damage. Some ice chunks even landed on him by chance and it crushed him.

    Rouna our up a barrier around her and Lilac as soon as Rune cast [Ice Age]. Rocks bounced against the barrier and hit the floor.

    Rune folded up his wings and used [Iram¡¯s Curse] to grow swords out of his back and arms. He curled up and pierced the surprised dragon in the chest.

    The swords had gained part of his power and had enough power to pierce the dragon¡¯s scales.

    Unfortunately, all the dragon had to do was pick him up and throw him into the ground which was exactly what it did.

    ¡°INSOLENT FOOL!!!! YOU DARE ATTACK ME TWICE?!?!¡±

    It still remembered him cutting his leg. The wound had healed of course, but that wasn¡¯t the point. The point was that he had hit him twice and was becoming a nuisance.

    Rune¡¯s body was buried in the ground and he struggled to get out as it was a couple stories deep. Rouna and Lilac his behind a rock away from him and he seemed to be too focused on Rune to notice them.

    While Rune was getting out of the hole, the dragon breathed out a cone of lightning that scorched the ground and raced around the surrounding area, hitting and remaining corpses.

    Rune, for the first time since he had come to Arborea, felt enough pain to make him spit out his own blood. He was furious now. He liked to go through things with ease and this new opponent was actually formidable for once.

    He usually played on easy mode, but this dragon was like a boss from hard mode. He had underestimated him and tried to take him head on.

    However, even with the mistakes he had made, he wasn¡¯t about to lose to some sadistic dragon with a strange name.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    In a single, fluid motion, he drew his rifle, pointed t behind him, and fired. The shockwave forced him upwards, but he was still stuck in the hole.

    He fired twice more, just to get out, and let the rest of the shot hit the dragon.

    He saw that the puncture marks had already disappeared and that several of the shots had been deflected by some of the harder scales. The shots that had actually hit made gouges in his skin.

    He landed on the ground and took out his wings. He fluttered backwards and reloaded the ammunition clips. The dragon let loose a roar and lunged.

    His claws and talons reached Rune and swiped him from the air around him. He swatted him into the ground once more as a small being flew in from the gaping hole above them.

    It was orange and fluffy and was a tabby cat with a chef hat on. It flew towards it¡¯s master and nuzzles on its shoulders. It spoke something and a green light covered the wounds. This was how the dragon healed since he familiar could heal its master even if it was far away or couldn¡¯t see him.

    ¡°AHAHAHA!!!! NOW YOU CAN¡¯T WIN!!!! WITH MY FAMILIAR, I WILL KILL YOU!!!!¡±

    A shot rang out. It wasn¡¯t from Rune and it wasn¡¯t from the dragon. The two of them turned to look at the tabby cat.

    Instead of a cat on its shoulder, clumps of fur and some blood splattered appeared and Rouna stood behind him. She held her LMG and killed the source of healing.

    ¡°NOOOOOO!!!! MEINTENISTOROS!!!! WHY?!?! WHAT HAS MEINTENISTOROS EVER DONE TO YOU?!??¡±

    He looked shaken as his small cat was reduced to a blood smear on his shoulder. Rouna and Rune took this opportunity to, first get out of the hole and, shoot the giant dragon who had fallen to his knees.

    The LMG has no effect on him, but Rune¡¯s shots were able to damage the dragon. He fired as quickly as he could, but, even with the familiar neutralized, the rifle only made small gouges in him.

    The dragon woke from its stupor after the first several shots and glared at Rouna. Suddenly, it raised its hand and a disk of lightning appeared.

    It reached inside and pulled out five metal orbs. The magic that it had used was a special magic where it could reach into a pocket dimension and grab out stored objects. Unlike Rune¡¯s storage magic, the portal to the pocket dimension damaged anyone close to it that was not immune to lightning.

    It threw up the five metal orbs and hey spun around and rotated in the air. Then they started to orbit the dragon and they hummed and crackled. There were divots that separated the orb into eight equal parts. In between those parts, Rune could see that there was electricity crackling in between them.

    Then the dragon swung its massive claws at Rouna and broke through her shield. She was slammed into the ground like a basketball and bounced back upwards. She hit the ground for the second time and was breathing heavily.

    She shakily got up as blood trickled from cuts she got on her arms and her nose started to drip red. Lilac was already scurrying for cover as she didn¡¯t have any spells for offense.

    Rune drew his pistol and fired. The bullet, still using ethereal, flew at the dragon only to find its target changing from the dragon to one of the floating spheres.

    He fired three more times to find that every single one of his bullets not only missed the dragon, but started to spin around the sphere, unable to hit it due to its enchantment.

    ¡°So they¡¯re magnetic, huh?¡±

    Rune muttered under his breath. This definitely wouldn¡¯t be easy if he couldn¡¯t bring out any metal at all.

    Magic crystals were crystals that had many things fused together. First, as the base, crystallized mana formed into a small crystal. Since magic crystals were connected to blood veins and unilateral hint inside monsters¡¯ bodies, the crystals took in iron and some of the monster blood to create small bits of metal since the iron had a chance to change form. Since they did this, monster diets consisted of a lot of blood, usually.

    The bullets had timers of course. If they stayed ethereal for too long, the enchantment would wear off after about thirty seconds.

    Only ten seconds had passed and Rune was sprinting to keep to the being¡¯s backside. The dragon moved with immense mobility for its size.

    That was a trait given to the Blue Dragons. They weren¡¯t as strong as the other dragons, only marginally weaker than all except the white and red dragons who boast strength, but they were faster than the rest, even if only by a slight bit.

    His speed was, quite possibly, faster than Rune¡¯s and it was only by him standing still and his immense size that Rune was able to hit him. This time, it became much harder to hit him as he shifted from side to side.

    Twenty seconds has passed and the dragon had its talons raised high above Rouna, casting a shadow that covered both her and the surrounding area for several dozens of feet.

    It slammed its talons into the ground as Rune raced to him. Rouna did her best to shield herself from the full force of he attack, but it hit her with both a physical and elemental force. A couple seconds beforehand, the dragon used a more powerful and buffed version of [Lightning Grip].

    It burst her shield and she was crushed down, into the ground. Lilac and Rune watched as her body twitched. She was having difficulty breathing and was trying to crawl away, but her arms were broken too much to even move them.

    Two explosions occurred around the dragon. Thirty seconds had passed and the bullets had connected with the spheres. It had been pure luck that two of the bullets had materialized inside the electrical center. The bullets destabilized, like how Erin¡¯s blade exploded, and utterly destroyed three spheres and part of the dragon¡¯s left shoulder.

    Two spheres blew up and the scrap metal hit and destroyed another. The explosions created new wounds, deeper than the ones Rune made, in the large dragon¡¯s shoulder.

    It roared in pain and turned around to look in the two spheres left. They had bullets that were smushed down flat so that it looked more like a wide coin than a projectile. The dragon went from looking at the spheres to the person who was sneaking behind him.

    It roared in fury and held its hand out towards Rune with its palm showed towards him. A pentagram of blue light formed as it crackled with electricity.

    The spaces in between the lines started to fill in with the same blue light and a serpentine form emerged. It started off the size of a young wyrmling, about the size of a man, but soon became the size of a gargantuan beast that was two thirds the size of the dragon summoning it.

    It fell to the ground and rapidly grew as it wormed its way into the ground. Unlike the lightning summons before by the hydra, this summon seemed to be an actual, tangible being that could affect objects physically.

    It burrowed into the ground and made a huge hole that made mounds of dirt and sand around the entrance. It had no hands or limbs, but it moved at a speed that seemed too fast for a creature of its size.

    The ground shook and dirt and sand flew upwards wherever it went. It snaked around towards Rune and sped up as it did so. Then, as soon as it had almost reached Rune, it leapt out of the ground.

    The serpent moved upwards, then down as it homed in on Rune¡¯s position. He was certain that it intended on crushing him under its massive and electrical body.

    He side stepped it, but only barely as he had already planned to dodge before the beast erupted from the ground. In his place, the serpent crushed the ground and burrowed once again.

    This time, it went far deeper than before so that Rune wouldn¡¯t be able to track its whereabouts via dirt flying up or being moved.

    Rune looked around and spread his wings. He flapped once and a massive jaw opened up beneath him. He kept looking upwards as he knew what awaited below.

    Before the maw closed in on him, he reached into his storage and pulled out one of the metal rods that form the tent. He thrust it into its mouth and that electrical current was swept up to it.

    The maw closed, right at his heels, and he barely kept his foot with him. The metal rod soon became molten metal as he electricity of the beast was far too hard for it to handle temperature wise.

    The large Irregular dragon had turned around and was busy looking for Rouna. Even though she couldn¡¯t move, Lilac could and she quickly got her and hid in the ground when the dragon had turned to Rune.

    It grew angry and furious as it couldn¡¯t find her and it stomped the ground. Its tail had been thumping the ground for a while, but it soon became erratic and hit the ground whenever it could.

    Lilac was slowly making a tunnel underground to escape the current battle. Both the dragon and Rune had no idea what had happened, but Rune assumed that Lilac had done something since he hadn¡¯t seen her get hit.

    He fired off several shots from the sky before the lightning serpent lunged from beneath the ground. The rifle bullets that he fired, instead of the pistol, turned to hit the two spheres left and, as soon as they hit, they wrecked them as the bullets flew through them and landed in the ground.

    All five spheres were destroyed and Rune took out his katana. He knew that, since he cut him before, the katana would be able to slice through his tough scales.

    Rushing the giant, he reached its feet as the spheres dropped. The dragon swiveled its head to look at the sound and glanced around. He saw Rune flapping his wings to gain speed to hit him.

    It took a single swing for the dragon to hit him out of the air. Rune saw the hand move, but couldn¡¯t dodge. Instead, he raised his sword and swung to try and parry.

    The hand smacked him downwards and he fell into the ground again. The lightning serpent was ready and it lifted its upper body to snatch him from the air. To be honest, it was a quite lucky that the serpent was focusing on Rune instead of the other two since one of them would die.

    It swallowed him whole and he tumbled through the being. It seemed that, while the serpent was able to move things around, it didn¡¯t have insides or things to digest him with. Instead, it was like a hollow snake that was more like a cage than an actual summon.

    He tumbled through it and slammed against the electricity. He felt it course through his body and it felt painful. His body clenched up due to the sheer amount of voltage coursing through his veins.

    Then, with just a single thought, he used [Ethereal] and fell out of the serpent. He stopped as soon as he had gotten out and was about to hit the ground. He tumbled in the dry dirt and sand and some pieces fell on him as he found himself in a tunnel.

    The serpent had been moving underground to jostle him inside of it. That same serpent still had no idea that he escaped its insides. Then took his rifle and shot it.

 Chapter 57: The Culling of a Dragon

    The bullet flew and struck the serpent¡¯s back. It made two holes in its sides and drilled a hole in the ground.

    The serpent started to have a slight spasm before moving again. It seemed to make a U-turn as its head appeared from the side of the tunnel. It pushed the ground, dirt and all, towards Rune to try to crush him. Then, if that plan didn¡¯t work, it readied its maw to devour everything in its path.

    A boulder was pushed up onto him and he was shoved against the tunnel wall. But, since it was just a boulder made of a bit of metal and granite, he utterly destroyed it with his bare hand. The pieces of rock broke and, what he saw before it was, the maw of the serpent was wide open and it swallowed him once more.

    However, instead of being electrocuted, he used [Dispel Magic]. He used it multiple times, over and over again.

    Holes appeared in the serpent and he fell through again.

    The collosal dragon looked down at the ground. Oh, it''s shaking. Is he still being attacked by the serpent?

    It was inconsequential to the dragon whether or not he was dead or alive. He was more focused on the green dragon girl who killed his familiar, Meintenistoros.

    He turned to look around as he wasn¡¯t sure where they were. A pebble shifted and he turned to look at the sound. He squeezed his eyes to squint at the movement.

    Rune turned his head to look at dragon. The dragon looked back at him which was a very big mistake.

    Rune raised his pistol and fired. The reason why he would use his pistol with less firepower would be so that he could inflict more damage on the dragon. The rifle had barely penetrated, but the pistol would go through the scales and affect the insides directly.

    As soon as he let loose the bullets, the dragon raised its claw to defend itself. Three bullets found their way into his left arm and stayed in there.

    Rune didn¡¯t wait to find out what would happen and he jumped back into the hole that the serpent had previously made. He had destroyed the serpent, almost completely, but found that he couldn¡¯t absorb it since it was made of pure magic.

    Instead of becoming part of his power, he decided to put it to another good use. He dispelled most of it until only the left and right sides and the roof of the summon remained. That way the tunnel wouldn¡¯t collapse any time soon.

    The dragon felt immense pain searing in its arm and it looked down at it. Since he was a gargantuan dragon, the bullets didn¡¯t travel as far as Rune had hoped, but it traveled far enough where it made the dragon¡¯s arm numb.

    The dragon didn¡¯t know that several parts of the nervous system in its arm was damaged. The bullets had burned those nerves to a crisp and left him feeling an intense amount of pain.

    He could still move his arm, but it felt stiff and it hurt when he did so. He, unfortunate as it is, couldn¡¯t move his fingers or his wrist. His elbow worked just fine and so did his shoulder, but he could only use that arm to defend now as it wasn¡¯t faster than Rune.

    Rune, on the other hand, was healing himself from all the attacks he had received from the dragon and recently deceased lightning serpent. The serpent still pulsed with lightning that was slowly growing dimmer and, some parts, went into the ground.

    He had cuts, bruises, and even some gashes all over his body. He had to heal those before he lost all his blood and he was not happy when he felt the painful feeling of his skin regenerating at a pace too fast for most to handle without screaming.

    Although he was taking shelter in the tunnel, he wasn¡¯t just resting. No, he was walking as well. He knew that he dragon would become angry and try to kill him. If he stayed in the same area, he would have died in a way so sudden that he wouldn¡¯t even realize that he had died.

    The dragon stooped to a crouching position where it went over its spells in its mind. It couldn¡¯t use another serpent because it was a once a day use, but Rune didn¡¯t know that. Of course, being an Irregular Dragon, that wasn¡¯t the only trump card it had.

    <hr>

    ¡°You okay? I can use another Miracle if want?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m fine. Actually, do you have a limit on Miracles?¡±

    Rouna turned her head. She was lying down on a bench made of rock that she had created when she decided to stop moving underground and built a small, one room bunker.

    ¡°Ah, no. Not really. I mean, I do have a limit, but it is one hundred per day. I used up¡­¡±

    She counted the miracles she used on her fingers.

    ¡°...Nine Miracles.¡±

    Rouna turned her head again to face the ceiling as she wondered how Rune was doing. Lilac was trying her best to listen to the battle. So far, she could only hear the sound barrier exploding, but she had been feeling the ground shaking up until a minute ago.

    ¡°Do¡­ do you think he¡¯s fine?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Rouna sat up and rotated to face her. She had to prop herself against the wall to do so as she was worn out and had immense mental fatigue.

    ¡°Well¡­ Hmm¡­ He is¡­ Hmmm¡­¡±

    She didn¡¯t know if Rune was okay or not because she knew he was going up against an Irregular Dragon alone. She did know about it being the weakest of the eleven strongest, but there was one problem: it was still one of the strongest beings on the planet.

    It was hard to decide if he or the dragon would win mainly because of the large amount of things that he had in his storage. She only knew of a small percentage of things he had in it.

    Lilac was worried because she only knew how strong the dragon was. The last thing she saw before she went underground with Rouna was that Rune was being smacked into the ground.

    ¡°Look. I¡¯m sure he came up with something.¡±

    <hr>

    Rune rummaged through his storage to look for his bombs. He was tired of trying to fight the dragon head on as it started to dodge the ethereal bullets. It knew that his pistol fired off those types of rounds and the rifle used power to attack.

    However, it didn¡¯t know about the bombs and grenades. He pulled out the black, slender grenade and looked down at it. He placed it on his belt and grabbed out two more of the same kind. They would come in handy soon enough.

    The dragon was stomping with its massive, clawed feet. Every time it stomped, it either made a huge indent in the ground or it crushed the tunnels underneath. Rune, using his enhanced senses, could hear where the dragon was and he could avoid it, even if the dragon was slowly catching up to him.

    Rune whipped out a round object and looked at the ceiling. The dirt was falling down from it whenever the dragon stepped. The lightning serpent had completely dissolved and the tunnel had grown unsturdy.

    He took out something from the object and threw it at the ceiling so hard that it penetrated through and hit the shins of the dragon. It was just a coincidence that it hit the shins, but he had thrown it on purpose to hurt the dragon.

    The dragon looked down at it and was about to kick it when it exploded. Pieces of metal and magic crystals found their way around the scales. Those pieces drained life and stopped the use of magic in their legs.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    It stumbled, but kept on moving as it had more vitality than the parts could drain. There was only a set amount as it was just metal and magic crystal and not a living being. The dragon also hadn¡¯t been using magic in its legs so that was basically useless.

    The parts hadn¡¯t even went too far into the flesh and it didn¡¯t hinder it from walking onwards. It was even more furious as it had to summon a new familiar to heal him and he could only do that a month after his summon was either dismissed or killed.

    That explosion did that as well as make a hole large enough for Rune to escape through. While the dragon shielded its head from the pieces, Rune leapt through it and swung his blade.

    His katana left from its sheath as soon as he had jumped through the hole. A single swipe allowed him to cut the dragon in the leg. It only caused a small amount of damage, but it allowed Rune to leap out of the way before it saw him.

    The dragon growled at him as it wheeled to look at him. It was still quite alive and still had a lot of magic left. It raised both hands and glowered at him.

    A cloud of dark grey appeared above his hands and it expanded to engulf the entire ceiling of the evaporated lake. The temperature in the room lowered as the clouds started to let loose an abnormal amount of hail. Lightning could be seen in the clouds and some struck the ground and pieces of rubble around them.

    Stepping away from the dragon, he was trying to not be hit by the lightning. He sheathed his katana and placed it into his storage, leaving him without any metal or things that could attract lightning on his person.

    Lightning struck the dragon, but didn¡¯t seem to do any damage. Instead, those bolts of lightning lashed out at Rune who was standing extremely far away. Even with the distance between the two, the bolts still hit him and he tumbled backwards.

    Sliding across the ashes, he ended up a couple dozen yards away. He stood up and wiped the dirt and grim from his clothes. He closed his hands and opened them again.

    Then he charged. Running with [Breakneck] and [Quick Step], he transformed into his White Dragon form that was just barely smaller than the Irregular Dragon. With both skills being used at once as well as the amount of strength in the Dragon form helping, he rammed the Irregular with his horns.

    Seeing this, he pushed back against the force and tried to stay his ground only to find himself knocked over by the sheer amount of force projected upon him. Rune had dug his long talons into him and he automatically started to use [Ice Age] and [Frostbite] to freeze the insides of the enemy.

    Lightning still struck, but now it started to hit his back as he was the tallest thing around. On top of the dragon, Rune kept slicing at it and freezing its wounds.

    It was certainly dying, but none of the attacks that had landed were fatal. The closest one to being fatal was the attack that had damaged its arm. It used that same, damaged arm to block several attacks while the other arm was used to try and stab Rune.

    None of those attacks landed as he used [Ethereal] to make the dragon¡¯s hand move through it. For Rune, as long as he was able to hurt it, he would call that a successful hit. Even those that only took off scales still damaged it.

    ¡°ENOUGH!!!! YOU HAVE DONE IT NOW!!!! DIE!!!!¡±

    The dragon took five direct attacks to its face while it cast a spell. That spell launched Rune off of him and crouched on all four paws. He opened his mouth and it seemed to unhinge, like a snake¡¯s.

    Behind the dragon, Rune could see sparks crackling as five, then ten pentagrams appeared behind the dragon. He guessed that it was casting its most powerful magic to annihilate him from the face of the planet.

    Rune changed back into his Demon King form and flew upwards. The dragon turned to gape its mouth at him and the pentagrams also rotated in place to face him.

    The pentagrams had new magic symbols appearing around them every second and the blue light from each of them glowed brighter. That light he saw from each of the magic circles felt brighter and hotter than sunlight and he could feel a tingling sensation.

    That sensation had come from the electricity n the pentagrams that were crackling. It had electrified the air everywhere and, now, the only place safe from the electricity was he bunker made by Lilac.

    Rune didn¡¯t care about being electrocuted by the lightning above now. He knew that he had to stop the dragon before it potentially collapsed the isle and he drew his katana.

    The dragon was desperate, but no one knew due to the fact that dragon faces aren¡¯t too flexible with facial muscles. He was using the most powerful spell in his arsenal and he only cared about his survival at the moment.

    The two maids, any dragons left, the trees and animals of the tainted forests, none of them mattered to him as he was now going to destroy the isle. The only obstacle now was Rune who was most clearly a powerful foe and threat. He wasn¡¯t someone who you wanted to make an enemy out of.

    Rune used all the skills to harden and strengthen his body on top of using [Ethereal] to avoid the lightning. That skill did allow him to phase through the dimensions, but he still had a chance of falling through the floor or hitting something if there was something in his way in the dimension that he partially phased to. He had only realized it quite recently when he was using it and his foot fell through the floor causing to trip inside the house when it wasn¡¯t burnt to cinders.

    He gripped his katana which didn¡¯t fall out of his hands since his fingers and palms were currently being affected by [Ethereal]. He flapped his wings and flew towards the dragon.

    He had to kill him in this one strike, otherwise, he would likely die along with Rouna. Probably not Lilac due to her being a goddess, even if just a minor one. She could even leave now, but didn¡¯t due to her trying to nurse one of her saviors.

    And so, again, he charged at the giant and pointed the tip of his blade towards its head. He was aiming to kill. The dragon readied both of its arms to try and thwart his attack.

    As he got closer, he adjusted his aim to point it towards the area right in between the dragon¡¯s eyes. The dragon was opening up its hand to gain as much surface area as it could to swipe at him.

    Then came an attack. The dragon, not expecting what just occurred, used all of its paws to steady itself on the ground. It still kept its mouth wide open, but it certainly seemed that the spell chanting had slowed.

    Rune was almost as confused as the dragon as he was not the one who attacked. Instead of his blade piercing its skin, it was a huge array of bullets that had found its way into the flesh. It was certainly fortuitous that Rune had scratched off hundreds of scales that would have easily blocked the bullets.

    The source was Lilac who had taken Rouna¡¯s LMG and was trying to shoot. Even now, she was holding the trigger down and closing her eyes. She was hitting nothing but air at the moment, but, when she hit the dragon, she aimed the muzzle towards the dragon and held down the trigger to shoot.

    Her aim was shoddy at best, but her line of fire allowed for several of those shots to actually hit their mark and damage the dragon.

    Rune, still on course, stuck the dragon through its crown. The sword slid in with some difficulty, but the gravity helped push it down. Blood gushed through the air and its eyes rolled up in its head.

    The mouth stayed unhinged, but the pentagrams and the lightning faded away. Its eyes seemed to fog over with a cloud of grey as its body took its final breaths before falling to the ground.

    It twitched several times before it fully stopped moving. By then, the artificial storm overhead had subsided and Lilac stopped shooting. Not because she knew it was over, but because she had run out of bullets to shoot.

    ¡°Uwah!!¡±

    She looked dumbfounded as she didn¡¯t think they would be able to pull off such a such a huge feat. Rouna was behind her, on a blanket that covered the ground. She looked around and then promptly fell over.

    Lilac glanced at her, saw she was still breathing, and gave Rune a thumbs up to indicate it was so. She was smiling a genuine smile that she hadn¡¯t showed in several centuries.

    The oppressors were slain and the oppressed freed. Rune looked back at the dragon corpse and started to carefully dismantle it. Even a colossal Irregular Dragon had some fragile pieces.

    ¡°Who knew that such a being could level me up twice AND allow me to change my class?¡±

    ¡°Oh? What class do you have?¡±

    Lilac was not well versed in the ways of adventurers and also peoples¡¯ classes. She had mainly interacted with dragons and animals.

    ¡°Death¡¯s Hand has a requirement that says that I have to kill a being that is immortal. Are dragon¡¯s immortal?¡±

    Lilac shook her head and spoke after looking at Rouna.

    ¡°Only the gods, vampires, Irregular Dragons, and some other beings are immortal. A Guardian Dragon such as she will likely live to be about one million years.¡±

    ¡°Ah. What about Demon Kings?¡±

    ¡°Oh. Are you perhaps talking about yourself? You are not immortal, but you will live quite a long life, even without that ring of immortality.¡±

    Rune nodded to tell her that he understood as he cut off one horn. The horns he was taking a long time to prepare was actually quite tough and he had to try and use his katana. He used his katana like one would a saw.

    ¡°Ummm, since she fell next to you, could you check on her? I don¡¯t think she¡¯s dead yet, but I want to make sure she¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°Oh, she¡¯s just exhausted. Well, since things are hopefully over, we could just rest in the dragon¡¯s lair.¡±

    ¡°His lair isn¡¯t just a throne?¡±

    ¡°No, there is an area where the two maids and his ex-familiar slept.¡±

    ¡°And you know this how?¡±

    ¡°I have some invisible servants to scout the areas for me.¡±

    ¡°Awfully convenient for someone who was sealed in a lake.¡±

    ¡°I try.¡±

    It did make sense, to an extent, that gods had servants, but he didn¡¯t think that she would be able to gather information that way. However, she was a confirmed lawful good goddess.

    ¡°Alright, then let¡¯s pick her up and get her somewhere¡­ more safe than here. So you said that there were sleeping quarters somewhere?¡±

    ¡°There is a hallway near the throne. It should be easy to find if you look.¡±

    He tucked Rouna under his arm and looked up. Then he turned back towards Lilac who had spread her arms open as if to hug him.

    ¡°I need a lift.¡±

 Chapter 58: Two Maids

    ¡°Do you think that ¡°Master¡± is dead?¡±

    The Minotaur Girl looked up and put her hand to her chin. It took a moment, but she answered after thinking about it.

    ¡°Probably. He was mean anyway.¡±

    Then she took a large bite out of her sandwich. It was filled with ham, cheese, lettuce, and surrounded by crispy bread with soft insides. The Irregular Dragon¡¯s familiar, Meinstoros, had prepared ingredients in case the maids went hungry and he wasn¡¯t around to feed them.

    ¡°Well that¡¯s certainly true.¡±

    The Mid Tier Vampire maid sipped some of her tea. The two maids were taking a break that was far too long to be their regular break or their meal break. They normally did not have much time to eat during their meals before the dragon called for them.

    If something out there was strong enough to kill the Irregular Dragon they worked for, then that could mean that they were in trouble as well.

    She set her tea cup down on the small plate.

    ¡°Do you think that it was that guy and girl from earlier?¡±

    He Minotaur Girl set down her sandwich and thought about it. She was actually getting quite annoyed by the large amount of questions she was being asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I haven¡¯t even been here the longest; you have been here for several years, right?¡±

    ¡°...A couple hundred¡­¡±

    ¡°Whatever! Why don¡¯t you just go check.¡±

    The Mid Tier Vampire stood up and pushed her seat in. Then, after taking another sip of her tea, she opened the door.

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    ¡°So there are maids here!¡±

    The maid who had opened the door slowly closed it. She had almost succeeded when the other person¡¯s hand stopped it and the claws buried themselves in the hard door.

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to leave. I need to ask you one thing¡­¡±

    He tore the door off with a grinding and a ripping sound. When it was thrown to the other side of the hall, both the maids could see him with the green dragon girl tucked under his arm and a beautiful women who practically shined in the darkness behind him.

    ¡°Please spare our lives!!!¡±

    The Mid Tier Vampire knew that, if someone other than the four of them came, the dragon was killed. It was obvious by the creepy smile and dark blood on his clothes that he had killed it.

    She got down on her knees and put her forehead to the cold, stone floor. The Minotaur Girl just stared at him as she slowly took a bite out of her sandwich.

    ¡°Is there a place to let this one rest?¡±

    He gestured to the dragon girl who was still limp in his arms. Both of the maids turned their heads to look at the girl who was snoozing and the Vampire maid shakily stood up.

    ¡°T-this way!¡±

    The Vampire started to walk as if she was a robot with none of her limbs bending. She was too scared to do otherwise and believed that, if she didn¡¯t do as he said, she would die.

    For Rune, however, he was just planning on putting Rouna down on, preferably, a bed and then he was going to start going through the material in the books. He wasn¡¯t going to absorb them because he was thinking about using some of them for his school.

    As for Lilac, she just wanted to get some rest. She hadn¡¯t moved that much in quite a while and wanted to regain some of her energy.

    Back in the break room, the Minotaur Girl prayed for the Vampire maid.

    ¡°Gods bless you so that you can come back to finish your tea.¡±

    Then she continued to chip away at her sandwich. Surprisingly enough, compared to the amount of food she ate, she didn¡¯t look like she had gained any weight due to many monster people having high metabolisms.

    Her short, chestnut colored hair swayed a little bit every time she took a bite. The sandwich tasted pretty good, good enough that she would not even try to help her friend who had managed to find herself in a tricky situation.

    <hr>

    The Vampire maid creaked open the door without saying a word. She was worried that she might misspeak or bite her tongue and that Rune would kill her for doing so, but she still didn¡¯t know his name.

    In her mind, she was calling him ¡°Death Incarnate¡± for, as a Vampire, she could tell about how many deaths a person had caused, give or take a couple. She knew that his death count was through the roof.

    At the moment, Rune was yawning because he hadn¡¯t slept in a while. She could see that he had dark bags under and around his eyes. Even scarier, whenever he yawned, she could see her ex-master¡¯s blood stained on his teeth. Even his saliva had partially turned a reddish hue.

    Lilac wordlessly followed, making no sounds when she moved. She still held a frown as she wasn¡¯t used to smiling just yet. The Vampire maid found her quite¡­ mysterious.

    She knew that she was a goddess, but that was the extent of her knowledge as the dragon had decided not to tell her a great deal many things.

    The only one who hadn¡¯t instilled fear into her yet was Rouna. The Green Dragon girl was mumbling some things in her sleep as she smiled stupidly.

    She stepped into the room and held the door for them as it was quite heavy. Rune stepped in first followed by Lilac and then the Vampire maid shut the door.

    Using her eyes to see in the darkness, she opened up a drawer and took out some flint and steel. Rune watched to make sure that she didn¡¯t try to attack him.

    She lit a lantern hanging on the wall and it revealed two beds, drawers, and chairs. Looking back as she started to light the other lantern, She saw Rune set down Rouna and Lilac fell onto the other one.

    ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind your beds being taken.¡±

    She started to wave her hands in the air and practically almost shouted before she got a hold of herself.

    ¡°N-not at all!!¡±

    Then there was a long silence. Rune walked over to one of the chairs and sat down to rest. He still kept one eye partially open to see if the maid was doing anything.

    However, contrary to what he thought she would do, she whispered a shout of joy. she was happy that the dragon was killed, but was too afraid to do anything to Rune.

    Then, just as she finished voicing her joy, Lilac sat up in a bed and looked around to make sure that nothing happened to them. She saw Rune slipping into sleep and she gave him a thumbs up as if to say, ¡°I got this!¡±

    Once Rune saw this, he closed his eyes and drifted into a slumber.

    Lilac backed up to lean against the headrest of the bed. She looked over at the Vampire who was fidgeting with her fingers, not knowing what to do. When she realized that Lilac was looking at her, she almost jumped as she was so quiet and looked so stern.

    In reality, Lilac was wondering who she was and then started to daydream while looking at her. She was thinking about the outside world and what may have changed while she had been sealed.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Um, I¡­ Can I ask a¡­¡±

    Lilac jolted her head when she realized she was being talked to. She turned her eyes to look at her as the Vampire¡¯s voice trailed off.

    ¡°No, go ahead. You can ask your question.¡±

    Still fidgeting while standing against the wall, she spoke in a timid voice.

    ¡°Um, if you can allow it¡­ could I, uh, come back with you? I was kind of enslaved here¡­ against my, uh, will. Do you think that, um, you could bring me somewhere other than here? I would also like it, if possible, if you could bring Bel, the Minotaur Girl, somewhere safe as well.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Her head tilted downwards as she was filled with sorrow.

    ¡°I can¡¯t help you, but I¡¯m sure Rune can.¡±

    Lilac gestured towards Rune as she spoke and as soon as she spoke his name, his eyes popped open.

    ¡°Something happen?¡±

    He yawned as he only got less than an hour of sleep. He had actually been sleeping, but since he was so used to sleeping lightly on the journey, he was able to react to a great deal many things.

    ¡°Yes, actually, this one¡­ what¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°My name is Mir, a Mid Tier Vampire.¡±

    ¡°Mir here wants to leave this place with that other maid, Bel.¡±

    ¡°I-if possible. I understand if you can¡¯t.¡±

    Mir interjected to be more polite and to give him another option.

    ¡°... Maids you say?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Both of us are maids. I worked for that bastard for about a century while the other girl has been here for just less than a year.¡±

    Rune pondered on this. He did need some more cleaning people as he was using some of the maids and butlers as cleaning personnel at the school.

    And thus, it turned into an interview.

    ¡°Do you have any other skills that we should know of?¡±

    She wondered what he meant by ¡°we¡±, but decided not to question it as this was a once in a lifetime chance to escape this miserable isle.

    ¡°I have many talents as both a Mid Tier Vampire and an Assassin. Bel is a Minotaur Girl who, if memory serves correctly, was a Dark Paladin and, before that, a Rogue. I can shapeshift into mist or a bat, use some blood magic, and use multiple assassination skills and techniques. I don¡¯t know about Bel.¡±

    ¡°What things are you looking for outside of this isle.¡±

    Ruen gestured at everything as he used his right arm and waved it a bit.

    ¡°Well, if I may, I would like a nice, steady job and, eventually, live in a comfy place. Preferably with a lot of money.¡±

    ¡°I see¡­ And what would you do with said money?¡±

    ¡°Hoard it or use it for entertainment.¡±

    An immediate answer from her without a second thought. It seemed that her actual personality was greedy, but she could put up an act to seem like she wasn¡¯t. To him, though, it didn¡¯t seem like a bad thing, it was just another incentive.

    ¡°You¡¯re hired. You and the other girl, Bel was it?¡±

    ¡°Hired? I¡¯m sorry, but what?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to work as one of my maids, but then you won¡¯t get to live in a comfortable, large mansion, eat three delicious meals a day, and not obtain some gold each month as paym-¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it!¡±

    Money was indeed an incentive.

    ¡°Good. You should go get your friend and bring her here so that I can explain what the two of you will be doing so that you can work as soon as possible to earn money and live in my mansion.¡±

    ¡°Yessir!!¡±

    She bowed deeply before rushing to find Bel. She now felt no fear as her hopes were high and her expectations rightfully so. The adjectives Rune used to describe his mansion were quite glamorous and it most certainly was.

    After a couple minutes, Mir dragged in Bel who was now eating a pastry that Meinstoros made an hour before he died. She was feeling quite unsure about the things that Mir had told her.

    When she was whisked away from the break room, she could hear Mir talking about a mansion, a place to sleep, and money. Mostly about money, but she swore that she could hear her mumble something about good food.

    ¡°So, what is this job?¡±

    Rune sat up and placed the tips of his fingers together.

    ¡°You will be maids in my mansion. I will provide you both with enough succulent food to fill your stomachs, a nice, warm place to sleep, and enough money to buy just about whatever you wish.¡±

    At the words ¡°succulent food¡± and ¡°enough money to buy just about whatever you wish¡±, they started to daydream about life in a luxurious mansion, surrounded by gold and food.

    ¡°However, since I will be giving you such things, you must work for me. I believe that, since you have been in a cave for a while, the head maid will teach you how to clean a house. That said, you will not only clean, but defend the house in case of any intruders. I will likely not be there when the attackers enter due to my being the currant Demon King.

    We will go back to the Human continent soon, when Rouna wakes from her slumber. Since it seems that it will be a while before she wakes, I will also take a nap. I don¡¯t want you two to fall to fatigue tomorrow.¡±

    Then he closed his eyes and went into a slumber once more. His hands fell to his sides and his chin tilted downwards. It was like watching a puppet¡¯s strings be cut while sitting in a chair.

    Lilac looked at him for a moment before sighing. She looked back at the two maids who were still daydreaming about their new lives.

    <hr>

    Rouna slowly opened her eyes. There was only a single source of light coming from a torch lit next to a door. She was roused by both her internal clock and the strange humming.

    Her eyes rotated in her sockets to find that Rune was the one humming a strange melody. Rune was busy calculating the pay for the two maids on a piece of parchment with ink. He was actually quite happy to find two more helping hands and was humming an anime song.

    Mir and Bel where busy ransacking the kitchen for useful items, but Rouna did not know that they even existed. Lilac was with the two of them, checking to see if they would take something and hide it from the rest of the group as well as making sure that they didn¡¯t kill them.

    ¡°Wha?¡±

    Rune straightened his back and turned to look at her. He was using the drawer as one would use a table to write on.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re up. Let¡¯s go then.¡±

    He rolled up the parchment and placed it into his storage along with the ink and quill. He stood up and Rouna, still rubbing her sleepy eyes, removed herself from the bed.

    ¡°Where is Lilac?¡±

    She yawned the second she finished her sentence. She only had to grab her LMG and place it over her shoulder. The strap felt heavy against her shoulder as she hadn¡¯t worn it for about a day and her injuries were only mostly healed. Her body was still weak from the previous conflict.

    ¡°She¡¯s making sure that Mir and Bel don¡¯t try to kill us.¡±

    ¡°..Who? Wait, actually, where are we? Did Lilac make another bunker?¡±

    ¡°...She made a bunker?! When?!¡±

    ¡°Um, it was when you were fighting that¡­ dragon. Did you win?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We won.¡±

    He put an emphasis on ¡°we¡± to say that everyone helped out in one way or another.

    ¡°Aside from that, Mir and Bel were the captives of the dragon and they will now work for me as maids. Mir is a Vampire and Bel in a Minotaur Girl.¡±

    ¡°What kind of Vampire?¡±

    ¡°There are different kinds of Vampires?¡±

    Rouna sighed as she realized that he wouldn¡¯t know since he usually focused on the present or future and did not really care for what someone was unless they were trying to kill him.

    A beat later, the other three entered the room to find Rouna awake. Lilac squeezed her tightly to see if she was actually alright since it had been a bit of a shock to her when she fell down.

    In the beginning, when she first flopped over, she thought she was just doing it because she was tired. It was later found out that, through the help of herself, she collapsed due to immense mental and physical fatigue.

    ¡°I am Mir.¡±

    ¡°I am Bel.¡±

    Both of the maids introduced themselves at the same time.

    ¡°I am Rouna. Er, nice to meet you.¡±

    Mir extended her hand to which Rouna grasped to complete the handshake.

    ¡°It is our pleasure.¡±

    ¡°Now that introductions are out of the way, let us take our leave. I¡¯m really tired and I want to sleep on an actual bed instead of a chair or the dirt.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡±

    Lilac nodded in agreement. She had been so used to sleeping in one of the beds she herself made and her back felt a bit discomfortable due to the firmness of the bed she slept on.

    Rouna¡¯s scales helped her be more comfortable while sleeping as well as keeping her safe. It was just one of the many upsides of being a Dragon. Actually, the skin-like surface of a Dragon who turned Human was made of tiny scales that were also as squishy as skin, but far more protective.

    ¡°Follow me.¡±

    <hr>

    It took a total of one hour, not a lot of time. All Rune had to do was turn into his White Dragon form, which evolved much more due to him absorbing several pieces of the Blue Irregular Dragon, and fly to the edge of the isle. Then he just had to teleport.

    The reason why the isle stayed afloat was due to the surplus of magical energy the Irregular Dragon placed into the ground. It would stay in the clouds for at least several more decades before collapsing into the ground.

    When Rune teleport to the school, he was immediately shot by a burst of electricity.

    ¡°Grah!!!¡±

    He transformed back into his Demon King form and proceeded to have a spasm on the floor. Rouna, Lilac, Bel, and Mir was had fallen when he transformed and became covered with dirt.

    ¡°Ugh, how filthy.¡±

    ¡°Tch!¡±

    ¡°Oh god! I get to finally see the sky!!¡±

    ¡°This is different from the sand and rock¡­¡±

    The last two were comments made by Bel and Mir due to them being trapped in a cave for so long. Back on the isle, one could not see the skies due to the storms above and the dirt rarely existed in the deserts of Hell¡¯s Gate.

    Rune slowly got up after recovering and shot a glare at one of the guards who immediately froze when he realized that he had shot his boss. In his hands, a high tech railgun could be seen. The guard wore some kind of exosuit that was positioned on the arms and legs.

    ¡°Your pay is decreased by 5%!!¡±

    Rune shouted at the guard and he hung his head in shame.

 Chapter 59: Life Outside of Combat

    Rune pointed at the guard who shot him, telling him that his paycheck had decreased by 5%, which was still a lot of money. His monthly salary was 2 gold or 200 silver. That salary now became 190 silver coins.

    Rune was completely taken by surprise for he thought that no one from the school, at least not in their right mind, would shoot him. He was mistaken due to the guard being startled while having his index finger on the trigger.

    He would have to have someone train them to be more careful when using weapons. If he didn¡¯t, then he would end up in a situation where a guard accidentally killed someone.

    The two guards standing on the ground looked up at the on who shot Rune. They only felt a little amount of pity because it clearly was his fault for shooting.

    The gate was made of metal bars with a mesh in between them. They could open inwards with the motors used to turn them with a press of a button. The actual metal was silver and had an electric current moving through it that was not powerful enough to kill, but could still paralyze someone for up to several hours, depending on body size.

    The walls were made out of some sort of stone that was layered on top of each other and fused together with mortar, made of cement, sand, and water. It was about three stories high and quite thick, about 12 feet.

    The walls were actually not placed directly around the school since they wanted more space for development. It now covered a much larger area and, even though it only took several days of hard labor, it became something like an impenetrable fortress.

    What had happened was that they used mages to move the blocks and used workers to spread the mortar. Then they had some people smooth out both sides of the wall to make it unclimbable. Those who had done any of those three jobs were now taking a two day break and were given coupons for some restaurants that had already opened up.

    Only one cafe, two restaurants, and a general store opened up for business, but there were already three apartments ready and all were filled up.

    Ulf, the main architect behind the production, was taking a break in a cafe at the moment and, since it was about midday, Jared and Kelly were eating at a restaurant.

    Taking a look at the surroundings, roads, buildings, and walls, Rune praised everyone for doing this inside his head. At the moment, he had to show the two newbies and the goddess around.

    Rouna had already taken off to go to the nurse¡¯s office to see if Elisa was alright.

    She flapped her wings and lifted herself upwards, into the air. Then she flew right over the gates only to find that an invisible force stopped her.

    ¡°Gah!¡±

    One of the guards on the wall, the one who hadn¡¯t shot Rune and wasn¡¯t crying because he was scared he would lose more than just 5% of his pay, looked up at Rouna and spoke.

    ¡°Um, Miss Rouna? There is a new barrier that was installed as soon as the wall finished. You have to come through this gate. You can only enter through the gate if you do not have an ¡°ID¡±, but anyone can exit anywhere, for convenience.¡±

    ¡°I see¡­¡±

    She muttered as she stepped back onto solid ground. She walked up to and through the gates that were now opening up.

    Rune turned to look at the guards.

    ¡°An ID? When did this happen?¡±

    ¡°About two days ago. It was when Miss Kelly told us that she was implementing a new system.¡±

    The guard¡¯s ears quivered in fear at the moment Rune spoke to him. He stopped shaking when he realised that he hadn¡¯t done anything wrong.

    ¡°Do I have one?¡±

    Rune called upwards for he hadn¡¯t known about the barrier or the IDs.

    ¡°Yes. I was told to tell you that you should go ask your wife or one of your maids. They should know where it is.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    And so, with Lilac, Mir, and Bel following close behind him, he stepped through the gates that crackled with electricity.

    ¡°So this is the area that I reside over. Soon enough, it will become a full city. So far, there is a school and some places over there.¡±

    He pointed through through the gate and the three looked at where he was pointing. There were workers building and mages lifting.

    ¡°And this is a school!!¡±

    He spread his arms open wide to say that the multiple large buildings connected by several bridges. There were many windows just lined up against the wall and teens were going in and out of the building.

    ¡°Anyway, follow me.¡±

    He started to walk towards his mansion that was still in the school perimeter. He was starting to think that he should either move his home or turn it into a dorm and construct a new home.

    Walking through the front door, Rune could see Hela lounging on the couch in the living room. The succubus was snoozing with her left arm dragging on the floor. A little drool was dribbling from the corner of her mouth.

    ¡°This way.¡±

    Rune saw this and started to revise his path to avoid the masochist. He was not going to be happy if he had to deal with being shot as well as being nagged by someone to hit them.

    The four of them managed to not rouse her while moving around and they headed for the break room. There was a room, similar to the one Mir and Bel used for a while, that the maids could rest in. The room itself was much larger than the one Mir and Bel were used to and the furniture in there was incredibly comfortable.

    Rune turned the knob and opened the door without a sound. He peeked in to find the head butler sipping tea and looking at a small card that seemed to be, at least to Rune, what may have been an ID.

    ¡°Excuse me, but do you happen to know where the head maid is?¡±

    ¡°Mrrf!!?¡±

    The head butler, startled at the sound of his master¡¯s voice, jumped and spat out his tea simultaneously. He looked up and started to speak after using a handkerchief to wipe his face.

    ¡°The head maid should be cleaning the Miss¡¯s study at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    He spoke as he slowly closed the door. The head butler sighed and went back to looking over his card.

    ¡°Onward!¡±

    He started to walk as a figure of darkness appeared from the wall. He, feeling no remorse or regret and without a hint of hesitation, palm striked the person.

    ¡°Blegh!!¡±

    Blood flew from the grin as the masochist was sent flying down the hall.

    He turned back to the rest of the group with eyes that said that he wanted to leave.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here.¡±

    <hr>

    Sophia was standing next to the door watching the head maid quickly clean around her precious materials. She was not too tired, but definitely had not been sleeping well enough.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    There were dark bags under her eyes and her constant yawning showed that her body wanted to sleep. Leaning against the wall, she yawned once more before the door opened up and appeared-

    ¡°Rune!!¡±

    She lunged at him, rubbing her face in his chest. It had become a common occurrence to her to hug Rune whenever he came back from a trip.

    She suddenly froze as she noticed that there were three women behind him who were each more curvy than she.

    ¡°Who are they?¡±

    She asked in a cold voice, wondering if he was starting a harem that he said he wouldn¡¯t do. She felt inferior to the others due to the¡­ lack of assets, but Rune had no feelings of love for the three of them.

    ¡°Lilac, the goddess, Mir, the Vampire maid, and Bel, the Minotaur maid. I hired to two maids to defend this place. As for the goddess¡­ well, we plan to create a place for her to live. Why? Did you think I was cheating on you? I did say I wouldn¡¯t have a harem.¡±

    Still glaring daggers at the maids, she stopped being cold to the goddess because she didn¡¯t want to get on her bad side. Even if she knew that she was a minor goddess, minor goddesses still had the power to utterly destroy someone¡¯s way of life.

    Rune turned to the two maids.

    ¡°This is my wife, Sophia. This is one of the people you will protect in this mansion. The rest are all the maids and butlers as well as my daughter, Roxana.¡±

    The Minotaur Girl made a noise to say that she understood and the Vampire bowed deeply for she wanted to get on her good side to get more money.

    ¡°And this is the head maid. Head maid, you will be teaching these two what it means to be a maid. I hope you train them well. Now then, Sophia and I are off.¡±

    <hr>

    Rouna took to the skies. She had learned that, from the guard who stood outside the nurse¡¯s office, Elisa had went back to the palace. She wanted to see her and do some other things on top of that.

    While in the nurse¡¯s office, she could see Riika.

    ¡°I heard that my leg will take a while to heal, even with the help of Healing magic. The good news is that it doesn¡¯t hurt anymore.¡±

    Rouna smiled a genuine smile when she saw that Riika was getting better. She was able to hobble and move about on crutches, but she was told by Kelly to stay there for a few more days.

    ¡°That sounds amazing!! Actually, I have something I have been meaning to ask.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Where do I get my ID? Also, what else is new?¡±

    ¡°Well, I have heard Kelly talk about a lot of different things, but she seems to be focused on creating something called a ¡°printer¡±. I have no idea what for though. There was also talk about a ¡°tee vee¡± coming out soon and some new phones.

    As for the ID, you can ask her about it. She should be in one of the cafes or restaurants now.¡±

    ¡°I see. Well, I¡¯ll talk to her when I get back.¡±

    ¡°Oh, are you going to visit Elisa? Tell her I said hi.¡±

    ¡°I will.¡±

    And so Rouna walked at a fast pace to exit the school. Once she was standing on the stone pathway, she extended her wings and flew.

    It only took a couple minutes to fly from ALF to the capital, but she did encounter some wyverns along the way. Using her Poison magics, she easily killed them and they tumbled towards the ground.

    Once she reached the capital, the palace wasn¡¯t hard to miss at all. In fact, it stood well over ten stories tall with four towers and walls that were taller than those around the Academy of Learning and Fighting.

    She scanned the area and found Elisa sitting on a chair that was pulled up to a table with three legs. She sat alone, looking at the garden and sipping her tea.

    Slowly descending behind her, Rouna was going to scare her.

    ¡°Rawr!!!¡±

    Instead of just a simple sound, she made a sound like a guttural roar. It wasn¡¯t too loud, but it was loud enough to sound like a yell in her ears.

    ¡°Wah!!¡±

    She turned around, teacup laying on the table with its contents pouring out. She instinctively reached for her sword only to remember that it was in her room, along with her armor.

    Relaxing as soon as she realized that it was Rouna, she sighed and turned in her chair.

    ¡°Hello. How are you? That cold I got wasn¡¯t too bad. It was just a simple fever.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re alright enough to go out?¡±

    Elisa looked down at her casual gown. It was a pale pink color with some sort of intertwining design at the bottom and around her sleeves.

    ¡°Let me change first.¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°...And let me tell you, having those missiles explode and the roof break was not a very fun time. I just can¡¯t believe that the pocket dimension would break. I guess it was too stressed. So now, I think that we should have a set time for people to be in there and the ratio of time from inside to outside should be one day to one hour. One hour spent outside is one day spent inside, or 1:24.

    It will hinder our schedule, but I think that this should be enough for us to get the ovens completed by thursday.¡±

    Rune sat across from Kelly as he looked between her and his ID. He had also received a phone that was now in his pocket. The only problem was that it was only useful for about a mile around the school. Outside of that, the technology couldn¡¯t send frequencies.

    Sophia was reading one of the books that Rune had gotten from Lilac who was talking to Ulf about the place that she wanted. Of course, that place would take a while and it would have to start after the foundation of the city was laid.

    The book Sophia was reading was a tale about a legendary hero who believed in Norse mythology. He had come from Earth where, between the worlds, he met Odin while he was hanging himself with a spear in his stomach. Odin gave him enough knowledge to survive in the wildlands of Arborea, before cities and empires were founded.

    Sophia was also reading the book because she had no idea what Kelly, Jared, and Rune were talking about. She understood that an ¡°oven¡± was something to cook food and that a ¡°fridge¡± was a place to store food, but other than that, she had no idea what they were speaking about.

    What had happened was that Kelly and Jared had decided to build some more levels, but it ended in disaster when the pocket dimension collapsed due to the sheer size of the room and the roof burst. The room was a couple stories high and they managed to turn it into something like an observatory.

    Luckily, the lab was behind the mansion and was somewhat separated from the main branch. Of course, not only did the roof become wood dust, but some of the explosives that were not strapped down rolled about and made several large holes in the ground. The material that the walls and floor were made out of helped to contain it, but not by much.

    ¡°I think I will also go there for a bit. I want to work on a new weapon. I killed an Irregular Dragon and I obtained some new material.¡±

    ¡°Mmm. Yeah, I got some tools that can appraise some items. You can use them if you want.¡±

    Kelly put a forkful of cake in her mouth and proceeded to eat it. Jared was just eating a crispy pastry that was rectangular with jam filling.

    A girl in a maid costume came over with a circular tray and some cold tea with honey. She placed down the tea and walk away after bowing.

    ¡°That¡¯d be great. Where are they?¡±

    ¡°The fifth floor.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s at least five floors?¡±

    ¡°A total of seven.¡±

    Jared spoke like he was quite proud of the room, now a building, that he and Kelly had constructed with the help of others.

    ¡°That¡¯s why it''s so tall.¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡±

    Rune paused and turned to Sophia. The other two started to eat their food once more and Sophia looked up at Rune.

    ¡°How is Roxana?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s doing well. She always seems to be eager to learn and catches on how to use Fire magic quickly. Lisbeth teaches her class quite well and she was finally able to learn B rank magic.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing! That is amazing, right? I¡¯m assuming, since the ranks of magic go from F to SSS.¡±

    She sighed and smiled lightly.

    ¡°Yes, it is good. I guess you don¡¯t have a good idea of what the average is for regular people.¡±

    He chuckled when he realized that he had only been comparing himself with powerful beings for the past month or so and hadn¡¯t even thought of what he was compared to the average folk.

    <hr>

    Rena stuffed her face with the noodles from her bowl. The broth inside was warm and rich and the meat inside was delicious. The cafeteria chefs had been getting some recipes from both the capital and the Beast Folk. They had gotten word that there was a small kingdom somewhere on the continent and they had sent some merchants there to trade.

    That kingdom was a small one that was steadily growing. The ruler of that land was a Fallen Angel, Stacy, where she worshipped farming and agriculture gods the most and took in outcasts. It wasn¡¯t just a regular kingdom either, it had some floating islands around its main town.

    In that kingdom, there were rumors that they had wonderful food and amazing culture, but was quite far away from the capital and all the major cities in the Human continent. Even though it was so distant from the other places, Stacy had no qualms trading with merchants.

    Actually, being a person from another world, she had allowed several others from her class to live in her city. Those living there were Ari, the Roc, Brian, the Demonic Bear, Brittany, the Dryad, Rick, the Pit Fiend, and Tio, the Gorgon.

    Rena sat with Erin, Hika, and Jayn, a Dragonborn from their class who was friends with Erin.

    Hika had ordered the beef and noodle stew, just like Rena had, and already finished her bowl.

    ¡°So what do you want to do now? I heard a rumor that Rune is back.¡±

    Hika put both her elbows on the wooden table and pointed her fork lazily towards her. Rena looked up, noodles still in mouth.

    ¡°Mrrfff. Ahem. Well, if he is here, then we¡¯d better check where he might be.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡±

    Erin pounded the table as he spoke. Some of the sauce that was on his plate splattered onto the table¡¯s top.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Jayn looked up from from her food and looked at the others. She didn¡¯t know Rune as well as the rest did and only knew him as the eccentric, but fearsome weapons teacher.

    But, since she had nothing else to do, she simply shrugged and quickly finished the rest of her food and followed the group as they left through the double doors of the cafeteria.

    Some of the maids that Rune dispatched were working to clean up the school and some had to clean up after the teens who were quite messy with their food. It was like someone decided to dump their food and smear it all over the ground which was not a very nice sight.

 Chapter 60: Lets Undergo Training Part I

    ¡°So, you¡¯re telling me that you guys decided to interrupt my date just because you wanted to see me?! You could¡¯ve just waited an hour and it would have been over by then!¡±

    Erin shrugged as he didn¡¯t feel any guilt dragging Rune from his dinner date. Rune and Sophia had gone through the school to check on the students and staff before they left to go to one of the two restaurants that had been finished.

    ¡°Just go back to it.¡±

    Jayn elbowed him in the side and hissed at him.

    ¡°That¡¯s not how it works!¡±

    Rena shifted her weight and started to apologize. They very well could have just waited for the date to finish, but they instead walked up to him, literally dragged him out of his booth, and pulled him to the entrance.

    ¡°Sorry! We could have also just stayed around where you were sitting and talk, but you said that you didn¡¯t want to talk about your ventures in a ¡°romantic setting¡±.¡±

    Rune sighed as he crossed his arms and started to lean against a wall.

    ¡°So, what did you want to talk to me about?¡±

    ¡°Thank you for saving us!!!¡±

    Three out of four of them shouted and bowed their heads. Jayn had taken a step back because she knew that Hika, Rena, and Erin had to both thank and apologize to him about things that happened on the trip. Since she hadn¡¯t gone, she decided to step out of the immediate scene.

    ¡°Woah woah woah! Don¡¯t yell in here! There are other diners!¡±

    Rune hissed at them as he swung his left arm to point at the other seventeen groups of people whose meals were interrupted by loud shouting.

    ¡°Ah. Anyways, we are sorry that we were too weak. We have decided that we need to get stronger, right guys?¡±

    Rena and Erin nodded as Hika spoke. While she was the most sane and down-to-earth person out of the three of them, she had been caught up in the heat of the moment and accidentally shouted.

    ¡°Oh, really? What are you guys going to do to get stronger?¡±

    ¡°We will kill monsters that appear near the school.¡±

    ¡°We already have a club for it called the Protection Club, but it will actually be used to level up and get stronger!¡±

    ¡°Yeah! We¡¯ve already killed two giant spiders and one Fenrir!¡±

    ¡°Hush! I told you we are in a restaurant with other people would would likely prefer it quiet!¡±

    Hika was the only one of the three who had stopped being loud. Once the other two started to become louder, she tried to make them be more quiet by holding a finger in front of her mouth which didn¡¯t work.

    ¡°Are those usually hard to kill?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, A and B rank adventurers generally take care of them.¡±

    ¡°... And aren¡¯t the dragons more powerful than both A and S ranks?¡±

    There was silence as the group was starting to lose faith in their strength. While they had been able to keep up with a dragon hydra for a little while, they couldn¡¯t defeat it. However, it was on par with a pair of S rank adventurers.

    The other monsters they killed had been taken care of by them, one on one. Most of the time, there would be a need for a small group of A ranks to take on a Fenrir or one of the giant spiders they killed.

    ¡°That is why we will train.¡±

    Erin spoke with such confidence that it seemed like he really thought he would be able to attain the strength to be on par with Rune.

    ¡°I see¡­¡±

    He looked at each of the four teens and spoke after a moment.

    ¡°Then, I will wait two months. By then, you should each reach a strength far greater than S rank or you will not come along for the next trip. Is that all right?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    There was silence among the group. The other diners, made up most of the student body and the other workers, continued on with their conversations. They really didn¡¯t want to get in Rune¡¯s way.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need an answer now. Just one when you can, but I would like one by tomorrow.¡±

    He sighed before walking back to Sophia who was sipping tea and watching the whole situation. He sat down in the booth again and started to eat once more.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be so hard on them, darling.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ But, y''know, they are around my age and yours.¡±

    <hr>

    Rune opened his eye. Specifically his left to look at the maid who was shaking him awake.

    ¡°Hmmm?¡±

    ¡°A group of students responded to something you told them last night. They said ¡°Yes, we will do it.¡± I believe that they were Rena, Hika, and Erin?¡±

    ¡°Mmm, yeah, okay.¡±

    The maid stopped shaking him, but still stood beside him.

    ¡°Y-you can leave now.¡±

    He was somewhat creeped out by how still the maid was when staring down at him. It reminded him of one of those stone angels from a tv show with a tardis since the maid stood without moving an inch, unblinking and unwavering. He shuddered at the thought.

    Once the maid left, he soon realized that he had a problem. He was feeling quite dehydrated after the events that transpired in the bedroom several hours prior and he slowly got up. He had to move Sophia who was clinging on to him.

    He moved to the kitchen to get some water. He was surprised by the new things he had found, a sink and a refrigerator which new devices in the room. Being the completely and utterly cautious person he was, he took a cup from a shelf and poured some tap water into it.

    He realized that he couldn¡¯t cast several magics when inside his home. Apparently, it helped Jared and Kelly minimize the amount of damage set in the lab. They had already completed the time magic to keep the lab moving at a pace faster than the regular time.

    He looked at the water in his cup before downing it without a second thought. It tasted bland, which was a good thing. It would be terrible if it tasted good or bad because there would be something in the water if it did.

    Turning back to put the cup on the counter, he saw a pair of students sneaking up to him. The reason he placed his empty cup on the counter was due to the fact it needed to be cleaned. The reason why the students were sneaking up to him was because they wanted to tell him about their decision in person, but Erin was a deep sleeper.

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Rena spoke, but no one else did afterwards. Rune¡¯s eyelids still felt heavy and he was extremely tired. He inhaled deeply before exhaling.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°Why¡¯re you in my kitchen?¡±

    He yawned before moving past the two of them. He was heading towards the pantry for some food. When he opened the door, he looked behind and saw two students sniffing the sweet smells originating from the door he had just opened.

    ¡°Want a cookie?¡±

    He handed them two cookies that Sophia had baked. Since she never really had the chance to bake pastries, she decided to give it a go with the help of the chef. Then, using some ingredients that Kelly provided them.

    Rena and Hika both nodded furiously as Rune handed each of them a sugar cookie. They started to eat it and finished it in a few bites. They were both hungry since they had woken up and headed to his mansion without eating breakfast.

    ¡°So, what are you here for?¡±

    Clearing her throat, Hika started to speak.

    ¡°We just wanted to say that we have accepted your deal! We will train for two months and, if you do not see that we are fit for the mission, we will accept defeat!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, one of my maids told me that you guys accepted it already.¡±

    ¡°What? When?¡±

    ¡°Like, two minutes ago.¡±

    Rena and Hika recollected entering his mansion. A guard was stationed in front and asked them for their reason for visiting. They had responded by saying that they accept his deal.

    ¡°Well, that ruined it¡­¡±

    ¡°I mean, not really. I had expected you guys to do so. But¡­ I¡¯m going to put everyone through this as well!¡±

    He grinned and it seemed like the temperature had went from warm to freezing. The two of them could see his canines that were longer than most, but not large enough that it would stick out of his mouth.

    ¡°By everyone, do you mean-¡±

    ¡°This club will be recognized as official, but it will be required that you teach the students. I¡¯ll have Ms. Nuzta set up a schedule.¡±

    Ms. Nuzta was the 8th grade math teacher who also dealt in literature and basic survival.

    ¡°I¡¯ll also get some of the GYM teachers to supervise.¡±

    Rune had begun thinking about the future. If the world became chaos due to him failing to kill the evil dragons, he would at least like for the students to be able to survive the fallout.

    ¡°Now then, show me what you can do!¡±

    He held his hand up towards them, beckoning them to go forth.

    ¡°Yes!!¡±

    ¡°Oh, but I think Roxana¡¯s still sleeping. You¡¯d better be more quiet. Now then, leave. I¡¯ve got to prepare for the first class.¡±

    He said this as he put up a finger in front of his lips to motion for them to be quiet. He then turned around and started down the path he had come from. His work supplies were mainly on the desk in his room.

    Rena and Hika started to leave the mansion, but not before bumping into two people first.

    ¡°Oof! Oh, sorry about that.¡±

    Rena looked up to see that she had walked into a tall woman in a maid outfit. Poking out from her chestnut colored hair was a horn that was broken about halfway and another horn that protruded outwards.

    She looked down at the two of them and glared. Then, another voice spoke to scold her.

    ¡°That is not how you treat guests! You must apologize and ask them if they are okay. If they are, bow and walk away.¡±

    It was the head maid who was tapping her foot against the wooden floor in disapproval. Behind her, a girl with pale blonde hair and even paler skin stood. Her bright red eyes darted around, trying to absorb all the new information around her.

    Rena looked at the two of them with blank stares until Hika realized who they were. She placed her fist on her palm and a look of realization covered her face.

    ¡°You must be the two maids Rune picked up in the Stormy Isle.¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Yes, we are.¡±

    The minotaur girl had started to look back at the head maid before turning back to Hika and Rena to answer her question. The vampire girl behind her nodded as well.

    In situations where strangers were about, Bel usually spoke candidly while Mir was silent and usually only gave nods as answers.

    ¡°What did I just say? You. Must. Apologize.¡±

    Bel nodded and started to speak once again.

    ¡°Sorry for bumping into you, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Are you?¡±

    Bel looked back to the head maid to see if she could answer. She was trying to follow her orders, but Hika asked a question. The head maid gestured for her to continue.

    ¡°Yes, I am. Thank you.¡±

    Then she promptly bowed and left. Mir watched as the head maid started to chase after Bel and she started to walk after them. However, just a moment before that, she quietly bowed to the two of them and then moved quickly down the hall.

    Hika then turned to Rena with a confused look.

    ¡°Those two were the ones that Rune hired? I¡¯ve heard that they were already maids, but they seem so¡­ unmaid-like.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but there must¡¯ve been a reason as to why he hired them.¡±

    While the two maids did not seem at all like maid material, they were most certainly powerful enough to go toe to toe with a group of S rank adventurers each. Bel¡¯s classes were Dark Paladin and Rogue while Mir¡¯s classes were Assassin and Bounty Hunter.

    Hika opened the front door and the two of them quickly exited to get ready for their first class.

    <hr>

    ¡°This new schedule was created today!? Ms. Nuzta must have a lot of time on her hands.¡±

    The teen threw his hands up in the air to show his surprise and disappointment. He really didn¡¯t like the idea of having to actively fight monsters once every seven days.

    The students were all mostly confused or frustrated by this change in schedule and the fact that it said on the sheet that they would fight monsters in the nearby areas. That meant Fenrirs, giant spiders, Orthruses, and much more. They were mostly high ranking monsters that many had no knowledge of due to how little they were fought.

    ¡°Yeah! It also interferes with the time I get to spend with my girlfriend!!¡±

    The two teens whined about the situation as so many others around them did as well. That was the majority, but the minority, about 20% of the student body, actually wanted to improve via fighting monsters.

    The entire student body, for high school, had arrived in the colosseum that had been built a while ago, but wasn¡¯t used aside from some training and Rune¡¯s class meeting. 105 people stood and looked up at where Rune stood.

    After clearing his throat and grabbing the microphone, Rune started to speak.

    ¡°I want to get this speech over with quickly; it¡¯s a bit hot with the sun over us. So, starting from next week, you students are going to complete live training exercises where you kill monsters and beasts and things like that. There will be a reward for the people who hunt the most, kill the fastest, and defeat without getting hurt. Those are the three categories and they will be marked for each month. There will only be one winner in the category and, yes, people can win more than once. The prizes will be posted on the bulletin board in the entrance of the school. That is all.¡±

    Rune handed the mic back to Kelly who placed it to the side. Then, using her remote, she turned off the speakers. The two of them headed out of the arena as the students started to leave.

    ¡°Prizes?¡±

    ¡°I want a new axe!¡±

    ¡°He was right about it being quick¡­¡±

    Each student had been given a sheet that had their modified schedule, but the entire Honor¡¯s Freshman class had been given another notice telling them to meet up with Rune in room A-1, Rune¡¯s homeroom class.

    Hika and Rena walked through the near empty halls together. There were some people who were in clubs and they met up in different classrooms. Room A-1 was the room that Rune stuffed all his things in, mostly on the desk, and many teachers did not want to supervise clubs in his room because of that.

    He placed his cursed pistol under his desk, taped to the ceiling of it. A set of throwing knives were in a glass container next to the computer that had been recently installed. Several swords hung from the walls and there was a poster of an anime girl, that Tyler had drawn, behind his desk.

    It was easy to tell which teacher hosted homeroom in which class mainly due to the decor. Sophia had vials on the shelf and some small photographs of Rune and Roxana on her desk. Mr. Ophen Ryden, the history teacher, had some old paintings and maps on his room walls. Mrs. Kely Ryden, the literature teacher, had shelves of books. And, lastly, Mr. Hugri Leo, the math teacher, had a blank room void of any personal objects except for his favorite hunting bow.

    So far, they only had five teachers who worked in the classrooms and only for Freshmen. There were some people who were being taught how to be teachers for the next couple grades, until 12th, but there was still some time until they were put into the field.

    Also, it was planned that Gaira would teach 9th grade literature and Mrs. Ryden would move up to 10th grade. Gaira was able to take in knowledge and put it to use immediately.

    They each arrived at around the same time, but Rune was already there when they showed up. As soon as Hyht and Yula entered the room, Rune closed the door with [Gravity Control] and turned to the students.

    ¡°As I said, your classmates will start training next week, but you all will start now. Strike the iron while it¡¯s hot or something like that.¡±

    Rune waved his hand as he spoke, but then his face morphed into that of a serious expression.

    ¡°I¡¯ve agreed to your terms, two months or you won¡¯t come with me. Gaira and I will personally train you along with Bel and Mir. It seems that they know many different monsters and have fought strong enemies before. Gaira will oversee your training on the weekends, from 12:00 to 4:00 and I will train you on the weekdays from 3:30 to 5:00. Do you understand?¡±

    Many of the students had actually already met Gaira when she was taking a tour of the school. After the tour, she holed herself up in the library where Jared and Kelly and Ms. Flustern had written many books. Then, with the next few days, she was known as the Book Dragon whose curiosity was greater than her hunger.

    The reason why Jared, Kelly, and Ms. Flustern wrote books was to increase the students¡¯ knowledge. Ms. Flustern mainly wrote essays, simple stories, and poetry. Jared wrote about Earth, fantastical stories, and what would have been considered fantasy books on Earth. Kelly wrote about theories and helped created some of the math and science textbooks.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    All of them replied with confidence. Rune clapped his hands together.

    ¡°Great! Since today is monday, we¡¯ll start training in 20 minutes. Go grab your weapons!¡±

 Chapter 61: Lets Undergo Training Part II

    Rena neatly hopped to the left, clearing the attack with distance to spare. Flames blew past her as it scorched the grass. She turned and threw one of her kamas towards the giant serpent.

    The blade connected with its body, but bounced off its hard scales. The kama ricocheted off and hit a nearby tree. Quickly making use of the situation, Rena pulled herself to the tree through the air. The chain that connected both kamas now had an enchantment that allowed gravity to be distorted temporarily by the owner.

    Since the entire gravity of the item could be changed, the blade inside the tree came out as she approached it and she spun into the serpent. With the kama she had thrown flying back into her hands, she struck.

    This time, the blades impaled the serpent and it started to flail around in pain. Blood seeped from the wound and she started to drag the kamas across its stomach. Organs slowly flowed out from the reptile as it slowly lost its life.

    By the time it had went limp, it smashed two trees and made several dozen marks in the ground. Mounds of dirt were everywhere and it looked like a car decided to do several doughnuts before ramming into two trees.

    He sighed as she put her weapons away. It had been a tough battle for the most part, but it only became more tedious towards the end.

    Rune hopped down from his perch on the floating platform and took a look at the beast. Then, with a wave of his hand, Mir and Bel arrived and carried the serpent to his lab. Rune turned towards Rena and started to speak once the two maids were out of sight.

    ¡°That was¡­ good for a beginner, but you must remember that you will face Dragons. And not just any run-off-the-mill Dragon, but trained and bred Hierarch Dragons. Here, watch me.¡±

    He snapped his fingers and a flare blazed into existence in the forest. Suddenly another serpent arrived, and started to attack Rune. Instead of running or using other tactics, he simply pulled back a fist and seemed to lightly punch it.

    A shockwave burst through the air and, at ground zero, it removed the serpent¡¯s scales from its flesh and it stopped moving. Not because he skinned it, but because the actual force of the punch broke several nervous systems and its brain.

    The blood seeped into the earth and the monster now was a large log of bleeding meat. One of its eyes had popped out of its socket and was dangling from its head. It started to leak a liquid from its head, presumably brain fluid, and those around Rune took several steps back.

    ¡°Nasty.¡±

    Hula spoke and everyone felt the same way. It was an extremely bloody scene in every sense of the word. At the very least, no organs were spilling out, yet.

    The student around him were sent back several feet as they dug into the ground. Their boots and armor were now more muddy than bloody. Of course, they decided that the dirt caked on them was at least slightly better than blood.

    ¡°Alright, now its Hika¡¯s turn. Let¡¯s see what you will be facing.¡±

    He reached into his storage and pulled out a flare gun. It wasn¡¯t like the flares from Earth, but instead used a light that blinked erratically and lasted for quite some time longer. This was also the same one from that was used in the forest.

    He crouched and spun a small arrow on the ground. This was the tool that decided which direction to shoot the flare. As for distance, it was set so that it would be more likely that monsters run towards them.

    The arrow stopped as it pointed to the right and Rune angled the flare gun and fired. It arced through the air and blinked in an annoyingly bright red light. The moment it disappeared behind the tree layer, large sounding footsteps could be heard.

    ¡°Seems like a big one.¡±

    Rune leapt back onto his platform and the other students moved back, only Hika stayed her ground. It was to be one on one as Rune had stated and no one was going to go against him.

    Several trees crashed nearby and Hika readied her blade. She held onto the edge of the sheathe and her right hand was caressing the handle, ready to draw at a moment¡¯s notice.

    In a blur of scales, a second reptile appeared. Luckily, this monster appeared which allowed Rune to kill two birds with one stone.

    The Giant Crocodiles of the swampy ponds had proven difficult to handle since they were planning on modifying that area to become a lake for Lilac. If Hika was able to kill it, she would not only gain experience, but also the thanks of workers who were modifying the area.

    It seemed to have killed something earlier, with its bits still hanging from its teeth. The odor from the breath of the beast was awful and several students instinctively went to cover their noses. Its teeth were stained red from all the meat it had eaten over its lifetime and several meat chunks flew from its mouth as it roared.

    The roar was much like how a person would think a tyrannosaurus rex would and its body was just as long. Although, despite its fearful look, it was not as powerful as a Fenrir who used magic.

    Of course, one should not judge a book by its cover and, even though it cannot use magic, it was a fierce opponent indeed. Not only was it fast on its tiny, stubby legs, but it was powerful enough to destroy a building with just its tail.

    It rushed Hika, who was the closest, and tried to devour her with its maw. Being someone who excels at countering, she had swung her blade at the beast and moved past it easily. The blade, however, did not pass through it and glanced off its natural armor.

    Hika pivoted with her right foot and faced the beast again. She narrowed her eyes and started to concentrate.

    The Giant Crocodile glared at her for a moment, waiting to see if she would complete an action, but then attack once more, seeing as she wasn¡¯t moving. This time, it was with its tail that plowed the ground and tossed trees around as if they were sticks.

    It was certainly more powerful than the fire-breathing serpent earlier and was easily more monstrous. With green scales that glinted the light and talons as black as shadows, it was a sight to behold, especially with all the blood on it.

    Hika leapt upwards and dealt her attack. A skills known as Four Downward Strikes. It allowed her to strike four times with a ranged spatial attack, but could only be dealt downwards. An attack that had the ferocity of a wild beast and the control of, well, a car. If controlled correctly, it will help the user, but, if not, then it would backfire and likely hurt someone else.

    The four strikes all landed on the tail, severing it to the bone, but not completely chopping it off. Blood spewed forth as the tail went limp.

    The tail only quivered a moment after being struck and it stopped moving in the next. The Crocodile was angered, immensely, and it swung back around.

    It bared its fangs, but everyone could see its hind legs quivering in fear as it felt that death was near. But, being the primal creature it was, it continued to fight and was going to until its last breath.

    Hika hopped back, using her sword to propel herself from the beast. She skidded along the ground and, in one fluid motion, swung her sword towards the ground and the blood came off. Above them, Rune was smiling like a lunatic as he finally saw someone else swing their sword and the blood flying off of it.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Hika made her way into a defensive position, ready to counterstrike whatever came at her. Instead of the Crocodile running at her directly, this time it moved its maw upwards and made a deep roaring.

    The sound reverberated through the forest and, almost instantly, four more roars sounded back. Trees crumpled in their wake and the ground pounded where they stood. Four more Giant Crocodiles had arrived.

    Ruen looked down with disinterest and reached for his waist. With a single quick draw, he obliterated the four foes and the bullets broke their spinal columns, effectively paralyzing and killing them.

    Everyone, including the original Crocodile, looked at the carnage and stopped moving. Four opponents that were similar to the beast Hika was dealing with had just died within a blink of an eye.

    The Giant Crocodile facing Hika started to shrink back in fear, but she quickly turned to look at it and swung her sword. Air strikes lashed out at the Crocodile¡¯s head and blood flew, but only from the shallow cuts she made.

    The crocodile was now covered in its own blood and it became blinded by the red liquid dripping into its eyes. It started to whip its body around as the tail followed behind. It couldn¡¯t move its tail anymore, but it seemed powerful enough to deal a lot of damage if it landed.

    However, even as it whipped wildly, none of its attacks landed. Instead, it was met with a counterattack as Hika swung her blade.

    It connected with the base of the tail and cleanly chopped it off, using the open wound to get to its bone. The tail flopped to the ground and twitched as Hika started her combo.

    A slash upwards followed by a downward slash. Then a stab that pierced its eye with a twisting motion at the end.

    The crocodile promptly died as its brain was now just mangled juices and matter that slowly spewed from the empty socket. The eye was still on the blade and Hika swung it to loosen the eye that now flew to the ground.

    ¡°And that is that. Okay, now I will take orders. These beasts you killed will be part of your new armor, but you can also procure more materials in this forest if you so choose. Now, submit your designs by the end of the week and give me the materials. I will try to finish as soon as possible.¡±

    With that, the eight students dispersed. Jayn, the female Dragonborn, was not part of the Honor¡¯s class, but was waiting at the edge of the school walls for them to return.

    Hyht and Yula left as they held hands with one another. Hika clicked her tongue as she saw this and walked away with Erin and Rena. Akta and Nija talked as they moved and walked in an annoyingly jaunty manner. Mynn had become somewhat of a loner with very few friends and had headphones on.

    Jared noticed that he was alone one day and asked him if he wanted something. Mynn responded by saying, ¡°Something to block out all the voices around me¡±. Jared had only smiled and nodded.

    The next week, he developed prototype headphones, but the only music was the kind found in Arborea as there was no pop or rock or jazz or dubstep. Truly a backwards world was a thought he had while making it.

    Rune sighed. It was tiring not doing anything but watching and observing.

    ¡°Boring¡­¡±

    A figure snuck up near him and spoke in a light tone.

    ¡°But you got to learn more about their fighting styles, right? Was that not your plan?¡±

    A second figure appeared, larger than the first and much more endowed. She spoke in a deeper, but still a higher pitched voice.

    ¡°If that was the case, he would have told us sooner, would he have not?¡±

    Mir followed by Bel. A somewhat squeaky, sweet voice followed by a more regular, but tough female voice. The returned from their jobs in the lab and stood under the shade of an upturned tree.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll admit, I was more focused on how they would be able to handle themselves, but, yes, it would be good to get a grasp of their combat styles.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of which, what is yours?¡±

    Bel asked with some curiosity as Mir slowly slid away into the shadows. While she could stand the sun, it made her skin tingling and hot and she hated that feeling.

    ¡°My style?¡±

    Bel nodded.

    ¡°It is a combination of full frontal attacks and assassinations.¡±

    He saw how the two looked at him in confusion and sighed once again. He looked around and saw that his coliseum was on the horizon.

    ¡°I¡¯ll show you over there.¡±

    Bel and Mir both followed Rune to the arena as he quickly walked. He spoke as they walked over there.

    ¡°So underused¡­ Anyway, there will be weapons that you two can use. I assume that you have favorite weapon types?¡±

    Bel spoke first without hesitation.

    ¡°I like long reaching slashing or piercing weapons.¡±

    ¡°I prefer to use rapiers or one sided daggers.¡±

    ¡°We have both. I want to show you my style of fighting as well as getting a grasp of what you two can do. Do remember that you were hired as combat maids.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    The two answered at the same time as they walked. No more talking occurred after that back and forth. Rune was thinking about new fighting techniques with halberds while both Bel and Mir were thinking of what dinner was going to be.

    It took quite a bit of walking, but they finally reached it. Grand in all its glory, the arena¡¯s entrance stood before them.

    ¡°Open the gate!¡±

    Rune shouted suddenly which made Mir jump a little bit.

    The gate slowly groaned open and the two parts swung to either the right or left. The oak colored wood was actually not oak wood, but Trents who had crossed Rune¡¯s path when he was stalking the forest.

    Trent wood was a material that was able to protect against several different types of magic, except for fire for obvious reasons.

    The three entered and found themselves in a giant hall. There were three doors, two to the left and right and one straight head of them. The hall itself was larger than five cottages placed side by side.

    Rune gestured for them to follow him as he moved to the door in front of them. He swung it open with the two handles and the double doors opened to reveal a great spectacle.

    Rows and chests and shelves of weapons inhabited the room. On one shelf alone, twenty daggers lay, each different in its own right.

    ¡°I¡¯ll also choose a weapon from here. Take your pick and we¡¯ll return it later.¡±

    Bel took a lance, one with a spiral tip, as Mir grabbed a rapier with a hand guard and a small blade at the bottom of the handle. Rune decided to go with a bardiche, essentially an executioner¡¯s axe, with a spear tip at the bottom and an axe head that was curved.

    ¡°Alright. Good to go. Come with me. Oh, it might be a bit sandy.¡±

    The arena¡¯s floor was covered in a layer of red sand newly imported from the Demon continent. It had been placed just an hour ago when the students left after Rune¡¯s speech. It looked desolate with several jagged rocked pushing out of the thick layer of light red sand.

    ¡°What the¡­¡±

    ¡°Ugh.¡±

    Bel was mystified by how quickly people were able to place the sand, even though it was done using machines. Mir was moaning and was starting to rant about how much she hated deserts now. Not only was she in one for many years, in Hell¡¯s Gate, but she also hated how the sand would absorb the heat and burn her if it got on her skin.

    ¡°Ahem. First things first. Rules. The rules are as stated by me, and do not try to find loopholes. Do not kill each other. Do not use cheat-like magic. Do not use weapons that are not given to you unless explicitly told otherwise. Do not damage the coliseum, in any way, shape, or form.

    That is what I¡¯ve come up with so far¡­ this arena has a barrier that is not on now. It prevents fighters from accidentally injuring people or going up to the seats. It also has two gates other than the ones we just entered from. One to the left and one to the right. There are healers in place to heal you when you get injured¡­¡±

    ¡°¡®When¡¯? Isn¡¯t tha-¡±

    ¡°... And guards in place to stop you if you go for the kill. Any questions? No? Let¡¯s fight.¡±

    Rune sent Mir to his left, about a hundred yards away, and Bel to his right, also about a hundred yards away. It might have looked like overkill to have the distance be so long, but they were beings of speed and strength. They would be able to close the gap in no time flat.

    Mir tightened a ribbon in her hair to keep it from flailing about. Bel did not need anything for her hair as it was short enough that it wouldn¡¯t get in the way. She did, however, fiddle with a watch on her left arm and tightened it.

    Bel had only received the watch recently, but to her it was a treasure on par with gold. It was something she now never left the room with and she had Rune enchant it so that it would never get damaged. It was a regular watch, one with a minute and hour hand, because digital watches had yet to be created.

    At the moment, both Kelly and Jared were occupied with different things and were not able to work on any recreational ideas. They were being put to work by Rune to craft a new item of the utmost importance.

    ¡°On your mark!!¡±

    Bel crouched low to the ground as Mir lifted her weapon in the air and pointed it at her opponent with a practiced grip.

    ¡°Get set!!¡±

    Bel shifted her feet and the lance tip pointed ahead, but was leaning downwards.

    ¡°Go!!!¡±

    Two blasts of sand. Two equally as powerful launches. Two very different weapons in two practiced hands. A great battle was about to commence.

 Chapter 62: Lets Undergo Training Part III

    Bel jabbed with her lance as Mir slid her blade along the side. She expertly lunged afterwards, but missed due to Bel¡¯s kicking off the ground and moving backwards. Using two hands, Bel hefted her weapon and, with a steady grip, pointed it at Mir.

    They both waited a moment for one another to go before Mir became impatient. She seemed to fizzle out of reality as she became a black smog filling the air. Mir looked around, from left to right, and yelled.

    The yell sent a shockwave that beat the fog out of the air and forced Mir to appear. Appear above her that is.

    Using gravity as an ally, she beat her wings to propel herself. Bel looked up. She wouldn¡¯t be able to counter in time if she lifted her lance. That was when she decided to kick it. She dropped her lance and kicked the tip so that it aimed straight upwards.

    In shock, Mir dove out of the way getting sand on her clothes. Both Bel and Mir were going to go through hell trying to clean the sand out of their clothes. However, at the moment, they only needed to worry about the battle.

    Rune quickly took several steps back as he did not want to interrupt their battle. It seemed that a third of the entire arena was their battlefield and the arena itself was quite large.

    Bel recollected her lance from the air and swung it to the right, the place where Mir dove. As a counter, she lunged at her opponent. The blade whistled through several feet of air before stopping.

    It stopped when Bel grabbed hold of it an inch from her heart. Her left hand bled as she knocked away the blade that was still in Mir¡¯s grasp. The injury wasn¡¯t awful and she could still fight, but now she wanted to pay Mir back.

    Mir had backed up, wanting to avoid another attack as she returned to her usual guard position. On the other hand, Bel was readying her lance to prepare a large attack. With her left hand at the handle where the cone started and her right hand near the pommel, she took a step forward with her right foot.

    A burst of wind exploded as she kicked off the sand, which wasn¡¯t a very suitable fighting ground, and Bel reached Mir faster than a blink of an eye. Mir, wide eyed and barely prepared, swung her rapier upwards to try and counter.

    The lance pierced her slightly in her left shoulder, but it also wasn¡¯t devastating. However, the two were now even once again.

    Backing off, the two sides were about to fight once again when¡­

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    Rune spoke as he put up both his hands, turning his palms to face both sides. He looked to the left, then the right and spoke again.

    ¡°Go get a potion of minor healing and stamina each. Then come and fight me, two on one.¡±

    ¡°Eh? But isn¡¯t that unfair?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it is unfair to us.¡±

    Bel spoke first in a loud, unwavering voice followed by Mir who questioned his reasons. They both looked confused as they knew how powerful her was.

    ¡°What if¡­ I don¡¯t use magic AND I only use my armor? No weapons or magic or even potions! Just my fists.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Uh...¡±

    ¡°Sure!¡±

    After a moment of thought, Bel responded as the restrictions seemed good. She still had no doubt she would lose, but at least the battle would be longer.

    ¡°Are you insane!? He¡¯s a monster who killed that dragon! The same dragon who casually ordered a Hierarch Dragon to capture you and accidentally broke off your horn.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I know that. But if he only turns into his Cursed Armor form and has no other advantages, we have at least a small chance at winning.¡±

    Bel turned to Rune as they reached the double doors that they had entered from. They were slowly opening inwards as an automatic sensor detected them and started to swing the doors open. Jared had really outdone himself with that one.

    ¡°... You won¡¯t even use skills?¡±

    ¡°What if¡­ I only use [Cut] and [Jab]? Cut is really only for offense and jab is more to parry blows.¡±

    Bel turned to Mir.

    ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°I mean, those are only F rank skills¡­ but he is able to use moves outside of his skills and magics that are quite deadly, is he not?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure he can. Only greenhorns completely rely on their skills.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Bel turned and shouted at Rune. Mir and Bel were already in the armory, but the doors were still open as they were still near it.

    ¡°We¡¯ll do it!¡±

    Mir went wide-eyed at once and stared in shock.

    ¡°I never said I would do it!!¡±

    ¡°But you said that the only skills he would be using are bad.¡±

    ¡°And I never said anything about wanting to fight him when he uses them!!¡±

    The two started their walk to Sophia as Rune watched. He had already changed into his Cursed Armor form and was now regretting filling the arena with sand. I had already got in his armor.

    <hr>

    ¡°...And that is why I have decided that the two of us will fight your husband!¡±

    Bel looked proud as she spoke, seemingly unaware of the sighing Mir behind her. For her, the end was nigh.

    Bel and Mir were in the mansion and standing in front of the open door that lead to Sophia¡¯s study. Looking in, they could see unorganized papers and some vials on the ground. When the two of them knocked and opened the door, Sophia had become flustered and tried to place everything back where it was.

    Bel had started to give her a summary while she was doing that and managed to finish speaking before Sophia had even cleaned the floor. Bel noticed this mess and started to bow.

    ¡°Ah, worry not, madam. We shall clean up after you no-¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m good!¡±

    Bel looked up from her bowing position that she had gotten in. Her face was one of puzzlement as she did not understand why she didn¡¯t want them to clean. Sophia seemed to understand why she looked that way and tried to give an explanation. And an explanation it was, no matter how vague.

    ¡°There are, is some that, um, only Rune and I are¡­ allowed to use. They are, uh, really important and I would like it if you left the room so that I can, um, tidy up what I have lying around before you clean. Please?¡±Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    Her tall, fluffy ears twitched and her face grew red as she spoke. She was more focused on how to put away the ¡°really important¡± things were rather than focusing on the conversation at hand.

    And so, Bel hefted Mir onto her shoulder and closed the door. Mir was still muttering things like ¡°I don¡¯t wanna!!¡± and ¡°Why me?!¡± The thought of attacking Rune truly scared her.

    Bel, not wanting to hear another word that Mir was saying since it was lowering her confidence in being able to win, set her down against a wall where she promptly curled up in a ball. There was a bad mood around her and when Bel tapped her shoulder to see if she was feeling better, she fell on her side, still curled up in a fetal position.

    Bel mostly looked around the hallway, not looking at anything in particular, until Sophia opened the door. Her hair was now a bit messy and she had a white lab coat around her shoulders. Her arms weren¡¯t in her sleeves, but rather the entire coat was like a cape draped on her shoulders.

    ¡°So, what is it about fighting Rune?¡±

    ¡°We just need a healing potion and stamina potion for each of us.¡±

    ¡°Minor potions or¡­¡±

    ¡°Minor should be fine for healing. Maybe a stronger one for stamina if you¡¯ve got one.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I always keep at least one handy.¡±

    Sophia moved to a shelf on the right wall and plucked four potions from the vial holders. Carefully, she proceeded to place one of each potion in both of her hands and handed one to Bel and the other to Mir.

    Mir looked up and asked a question.

    ¡°Can we win?¡±

    With zero hesitation and no thought whatsoever, Sophia answered.

    ¡°Nope. But you won¡¯t die.¡±

    Mir still saw a slight hope at the idea of not dying.

    ¡°Probably.¡±

    And that placed her back in a bad mood as she sighed some more. At least she was now starting to drink the potions, resigned to her fate.

    After slowing drinking, Mir stood up and brushed off her maid uniform. Bel already downed both of them and was watching Sophia close the doors.

    Mir felt a jolt and she felt better than when she woke up after a good night¡¯s sleep and ate a good breakfast. Her stamina was completely full and her wounds and scrapes had closed into nothing.

    Sophia was there to see the effects of her potion and smiled. Then, as soon as she closed the doors, the two were off.

    <hr>

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying, Rune probably won¡¯t kill us. He¡¯s probably doing this to test us.¡±

    ¡°But what if the test is that we have to beat him and if we don¡¯t we die?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re awfully pessimistic now.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because, if I die, I won¡¯t get any money!!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Bel had nothing to say to that. She, for all the time that she had worked with Mir, did not realize how greedy she truly was. She just couldn¡¯t respond to her as she had nothing to say as what she said was also absolutely true.

    Also, they reached the arena. The doors opened, they entered and picked up their weapons, and went to the actual fighting ring.

    It was silent as wind blew some sand here and there and there were some vultures in the sky for some reason, even though they weren¡¯t in an actual desert. The sand was hot from the sunlight, but the two maids wore shoes to protect from this.

    In the center of the arena, a suit of dark armor sat in a criss cross position. Some sand had piled on and around him so that part of his legs were somewhat buried. He was just sitting there.

    ¡°BRING IT!!!¡±

    A metallic voice that seemed to have no tone or feeling resounded through the area. The birds fluttered away and sand blew forth from the source, Rune. It was like a boss battle was about to begin.

    Brushing himself off as he got up in the uneven terrain, Rune moved into a battle position. He could only use his hands, gauntlets, but he wasn¡¯t about to let that stop him as he was able to block, parry, and counter any physical attack as well as most of the magical attacks.

    Unfortunately for the maids, he had dark, poison, and psychic immunities with no weakness other than ones that would affect his overall status, like slowing him down or increasing gravity on him. The maids, however, used other magics as Mir could use Water on top of Dark and Bel could use buffing or debuffing magics.

    Bel and Mir moved at the same time, keeping the same amount of distance between them and Rune as they circled around him. Bel moved right and Mir moved left.

    They seemed to be planning a common procedure of attacking on two fronts as, when they arrived at locations opposite from one another with Rune in the center, they slowing inched closer. Bel readied her lance and Mir now held two rapiers. However, she held one rapier outside its sheath and the other was still inside. The other sheath that wasn¡¯t being used was promptly tossed onto the ground. Mir had taken a lance that was more of a spiral than a cone with a large guard for the handle.

    Suddenly, a flash of yellow light erupted from Bel¡¯s lance and it went underground. It seemed to be able to move physical objects as it made a small tunnel in the sand. Mir also let out a blue magic circle on the tip of her rapier and it stayed there.

    Bel shouted over the silence.

    ¡°Pattern 23!!¡±

    The maids had battle patterns. They had worked with one another in training for a while when they were taken prisoner. Since they had nothing to do, they practiced combo moves together. Other than that, Bel would ignore Mir to go and get food.

    As soon as she finished speaking, Mir vanished. It looked like her body had flaked out into a black powder that blew in the wind. It scattered until the black powder was all around them on the ground.

    Rune looked around. He had a bit of a handicap with his armor now as he used to be able to see three hundred and sixty degrees around him, but now he could only see like how a regular Human would. He couldn¡¯t take his helmet off since there were now machines inside that let him speak, see in thermal or night vision, and even smell things. Most of the parts for those mechanisms were in the chest, but the parts that received information were in the helmet.

    Using his thermal vision, he looked around, but saw that the black dust had about the same temperature as the sand and that Bel was the only other being at the moment, if only looking through the thermals. It was actually rather useless now that he was on sand in a bright and sunny day with wind picking up and dropping off sand everywhere.

    He turned to Bel and shook his body. His armor would have clanged together if he had been using regular, unenchanted armor. This set allowed him to be quiet, move at a higher speed, and pierce enemies with his fingers and spikes and horns that were sharpened to extreme points. One touch would make someone bleed.

    The black powder flew off his armor and he seemed satisfied with this development. A moment later, he moved fifty yards and was right in Bel¡¯s face when Bel made a smug smile.

    Chains from the ground flew upwards, all around Bel, and tangled Rune up. This was the status effect, Bind, which chained a person for a specific amount of time depending on how large their mana pool was.

    At least forty chains were around Rune, but one of them snapped. It was the one around his right hand¡¯s index finger. Bel moved back several more yards and hefted her lance.

    She thrust out the weapon and Rune¡¯s arm moved to intercept it. Only, something else happened at the same time.

    The sand under him turned muddy and his feet sank. Mir reappeared as the black powder swirled up beside Rune. The two traps had gotten him and the lance was a inch away from the chestplate.

    The arm was deterred by the sudden trap, but hit Mir in the chin. Rune had been aiming to send Bel¡¯s lance skyward, but instead Mir took a trip upwards. A terrible crack could be heard from the attack.

    Mir spiraled upwards and let go of the two weapons. They both fell next to Rune and he could see that both now had several blue magic circles on them. When she landed, sand was kicked upwards and Rune felt just a tinge of guilt.

    However, he had no time to feel any further as the lance accurately landed a blow in his shoulder. A pauldron flew off and it exposed an eerie orange glow with some gears that were still turning. To be honest, he had no idea what those gear were for. All he knew was that Jared was planning something.

    The reason why he wasn¡¯t as strong as before was because, while this armor could withstand more speed, it didn¡¯t compare to his Demon King Form. It was like comparing a race car and an ant. On top of him not being able to use all his speed, he couldn¡¯t utilize his full strength either as it would break the armor, and the maids.

    At the point where he had tried to hit Bel¡¯s lance but hit Mir instead, he was using more force than he should have. It caused one of his fingers to crack, but only a small bit.

    Several more snaps could be heard as the yellow chains that were see-through were broken. He was using pure force to break his way out faster than if he had waited. If he had waited, it would take ten seconds to fully disappear, but only two seconds had passed and he didn¡¯t want to sustain any more damage.

    In less than a second, he broke the rest and literally hopped out of the wet sand. While it did make people sink, it was quite easy to get out of. It only changed the elevation of the terrain.

    Then, in the next second, he rushed Bel once again as she was emitting another light from her lance, this time it was a light blue. She was surprised as he attacked and tried to thrust her weapon.

    Using [Jab], Rune slid his left arm across the side of the lance and used [Cut] with his right hand to break the lance. A third of the weapon came off and fell into the sand.

    Bel realized what he was about to do as he was completing the action, but only barely managed to leap back in time to see a fist whiz past her face. If she had waited even a nanosecond longer, she would have been hit.

    She turned to her left to see Mir getting up. The broken jaw had healed already, it was a minor fracture, and she was still a bit groggy. She shook her head once, then twice, and looked at the two of them.

    Bel took another step back, this time as quickly as she could and as far as she could have gone, but it wasn¡¯t enough. Rune¡¯s fist was about to meet her.

    Then, as her action, Mir held up her hand. A blue light encompassed her hand, then disappeared.

 Chapter 63: Letéˆ¥æªš Undergo Training Part IV

    There was a flash of light blue that erupted from Mir¡¯s left hand. Her right hand was busy holding herself up. That blue light seemed to pulse three times before vanishing.

    Suddenly, the magic circles on the rapiers grew brighter. The rapier in the sheath unsheathed itself or, to be more precise, it was popped open. The two blades were still as they lay on the sand. The sheath, however, was vibrating violently.

    A gush of water poured out, like a barrel of water had been poured through a funnel and blasted through the air. It seemed to float and stream towards Rune as he followed through with the punch.

    The knuckle encountered her cheek before the water hit him and sent him flying into the wall and sand dunes. Bel was knocked down, almost uninjured, and rubbed her cheek that felt a little sore. Rune had made a slight gash in the side of her cheek, but no blood was leaving her body just yet.

    Mir pushed off the ground, but stumbled. She kept doing so until Bel ran over and helped her up. It seemed Rune was giving them some time to recuperate.

    There was still a sand cloud in the area where Rune was sent and no sounds could be heard from that direction. They could only hear the birds cawing and each other¡¯s heavy breathing. This fight was quickly draining their stamina.

    The sand cloud seemed to dissipate and was about to completely fade away when a metal figure burst from the sand and rushed at the duo. They had their weapons at the ready, but they soon found themselves lying on their backs. Their necks hurt badly and the weapons in their hands had left their grasp.

    Rune had ran right in between the two of them and gave a quick lariat to the both of them. He followed through with the attack and was now several dozen yards away and steadily approaching once again.

    His armor was cracking, Mir and Bel could see that clearly, and the other one of his shoulder pads had already been broken off, the only thing left of the pads were some bits of dangling metal. However, the orange glow from that shoulder was still covered by other pieces of armor.

    They could see that one section of his right arm was cracking at the elbow. It seemed that when he lariated Bel, she slammed into his arm as hard as she could before falling down. While it was an achievement to knock off both sets of shoulder pads, they were only just shoulder pads. Nothing too special about them.

    Mir was able to get up quickly. She was able to regenerate most damage in exchange for some stamina. The bruise on her throat faded in a mere few seconds, but Bel was still down. She wasn¡¯t unconscious per say, but she was clearly somewhat out of it.

    Rune was about to come up upon them, he was less than a foot away and was moving slowly intentionally, and Bel was still downed. Mir had to move quickly in order to remove Bel from Rune¡¯s path of destruction. She could think of two ways, but one was faster.

    She lifted her right leg and gave Bel¡¯s shoulder a good kick. It sent her several feet to Bel¡¯s right and allowed Mir to use her shoulder as a kick off point to leap out of Rune¡¯s way.

    He barreled between the two of them, this time catching no one, and skidded to a halt as best he could. He was still confined to the rules of physics and sand.

    ¡°Maybe I should increase my speed¡­¡±

    He kicked off with his left foot and tackled Mir in her side. She yelped in both surprise and pain as a suit of armor with machinery inside hit her at near full force.

    They both tumbled into several sand dunes until Rune and Mir hit the ground. Mir was getting more and more tired as each blow to her body used up stamina to heal herself. Rune did not need stamina and got up.

    He grabbed hold of her right ankle and hefted her leg. Then he spun once, then twice and sent her flying into the wall of the arena. There was a barrier surrounding the actually fighting area and Mir was smooshed against it, like a fly on a car¡¯s window. Following the impact, she slowly slide down the arena¡¯s barrier and fell in a heap of sand.

    She was now partially covered in sand and was not getting up anytime soon.

    Rune turned towards Bel who was now staggering. He took this opportunity to run at her and slide to take out her legs.

    His aim was nearly perfect as one of his legs managed to make Bel fall. She fell face first into sand and looked like she was not getting up anytime soon.

    ¡°Well¡­¡±

    Rune got up. He looked at the two of them and just sighed. They wouldn¡¯t be able to take on an Irregular Dragon and seemed like they would barely last against a Hierarch Dragon. However, they were still better than the students. He hadn¡¯t tested them yet, but he could tell by how long their fights took earlier as well as their techniques.

    He started to walk towards Bel. With one hand, he reached down and dragged her to her feet via the collar. She was unconscious now and obviously couldn¡¯t stand, so he hefted her over his right shoulder and headed over to mir who was partially stuck in the sand and barely conscious. He hefted her over his other shoulder.

    <hr>

    ¡°Now, I think you two are a bit weak. You might be able to take on a Hierarch Dragon¡­¡±

    Bel silently said, ¡°Yes!¡±, to Mir as they were lying down in two cots that were next to one another. All three of them were in the infirmary and it seemed to have been recently restocked by Sophia who occasionally made some medicine and potions for the injured.

    ¡°... if both of you work together and that Hierarch Dragon is on the weaker side of the spectrum.¡±

    He finished his thought and Bel said, ¡°Oh. Dang.¡±, as he moved onto the next item on his list to lecture about.

    ¡°However, you two do seem much stronger than the average human...oid. I would like you two to help spar the Honor¡¯s Class of students. Or, actually, you can spar with the regular students in the gym area. That way people can still be trained without my help.¡±

    ¡°Yessir.¡±

    Mir spoke quickly. She would rather fight regular teens than fight the monstrosity of a teen she had just been done in by. She was also faring far better than Bel who was still feeling sore on her throat and side.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Bel spoke. Her personality made it so that she was usually polite to someone who she was just beaten by, but that would only last less than a day. Maybe an hour or two.

    ¡°Good. Now then, go to Jared or Kelly. They should give you some of your weapons of choice. I notified them while you were getting the stamina and healing potion from Sophia earlier. When they give you your items, they will tell you what to do next. I¡¯m off to see my wife now.¡±

    And, with that sudden good-bye, he left. He was still wearing his armor with the shoulder pads broken and cracks all over his arms and legs. His helmet also had several small dents on it.

    Immediately, Mir groaned. She was tired and hungry and in some pain, but the most important thing on her mind was money.

    ¡°I want a pay raise!!!¡±

    There was silence after that remark, but it ended after Bel woke up. Bel had fallen asleep as soon as Rune had left. She was tired after all. Getting beaten up takes a toll on the body and mind.

    Rune was actually on his way to get replacement shoulder pads for his armor before he went to see Sophia.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Bel slowly got up from the cot with the help of Mir who was basically fine. They had stayed in the cots for a grand total of two hours and thirty minutes. In that time, Mir went to a student passing by in the hallway and ¡°asked¡± him to hand over part of a sandwich.

    Mir, being the kind person she was, asked Bel to hand her a silver coin for half of the sandwich. Bel readily agreed as she was quite hungry and far too weak to think properly and to understand that a sandwich would generally cost a few copper. One silver being one hundred copper.

    And so, as they munched on a sandwich, they walked down the corridor to leave the school. The front entrance had a lot of students crowding around, even though school had ended, and many of them were just talking to each other and blocking the exit.

    Mir took a few strides before arriving at a large teenager blocking one of the several doors at the front of the building. She picked him up and set him down a few feet from where he was earlier. It was necessarily throwing, but it wasn¡¯t as gently as picking up and putting down.

    The teen scooted back a few feet as he had fallen and couldn¡¯t get up. His friends backed away from both Mir and Bel as well since they did not wanted to be ¡°moved¡± either. Everyone else at the scene stopped talking and focused their attention on the two maids who were exiting the building.

    Mir scoffed as she left since she felt like what she had done was no big deal. The person she moved, however, was not to be called light as their racial class was Dragonborn and they were known to have more muscle mass than most.

    The duo quickly moved through the large, almost campus-like, area and reached Rune¡¯s house within a few minutes. They couldn¡¯t run due to how there were many people in the way and also due to how they did not want to ruin the walkway done with a material similar to that of a sidewalk.

    Once through the main door, they started down a hall towards the lab, but were stopped in the middle of the corridor. A hand crept up on Bel¡¯s left shoulder and another on Mir¡¯s right. Without hesitation, they swiveled towards the source and swiped their arms not being touched downwards.

    ¡°Gah!¡±

    Hela the Succubus yelped in both pain and delight and she fell to the floor. She was drooling slightly which caused the Vampire and Minotaur girls¡¯ faces to twitch in disgust.

    ¡°Ah! So, I have an important message for the two of you.¡±

    ¡°Why are you still here?¡±

    Bel tilted her head, deciding not to listen to her. Mir turned her eyes upwards and thoughtfully touched her chin. After a moment, Mir turned back to Hela and spoke.

    ¡°I thought you left the mansion¡­¡±

    ¡°Nope!¡±

    Hela stuck out her tongue to try and look cute which was followed by Bel and Mir heading onwards to the lab. She quickly got up, brushed herself off, and ran to catch up to them.

    ¡°Waitwaitwait!!!¡±

    ¡°What!!¡±

    In sync, the two girls turned towards her and inadvertently yelled.

    ¡°Jared and Kelly are in the dining room. Its thataway.¡±

    She pointed the opposite direction that they were going. The dining room was actually more towards the center of the building while the lab was on the left side. The two of them sighed as they started down the hall to go to Jared and Kelly while Hela hide a grin behind a hand and disappeared into the walls.

    <hr>

    ¡°Where are they?!¡±

    Kelly whined as her head was pressed against the table cloth. Jared just sighed and pat her head.

    ¡°I mean, Rune told us they would be coming less than thirty minutes ago. We also had to take some time to move the weapons here along with the many parts so that we could meet with them for lunch.¡±

    While Kelly couldn¡¯t kick her legs, since she had none, she did move her snake tail in the place of them as she was a Lamia now. While she could turn into her human form with legs, she liked the feeling of ¡°being free¡± since being in that other form felt constricting to her. Jared, however, was in his human form as being twice the size of an average person with four arms was more of a nuisance to him for his work.

    ¡°I know, but¡­ twenty minutes is a loooooong time! I had to carry these¡­¡±

    Without looking up, she pointed to the five separate rectangle boxes on the table. Then, as if all her energy had left her, her arm fell to the table¡¯s surface. Sighing, she turned her head to look to the left.

    A maid was walking up to the two of them with a silver tray in both hands. On that tray, there were two mugs with a large, cylindrical jug between them as well as two plates of food, one being alfredo pasta and the other being a chicken salad.

    ¡°Ah, thanks.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Kelly¡¯s head was still down, even after her pasta arrived, while Jared started to devour it quickly without much mess. The maid then set down the mugs and the jug with sweet ice tea inside then proceeded towards the kitchen to put away the tray.

    It was then that the couple heard a squawk from down the hall. Moments later, Bel threw open the double doors and boldly strode into the room. Mir followed behind, looking at Kelly, then at Jared.

    ¡°So, I heard there was some new weapons for us. Where are they?¡±

    Bel spoke with genuine curiosity, but it came off more like a command rather than a question. Jared then rose from his seat and moved a few feet to the left.

    ¡°Well, here is your lance. It is three yards long and one and a half feet by one and a half feet.¡±

    Jared gestured towards the large wooden box sitting in front of him. On it, the name ¡°Bel¡± was stamped on. He then proceeded to grab a crowbar which he prepared by placing in front of him and opened the box.

    The lance itself was rather intricate with both its spiral body and sturdy handle. It''s handle was two and a half feet long with a material that had a lot of grip and had a large lever on it akin to a motorcycle handle. The bottom of the hilt was removable and small canisters could be placed in there. Jared proceeded to explain how he developed some different crystal powders to enhance the lance''s properties. The actual section used for battle was spiraled and there were some wedges missing from itself, each an inch apart. The spiral was separated into four sections with a visible line between each. The lance could extend but using the motorcycle-like handle to make the four sections extend with metal machinery between.

    ¡°So, what do you think?¡±

    There was silence from Bel who had started to stare at it closely from several inches away. Her hand was on her chin and, even though Jared was tall, Bel was taller and thus had to hunch over more.

    ¡°It¡­ looks¡­ Amazing!!!!¡±

    She hugged the weapon, cradling it like a kitten and rubbing here face on it like one.

    ¡°Ah! Careful! The chunks missing from the spiral part make the weapon serrated.¡±

    In the meantime, Mir decided to check out her weaponry. Kelly unboxed the five wooden weapons and held one.

    Immediately, the four other weapons floated into the air around her. They were rapiers and all five could float and attack in whichever pattern the user chose. Kelly pointed out how there was a small device worn on but not all around one''s neck. This device allowed the wearer to move the rapiers however they wanted.

    The rapiers were not awfully long, but they were made for speed. They had serrated edges near the bottoms of the blades as well as a knuckle guard to pummel enemies as well as guard from them. Each blade was made of a mix of of bones from a Hierarch Dragon and Wind magic crystals to be both more durable and faster than most other weapons.

    Kelly willed the other four rapiers to set themselves on the table and handed both the rapier in her hand and the collar device. Mir donned the device and grabbed hold of the rapier in her right hand. The other four blades slowly and shakily rose from the table and flew threw the air to occupy the space behind Mir.

    She swung her blade once, after stepping away from the others, and the rest of the blades followed suit. They moved from behind and went to her sides, two to the right and two to the left. They swung at the same time as she and slashed the air in one quick motion.

    ¡°Nice.¡±

    Mir spoke softly, but Kelly heard her and grinned. Then Mir turned back to her and spoke once again.

    ¡°Are there sheathes?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Here.¡±

    Kelly picked up another box, one that she had Jared carry, and opened it with a crowbar. While they were able to open the boxes without crowbars, they did not want to accidentally break the boxes as they wanted to use them again, especially since they were enchanted.

    She pulled out five sheathes. They were obsidian black, complete opposite of the gold and white color scheme of the rapiers themselves. These sheathes could be strapped to the hip or a backpack for easy access, especially since most of them would fly out on their own.

    Bel looked at the two of them for a moment before turning back towards Jared. She wanted to know if she had a sheathe. However, before she could ask, Jared shook his head.

    ¡°Sorry¡­ but I do have this.¡±

    He took the lever portion of the handle and dragged it up the hilt, then around the hilt. Doing so made the lance shrink into a more baton looking item that still had the same mass, but was far more compact and easy to carry.

    ¡°Here. Oh, and these too. Remember this, once the trigger is pressed, you must hold it to use the crystals¡¯ properties and it only lasts for three-ish minutes. When it runs out, take out the cartridge and place a new one in.¡±

    ¡°No specific time? Just ¡°three-ish¡±?¡±

    ¡°Sorry. I didn¡¯t really test this out much. I was more focused on the design portion.¡±

    ¡°Uh, don¡¯t you have time in the lab?¡±

    She asked him quizzically since the lab did slow down time and work could be completed much faster.

    ¡°Yes and no. Yes meaning that I had time to work on this. No meaning that I had to work on other stuff when I was done. Being an engineer is far too taxing.¡±

    And, with that, Mir and Bel obtained new weapons. Mir with her swords at her hips and Bel with a baton strapped to her calf. While they were made of heavy materials, the rapiers were designed to be lighter and Bel was just used to carrying heavy objects.

 Chapter 64: Onward to Survival

    A week later, the students were not feeling too great about the thought of training, especially since it was training, and they very much so wanted to get out of the current situation. At the moment, Rune was standing above them, once again in the Arena.

    Rune sighed. He was in his Human form and wanted to get out of the sunlight. He looked over the student body, making sure that the Honors class was not there.

    ¡°I have an announcement! I will be leaving on some missions, as per request by the King.¡±

    Murmurs broke throughout the crowd. Rune had wanted to spend some time with Sophia the day before due to a notice that came to him in the morning the day before.

    ¡°I know this is quite sudden, to me especially, so I will tell you the new plans. Starting this week, you students are going to complete live training exercises where you kill monsters and beasts and things like that¡­ But this time you will be accompanied by either Bel or Mir, choose one, and you shall head to Hell¡¯s Gate to gain some experience fighting real monsters. The rewards have now been changed as well. You will hand in materials and blueprints to the Lab and you shall obtain your requested piece of armor, weapon, or equipment. Mir will be hunting on the coasts while Bel will hunt more inland.¡±

    He paused to let that all sink in. He also needed more time to think of how to say his words properly for, at the moment, he does not do words good. It was morning after all and he stayed up well after midnight.

    ¡°That IS too sudden!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s as if an author of a story decided to take a sharp left turn!¡±

    ¡°If that were true, it would be lazy storytelling.¡±

    There were some teenagers who spoke louder than the rest. Some of which were disturbing the peaceful, or at least somewhat peaceful, minds of the other students. Rune just sighed and held his hand up in the air to silence the mass of people.

    ¡°I have also heard that you now know about the oncoming threat of Dragons. I wonder why?¡±

    He sternly looked at Hela who was turning away and gliding through a wall.

    ¡°Anyway, now that you know, decide whether you will fight when that time comes or if you will not. Either way, you will still have to train. That is all.¡±

    There was an audible groan from the teenagers as they still had to train, and in this heat as well. Rune turned away and sighed his whole way to the exit of the Arena. He really did not want to go.

    The King of Storveld, Leo Regis Domini, ordered him to scout the areas believed to house many Hierarch Dragons. If he saw them, he was to report his findings or wipe them out and then report. He decided on the latter as he intended to have some fun killing before he had to report with paperwork, his true rival in this fantasy world.

    ¡°Will you be alright?¡±

    Sophia was waiting for him inside the Arena and she hugged him from his side.

    ¡°Ah. Well, probably, but I don¡¯t want to set up any death flags.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°No, nothing. I will be good¡­ maybe. Be safe while I¡¯m away.¡±

    ¡°Mm!¡±

    Sophia nodded and here fluffy ears followed her movement as well. Rune sighed, but this time in satisfaction. Then he promised himself. It was a promise of eradicating the Dragons as quickly as possible and then returning to his wife as soon as possible.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make them extinct!!¡±

    ¡°Ahem.¡±

    He turned, although quite hard with his wife still latched onto him, to see Rouna with her arms crossed.

    ¡°You mean to say the Hierarch and Irregular Dragons will die, right?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Yeah. Yeah, that¡¯s definitely what I meant.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh.¡±

    The Green Dragon girl nodded with a large amount of skepticism and started to walk away. She was also part of the mission to scout and was in quite a bad mood as she couldn¡¯t meet with Elisa.

    Elisa was also sent on a mission, one that no one, save for the king, knows about due to how it must be held in utmost secrecy. She was to guard the queen and first and second princess at an unknown location. The first prince, even though being the second oldest out of the three, was living under the tutelage of a former general and he had priority to learn strategy, warfare, techniques, intuition, fighting styles, and magics before the other two, due to how he was to be the next heir.

    Rouna was quite wistful when walking away and wasn¡¯t paying attention when she hit the wall. However, instead of her head hurting, the wall gained a large new dent in it which was going to have to be patched up. Unfortunately, there were not enough workers for there to be free hands to do spare and odd jobs.

    ¡°Just turn a little ways¡­¡±

    Rune motioned with his hand for her to go to both his and her right in order to exit the arena. In the architectural plans, Rune decided on four exits, two of which would also be entrances. Two entrances/exits on opposite sides of the colosseum and two exits made using an emergency tunnel underneath the building that led to the school.

    ¡°... To your right.¡±

    ¡°I KNOW that.¡±

    She truly was in a bad mood. Enough so to want to throw a tantrum, which she decided against. If she had, about ninety percent of the people in the area near the Academy of Learning and Fighting would be decimated and the rest, save for a select few, would be heavily wounded.

    Rouna left through the double doors and Rune watched her go before turned back to Sophia and placing his head on hers. He was tired. Mostly because it was morning and he had woken up less than an hour ago.

    ¡°It¡¯s gonna be okay.¡±

    Sophia patted him on the head, even though her field of vision was blocked by his body. She was tired too, but more mentally fatigued as she had been restless the past few nights. The idea of Rune leaving her coupled with the fact that an evil god dragon was arriving in their world soon was enough to keep her awake at night.

    ¡°You just do what you have to do and come back.¡±

    Rune stepped back and looked at her, from head to toe and back again. He opened his mouth to say something, but paused. What should he say to her now? Especially knowing that most would die during this event. He felt the burden of his students¡¯ lives and his friends and his acquaintances, well, not so much Hela as he would be fine without her. He wanted them all to make it out of this predicament, but that would be too optimistic. At best, three fourths of the people that go to fight it will come back alive. At worst¡­ well, he decided not to dwell on that idea.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°Like I said, or rather, as I should say, I don¡¯t plan on setting up any death flags. Once I find Tiamat, it¡¯s only a matter of time before I beat the life outta her.¡±

    He clenched his fist and grinned. Then he relaxed his tense posture, once he realized he was worried, and patted Sophia on the head.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m off.¡±

    He said, waving to her.

    <hr>

    A flash of blue light and a slight burst of wind produced Rune in a wooden area. He used teleport to transport himself to a ship, his ship. He looked around to find that there were no other objects near him, just floorboards and the masts. He was on the top deck of the ship that was still docked to the port town located on the coast of Hell¡¯s Gate.

    ¡°Wow, nothing but dust on this now.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t taken the ship back, as it would be destroyed if he did since he would have to go through monsters once again. Although, he probably would be able to complete the journey more easily now that he had gained quite a few levels.

    Still, no one had come onto the ship for a while. Actually, that wasn¡¯t true, nothing humanoid and intelligent had come aboard. A few Lesser Wyverns were perching on a mast like they owned the place.

    Rune looked around. The village was the same. Well, rather it was different as the teleportation door was moved from the ship to the village inside of a stone building and technology was moved back and forth. Sometimes, if Kelly couldn¡¯t be found in ALF, she would likely be here, chatting with others and swapping technology.

    Rune¡¯s greaves hit the floor with a clop as he moved to get off the ship. Once he had successfully left the ship, he made his way over to Nacht who was generally handling the paperwork, as per usual. She was easier to find, much more so than Lacht, Mya, or Nya who slid off to different locations at any given time. Not only that, but Rune was looking for a better map.

    <hr>

    Inside the arena, the students were dividing themselves into two groups, one under Mir and the other under Bel. Mir was to gather at least fifty people, as was Bel, but she was told specifically by Rune that whoever had the more students under them would be paid more. Currently, she had 95 people and Bel had 80.

    There were now two hundred students in the high school as more people have been arriving in the school. Those who were new were actually quite weak, even compared to the weakest in the school, at least before the new students showed up.

    Mir decided to try and get at least a hundred and one people on her side to get more people than Bel, but it seemed like some people were walking towards her side, more than those walking to Mir¡¯s and she decided to campaign.

    ¡°Come to this side! We¡¯ll have a fun beach trip! I promise!!¡±

    Those words carried across the chattering of the students and they clearly showed how desperate she was. Even so, multiple teens moved to her side and, in the end, 107 teens were on Mir¡¯s side and 93 on Bel¡¯s. The entirety of the Honors class was on Bel¡¯s side, clearly showing how they liked her better than Mir.

    Bel was hard on people, but was more friendly and relaxing. She generally did her job well and properly, but, outside of that, she was relaxed and did what she liked. Mir generally did her job correctly and, once her mission was completed, she basically lazed about and did whatever other people wanted. In this way, the students could do what they wanted after they finished their training. She was actually similar in that way to a certain little girl from an anime who was sent to another world during a world war. Thus why it was so close between Mir and Bel.

    When all was set and done, the students each were given pins for the two groups. The group with Mir was given a pin with the outline of two rapiers crossing one another. The students with Bel were given a pin with the outline of a large lance.

    Once a student was given a pin, they left the arena and went to do whatever it was that students did in that area. The school day had already ended and, earlier, Rune had to find a replacement for his class once again during his break hours. The other person who substituted for him before was gone due to family matters and he had to find another person quickly.

    The person he chose was Gaira who was still being trained for other classes. She was told, for the weapon classes, to create weapon and armor designs and, when a student finished making at least a total of four, could do what they pleased within reason and in the classroom. So far, Gaira was getting along quite well with people and showed no signs of violence, unlike Rune.

    Gaira was not at the school like most of the other teachers. Instead, she was working on lesson plans since she was sprung with the substitute position just a few hours ago. While doing so, she sighed most of the time since it was hard to plan for lessons when you are a novice teacher.

    The Honor¡¯s class was still in the arena when the rest of the students left to do what they pleased. They wanted to work on some training, although they couldn¡¯t go to Hell¡¯s Gate as it was almost dark and worse monsters appeared in those times, but they could still train amongst one another and with Bel and Mir, even though they didn¡¯t choose Mir.

    The eight Honor¡¯s class students split up into teams of four, two teams in total. One group, who had Hika, Yula, and Akta would be led by Rena, would fight Bel. The other, which was made up of Mynn, Hyht, and Nija would be led by Erin, would fight Mir. Of course, Hika would be a far better leader than Erin, but the group had split up using the table they received from Rune of who was better than who using an average of test scores and fighting skills. The odds went to fight Bel, being led by Rena who placed first, and the evens would fight Mir, led by Erin who placed second.

    Erin was better than Hika in fighting and combat and memorization while Hika was better than Erin in scouting and formula work. However, Hika was extremely bad at language arts while Erin had around the same average for all his classes, an 85. To be more specific, Hika was on the lower side of the spectrum in language arts with an average of 68.

    The arena was split between the two battles and silence filled the stadium. Bel had taken out her lance, placing a green crystal, a Wind magic crystal, inside of the weapon. Mir had unsheathed one rapier and the other four followed, whizzing around her like a defensive swarm. The other students readied their weapons, trying to hopefully not die in this training.

    Rena¡¯s weapons were now two kamas that were at a size between a regular kama and a scythe. They were made of Dragon bones, Rune had fused a few, and some Lightning and Darkness crystals. There were designated areas to hold the kamas because they had chains connected to them there that were also connected to her new gauntlets. Using a simple pulley system and some magic, the chains could retract allowing her to throw her weapons and retrieve them. The actual blade portion was made of magic crystals, but had some teeth in it made of Dragon bone. Her armor was now lighter than before, but provided extra defense due to how they had multiple enchantments on them.

    Hika was a katana user. Her odachi, basically a longer katana, had been upgraded by Rune so that it now could phase through non-living and inorganic material. This means that when she pours in magic energy, the weapon can go through armor and hit her opponent, but this also leaves her wide open to any attack as she would not be able to parry and block. Thus, she was given two bucklers on her new gauntlets, one on each arm, and they could easily deflect incoming attacks and had an enchantment to dispel most lower leveled spells.

    Yula, being a person who relied on her fists, was given a simple weapon system where she could dole out simple blunt attacks reinforced with a burning effect, courtesy of Fire crystals. However, her gauntlets could also had blades attached to them at any point and disengaged at any point. They had to be the blades that she carried, but she carried such an assortment that it would be impossible to foresee which she would bring out next. As for her feet, she was given grieves with an acceleration effect and was endowed with the Ice element.

    Akta was given a scythe, far larger than Rena¡¯s kamas, with could use multiple illusions on itself and the caster when magic is poured in. She could become invisible, change how her weapon looks, change her form, and multiple other endless possibilities. That along with the effect that her weapon can use some Water spells and even fewer Ice spells.

    Erin, who constantly keeps breaking his weapons due to hitting too many hard things, received a weapon made of multiple sea monsters, as some of their bone structures were harder than Hierarch Dragons. His new greatswords could now absorb a blow¡¯s force and repel it, but it could not hold more than one attack¡¯s energy at a time and the sword would be hit regularly with the attacker¡¯s full force if the attack isn¡¯t repelled in time.

    Mynn used a bow and was given a bow that had two protrusions from it that could be used as a melee weapon. His arrows were now just made of mana and there were multiple slots for the mana canisters inside the bow so that the way he could reload was to just place a can of mana in the slot. He could make the arrow more or less lethal by varying his strength on how far he drew back. Since he was more like a ranger or hunter, his weapon could fold up in two places, like a hinge that could lock, and was surprisingly light.

    The knife that Hyht received was one that could reach a further distance by creating a blade of mana attached to the knife¡¯s blade itself. The different weapons he could create with mana were controlled with four buttons on the handle, a zweihander, a longsword, a scimitar, and a handaxe. He also carried throwing knives that could come back to his sheathe after a specific time or when he pressed the button on those sheathes.

    Last but not least, Nija was given a grand shield whose shape was like a stretched out pentagon and a shortsword whose blades could be changed out. In the shield, there were four blades, Fire, Wind, Lightning, and Light, and a fifth sloth for the regular blade. All the weapons could be switched out at the top of the shield and all she would need to do is plug her sword in the middle, then move around the handle to the preferred blade of choice. The shield itself could create a barrier in front of the user for a short while that deflected all physical ranged projectiles and physical melee attacks.

    Now, they were prepared for battle.