《William Stuart》 Chapter 01: Stranded On a snowy mountain road that far from civilization, there was a stopped old car. A common type of automobile that was from the post-war years, it had a front-mounted 177-cubic-inch (2.9 L) inline four-cylinder engine, producing 20 hp, for a top speed of 40¨C45 mph or 64¨C72 km/h. There was no roof to it''s black body, so the two seats were exposed directly to the snow that slowly falling from the sky. A thick white blanket that bid enough to cover two people from the cold weather laid on the seats. The driver of the car was a young man wearing an expensive looking leather coat. Golden, straight hair tight in a ponytail reveals a charming face and smooth skin gorgeously compliments his eyes and lips. Crouching on the left side of the car, his pitch black eyes tampering with parking brake. Although his gentle features implied a good upbringing, his hands were oddly accustomed to the use of these tools and his hands movement resembled that of a soldier who had received special training. His age could not be determined exactly, but presumably, he was about 20 years old. "Parking brake lever operated band brakes acting on the inside of the rear brake drums, which were an integral part of the rear wheel hubs." "Ah, I am bored... just how long do you plan on making me wait in this desolate place will?" a girl that was sitting on the seat lazily addressed him. Her age was no more than about 20 years, roughly similar to the young man. Her white skin seemed almost like a snow pale and was covered by a red dress. She had silver hair and eyes that were the light blue colour of the sky. ¡°Hey¡± the girl called. Now he looked over. He raised his chin at her, once, but didn¡¯t answer. the girl walked over, as nonchalantly as she could. she really didn¡¯t want to look like somebody who had no idea what was going on. Even with a blanket covering her, she''s trembling in the cold, but there was something she had to ask. ¡°Is this..?¡± the girl cleared her throat. ¡°So is this Las Vegas?¡± The young man looked at her very seriously. He stop tinkering with the car, then he shook his head slowly, resuming his activity. ¡°Nope,¡± he said. ¡°Montana.¡± "....." "....." "....You get lost, and now you''ve even killed the car. Are you a good for nothing, Will?" Putting the piece of map she was reading to the car seat, she criticized the driver. The young man named William put on an apologetic smile in response to the nasty tongue that didn''t match her cute appearance at all. "Oh, I thought we got lost because you completely failed at reading the map...?" "Ugh..." she groaned once and grew silent. She chewed on her lips, pouting, and turned away as her cheeks turned red. The young man merely shrugged his shoulders while changing his disposable gloves that had become dirty with oil. "But it''s certainly a bothersome situation we''re in, optional brakes that acted on the outside of the brake drums were only available from aftermarket suppliers. There aren''t enough parts to repair the car. We''ll have to go and get some necessary parts somewhere." "What...are you serious..." she sighed. The car was currently stopped on a rough road that barely visible to the eyes due to the snow. Wherever one looked around, there was just plain trees here and there. There was not even a single building to be seen! "Where do you think you would get something like that in this place? Don¡¯t you see that we lose our way in a desolate place? Your car don¡¯t even have a roof, I¡¯ll freeze to death soon.¡± "Well, I acknowledge your point about the weather, but I can¡¯t help it since this is the only car I have. you better cover yourself with the blanket, and warm yourself." He looked up at the snow that falling to withered trees and then his eyes lit up. "But Raisha... it seems we''re not the only ones who took this path." After he had spoken, he squinted his eyes to look in the distance. A carriage was drawing closer to them, It was a high class carriage usually only seen and used by nobles. A middle-aged man wearing a black tailcoat was holding the reins, his face is covered by a tall black hat. The young man, Will, put down his tools to the original place and stood up. As the carriage nearing the car, the chauffeur skillfully drew the reins, it slowed down and stopped. "Please forgive my silly question, but do you have room for us inside the carriage sir? we had just lost our way when suddenly the car stopped. " Will asked the chauffeur. "Um sir?" he asked once again seeing that the chauffeur keep silent and just stare into the distant. Their car was stopped almost in the middle of snowing mountain, devoid of any civilization. Moreover, there was fog that can make a big mistake to get lost. "Uhm, well, it''s a bit embarrassing but, a lot happened underway." William sighed with a wry smile, while the red dressed girl behind him puffed up her cute face. The chauffeur take glance at Will and then the door to the carriage wide open with a creek sound "Could it be that you are letting us to go with you?" No reply ¡°Um... My name is William and this is my companion, Raisha. Well then, thank you for helping us.¡± he said while surprised looking inside the carriage, surprisingly there¡¯s no one inside, then who is opening the door? It¡¯s starting to get creepy but the two of them had no choice but come inside and take a seat, it¡¯s better than staying and freeze to death. but just as Will trying to touch the door handle to close the door, the door closed on itself with a bang that surprised him once again. ¡®Automatic? Nah it can¡¯t be, something wrong with this carriage, especially that chauffeur..¡¯ Will inwardly thought to himself as he wipes the sweat dripping from his forehead. "Ah, that would be a big help." Will said and take the tissue from Raisha. looking at her, her shoulders were quivering. She was behaving weirdly since earlier, her nasty tongue never mentioned a word since they ride the carriage, and her face is pale. Will wrinkled his brow, but then seemed to be struck with an idea. "Raisha... uhm, to tell you the truth, yesterday I find some chocolate pudding in the living room and eat all of them..." Raisha twitched her eyes at the word "chocholate pudding". She then raised her head and looked up to william. "Pudding... so it¡¯s indeed you who ate my chocholate pudding?!" she eventually asked with a voice one could hear from miles away. Will smiled, relieved. "Hm, let''s see. No need to be that exaggerated, there is only three of them..." he started to count with his fingers, but Raisha answered right away with her fist that flying at high speed not inferior to those trained boxer, but Will only slightly bent his head to the side and her fist missed by 0,5 cm from his cheek. "Hey calm down, remember the place, we are..." not letting Will finish, she keeps throwing a fast and sometimes heavy punch at him which he skillfully dodge every single one of them. Feeling that her fist never hit him just like usual, she¡¯s pouting and throw her face away from him "My, my, what a very violent girl" Will let out a faint sigh. The interior of the carriage was full with many weird carving, such as symbols, strange letters and drawing. It was clear at a glance that all of it was carved by a skilled person, but the longer Will looking at it, the more he become entranced by the excuisite details of the carving as if it¡¯s alive and trying to snatch one soul away. He shake his head "Are you not hungry? These wouldn¡¯t be needed I suppose?" Will said, taking out a chocholate bar from his leather coat, a little surprised, as she only take a glance and return to peek outside the window. ¡®This is weird, she¡¯s not interested in chocolate! Has she finally get bored of this flavor already?¡¯ will mumbling. After glancing into the window from his seat, he open the golden plastic of the chocholate bar leaving a rustle sound inside the carriage, and filled the air with chocolate aroma that attacked one nostrils. He slightly open his mouth and ready to take a bite from it but someone snatched the chocolate bar he was holding. He flash a light smile and Raisha turned away her face from him as her cheeks turned red. "I see. Quite impressive, considering that is my chocolate bar you are eating there.¡± "I''ve heard such rumours as well," she shook her head with a serious expression.¡± ¡°Haha you..¡± "It¡¯s good *crunch* and chocolate is *crunch* the best after all. The other chocolate bar in your coat must be incredibly good, I suspect?" Raisha asked amusedly while chewing the chocolate bar. William thought about it for a moment and replied, "where did you heard such rumors?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not! I saw it earlier that there are three of them!¡± ¡°...I see, you have a good eyes." will muttered, while raisha once again stuffing her cheeks with the chocolate bar wrapped in golden plastic. From time to time, she licked her lips, putting on a smile every time she did so. "You seem to be enjoying my bar, aren''t you, Raisha?" ¡°My bar.¡± She replied. The carriage slowed down and stopped, then the door opened on itself. ¡°Um sir, why did we stop? Is there something wrong with the carriage?¡± No reply Stolen story; please report.¡°Maybe we already arrived?¡± ¡°Hm, let me check outside.¡± ¡°No! Will, don¡¯t leave me here alone, I am coming with you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be fast, just wait me there.¡± Will hop from the carriage and the sight leave him stunned, this place seems to be more desolate than before. The mountain forests were permeated with an ancient aura. Poisonous plant and mushroom littering around. ¡°W-what is this place?! mister, where is this place... huh where¡¯s the carriage?¡± ¡°D-don¡¯t tell me that he¡¯s a ghost! And I¡¯m riding the ghost carriage!¡± he scream, pressing his two hand against his head. ¡°Wait,more importantly... Raisha, what happen to her? Oh no, what am I going to tell aunt about this.. she¡¯s going to kill me for sur-¡± Roar! The roaring fill the air, they were very oppressive. And only vicious creatures that left behind such terrifying roar that attacked one¡¯s ears and soul, making people¡¯s skin and body tremble. Roar..! From within the mountain range, many roar could be heard, causing the leaves flew about. Will face were turning pale. Fortunately there was already some distance between the roar and him so maybe the beast is far from him. He entered this wretched forest, but luckily he didn¡¯t enter the beasts areas. He heard the terrifying roar in the mountain forest and naturally knew the dangers associated with it. it was the roar of a beasts not just trifling animals, and he had to be extremely careful when venturing inside this snowing forest, as even he could easily lose his lives. ¡°This forest is too dangerous. I should find some place to hide and rest.¡± William walked to deepest part of the forest until the evening. The ground below was pale white snow and it¡¯s becoming more hard to walk and the air temperature was so low that William could see his own breath. It was very cold, Just like this, sometimes he stop for a moment nearly fall asleep, but once again continued his journey and traveled roughly 5 km while trying to avoid the roar. The big trees began to thin out, and it¡¯s became more and more scarce, just plain snow far wide everytime he turn his head to look. Beasts roar appeared more and more frequently. William fall to his knees and trembling ¡°Huff.. huff.. am I going to die just like this..¡± ¡°So cold¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°What is that? ..animal corpse..?¡± Within the snowing forest, It was very noisy with cold wind blowing in his ears, he can¡¯t even hear his own voice. Scattered on the floor were a few animal remains. William looked around and spotted trail of blood. ¡°Blood.. and still visible, meaning that it¡¯s a fresh blood. These poor animal being slaughtered by a beast, a dangerous one at that. William hesitated for a moment, but in the end he steel himself and follow the trail of fresh blood. It¡¯s leading to some place. ¡°A cave?¡± ¡°It will be very dangerous whether I go inside or walk in this cold forest, I don¡¯t even have a food suplies with me, maybe I¡¯ll kill the animal inside this cave to become my food, and take a shelter inside.¡± Will¡¯s voice was hoarse, and his clear black eyes were darting back and forth around the cave entrace as he realistically spoke. As he go inside the cave, he immeadiately halt his step as he saw a huge shadow, and upon closer inspection, it was a lion but there are two black wings on it¡¯s back flapping wildly creating a gust of wind. ¡°...what..the hell is that? gene mutation?¡± will said as his heartbeat quickened looking at the huge and bizzare creature. Will take out a gun from his coat, a slender body design, with a great aesthetic design. It is very light, and it far surpasses other series. Also, its durability and reliability are not bad. "Haha a feast of mutated animal. I can¡¯t wait.¡± Will said as he wipe the droll from his lips. That muzzle, for now, was pointing directly at the beast. The one holding the gun was William, he is someone who has a father in the army, his house is filled with many gun, rifle and even sniper. Will has the potential of a genius at using it considering his everyday practice shooting target with his father which he drill everything he learn in the army to his son who barely in his teen. "Okay.. Stay calm," his voice completely toneless, his pitch black eyes staring at the beast. He pull the trigger and two bullets lodged themself in the beast right eyeball, and the blood constantly flowing from it. Roar! The beast enraged by the sudden attack to it¡¯s right eyeball and wildly bouncing around while swinging his sharp claw around hoping to find Will and shred him to pieces, but it never hit him as he constantly side step and stay at the beast blind spot due to the beast disabled right eye, he shot again and again but the beast seems to become more and more ferocious as it¡¯s body constantly penetrated by bullets and showing no sign of weakening. Feeling a strange sensation, Will glanced towards his left wrist, and his leathercoat, the cuff was missing, torn apart. As he was rolling around with the beast, it managed to damage him from the distance and hit the his cuffs despite it¡¯s never hit him. ¡°But why? did it have some invisible attack or that kind of thing?¡± As he frowned, by his ear. *Woosh* As its claw trod upon the wind, he heard the sound wind blowing fast approaching his face. he was rushing to the side dodging the intense wind that coming to him. *Crusck* he stopped and look at the cracked wall.¡°What.. The cave wall cracked?!¡± ¡°What a dangerous attack, I nearly lost my lives.¡± he stretched out the magnum in his hand. ¡°This beast is very sturdy, it¡¯s like have some kind of bulletproof armor..even an elephant would be dead by now, but my bullet completely useless against it. Even if I used all my bullets, the best I be able to do is hurt it.¡± With no other choice, William could only spin around. The beast is very fast, furthemore it¡¯s unpredictable and invisible attack is very troublesome. he deduce the trajectory of the wind claw. he start to link the timing of his shot with the timing of the incoming attack, facing an attack whom he can''t see just like two people shooting at each other with gun, it''s impossible for him to predict when the enemy will open fire, not to mention he only has few more bullets left. Feeling his''s ragged breath becoming more intense, Will sprinted forward with all his might, nothing else he could do. Never in his wildest dream that this mutated beast would be so hard to kill even with gun. Under the strange looks of the beast, he went rolling the ground, jumping around as he feels wind blowing hard in his direction, once again he sprinted forward with all his might until he reach the beast up close and shot the remaining bullets at point blank to the eyeball of the beast, it¡¯s trying smash him to pieces but remembering of what happen to it¡¯s right eyeball made the beast choose to block with it¡¯s huge hand but the bullets is too fast and finally landed right inside the beast left eyeball and penetrated the brain. The beast huge body fall with a thud together with william. "Haa, haa, haa..." he is panting as he kick the dead beast head countless times again and again. He punch, kick, punch, kick until his gloves dyed red with blood from the beast. ¡°Haa, haa.. damned beast.¡± He take off his leather coat and unsheath the knife from the back of his waist, then chop the beast fat legs into two piece of meat with a pink color. He make a fire using his lighter and some branch and other burnable stuff available, then hastily roasted the juicy meat over an open fire similar to a kabob meat dish and eat it. *Munch* *Munch* ¡°....¡± ¡°..... is there any salt in this cave..?¡± Chapter 02: Darker than black *Burp* ¡°Ah.. the meat is so juicy, very delicious, even though without seasoning, it¡¯s produce a denser flavour than ordinary meat. maybe once more..¡± Will chop one more chunk of the lion bird meat and roasted it and frenziedly scrape up every last trace of meat juices from the dish as though he was raised by wolves. The intensity goes beyond mere meat of chicken and other ordinary animals you can find on the market, even those of high class meat is not this good. ¡°I¡¯ll probably evolved to adore this aroma.. and this taste.. is so addicting, and the thrill of devouring fresh meat from a kill is the best afterall.¡± *Burp* ¡°Ah.. I can¡¯t eat anymore.¡± ¡°I¡¯m worried about raisha, don¡¯t tell me she got eaten by the ghost.. or become a sex slave of a ghost?! Ahh no!¡± ¡°Huff, huff..calm down, there¡¯s no use to fret about it. Let¡¯s not worry about these things for now, first I have to find a civilization.¡± William looked around and said in a soft voice, ¡°It¡¯s the beast hideout, These bones are most likely the remains of this beast¡¯s meal.¡± ¡°Although at this moment I only find one of this creature, it doesn¡¯t mean that there¡¯s no more of them here. I have no more bullets left, my gun useless now.. my only weapon is this knife.¡± Will said while playing with his knife, it¡¯s dancing in his hand. ¡°I still need to be careful though, it¡¯s way more dangerous than wilderness I used to camp with my father.¡± William grew up and raised by his father, everyday he train with his father, of course it¡¯s not an ordinary training, it was intense beyond words. William vigilance was extremely high, similar to those trained soldier. He nimbly hid within the cracks of the cave wall to cover his body and proceed to go into the cave deepest parts. Along the way, he encountered many skeletal remains of human. There were bones that were white, both small and big which all came from the various animals that were feasted upon, causing the place to develop a dead atmosphere. William immediately felt a nasty odor from the pile of bones. ¡°It¡¯s human bones afterall, meaning that it¡¯s not too far from civilization!¡± William mumbling while slowly walking past the piles of bone. In front of him was another weird beast, it¡¯s 8 meters tall, Anyone could see that it was a bigger version of that lion bird, two bright scarlet eyes sit far within the creature''s rounded, scaled skull, which gives the creature a frightening looking appearance, unlike the beast in the entrance of the cave, there are white crystal growths on its forehead. Rows of sharp teeth poke out from the side of its mouth giving terror to it¡¯s prey. The scaled skin and a row of tendrils runs down its spine. Its bottom is covered in small scales and is colored slightly darker than the rest of its body. The wound it sustained, even blood flowing from the shoulder still cannot prevent the creature to stand noble and poised. Thick black wings grow starting from just above its shoulders and end at its hips. The wings are bladed and looked very sharp. Its long tail ends in a sharp, arrowhead shaped tip and is covered in red blood color, probably blood from it''s victim. ¡°What an enormous meat!¡± William gasped in admiration. ¡°So it was the parent of that delicious meat?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t let this meat, I mean.. this monster to discover me even though it appear to be in a weakened state, it can kill me in a single blow. That meat earlier nearly killed me, not to mention this one. And that wound... a sword? Why did a sword stuck on it¡¯s back.. and such a big sword. To begin with.. why a sword? It¡¯s my first time seeing it in real life. Whoever did this must be a crazy to fight a monster with a sword.¡± William muttered as he clenched his fists tightly and it was obvious that he was quite nervous. Like a snake he carefully crawl past the beast with big rubble of stone as a cover. ¡®Don¡¯t let it notice me, don¡¯t let it notice me!¡¯ William praying in his heart as his sweat constantly dripping from his forehead. The ground had many bones and nasty smell come from them which make it more unbearable for him. ¡°Wait, what is this? A gold ring? Not a bad loot.¡± After he pocket the ring, he crawl again. ¡°...¡± ¡°Wait, what is this? A necklace? Not a bad luck.¡± He pocket the necklace and crawl again. ¡°...¡± ¡°Wait, what is this? .. a junk?¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. He throw the junk and cursed his bad luck but crawl once again. ¡°...¡± ¡°Hah¡­ I finally crawl all the way from that monster!¡± The cave was 10 meters high. After the william arrived on the other side, shortly after the beast stuck out his head to look at cave entrance where william come from before and giving a roar filled with anger and sadness. Roarr! That roar make william head dizzy. Only after 2 minutes did he wake from the daze. ¡°Ahh it¡¯s hurt like hell! Did it notice me? Nah It can¡¯t be, it doesn¡¯t looked like it intend to attack me, otherwise I would be dead by now.¡± William shivered at the very thought. ¡°Did it notice the dead of it¡¯s child? Ah whatever, better leave this place fast.¡± He walk towards the dark cave once more. this time no more crawling along the piles of bones. Sometimes the cave would tremble and followed by a roar. Roarr! *Boom* Roarr! *Boom* ¡°What a frightening monster, it¡¯s going crazy now that the meat is dead. And It¡¯s getting more dark here.. I can¡¯t even see my own hand.¡± Will searched in his pockets and took out a lighter. It was a unrefined lighter for military use. Blue sparks scattered, the smell of burned oil started to spread out and then a small flame illuminated the dark cave. After walking for four hours, he still can¡¯t see anything except the light from his lighter which starting to run out of oil. ¡°Not good, is there even an exit in the end of this cave? Hah.. But at least better to be in a dark yet cozy cave than freeze to death.¡± ¡°...¡± 2 hours later ¡°Haa, haa.. so tired..¡± Another 2 hours ¡°Haa, haa, haa.. so hungry.¡± Another 2 hours ¡°I should bring some meat earlier..¡± Another 2 hours ¡°... My lighter dead.¡± ¡°There is no trace of living being here, and no more beast. they must be scared to death by the presence of that monster. That would be a good thing, but now it¡¯s nightmare for me, because it means there¡¯s no more meat!¡± While expressing a torrent of curses, William grasped tightly his leather coat with his fingers. "What is this nasty smell?" William said with a fed up voice while smelling the odour on his coat. The blood from the beast smeared on his coat gave out a characteristic fragrance difficult to describe. Rather than stimulating the nose, the odour seemed to permeate right into the depths of the head. It was an unpleasant fragrance, but it was unlikely to disappear so easily. ¡°Damn, it¡¯s an expensive coat I borrow from my father, he¡¯s going to kill me for sure if he find out about this, okay let¡¯s pretend not to know.¡± He dispose the coat by throwing it to the dark corner of the cave. Without his coat, now he''s wearing a simple shirt and buttoned it up fully to support the elegant tie he''s wearing. On top of the shirt he''s wearing a stylish vest, but the top remain visible even when it''s buttoned up. The vest perfectly wraps around his slender body and gives him an elegant look. There are two pockets on one side and one pocket on the other side of the vest. He''s wearing pants which have the same color as the vest, but a different, complementary color and they perfectly complement his shoes, and a leather belt around his waist. ¡°Come to think of it, I pick some interesting object earlier.¡± William put his hand on his vest pocket and take out a golden ring and necklace. ¡°This ring with a oval shape gem is still in fair condition, too bad I don¡¯t know anything about this kind of thing. This necklace... beautiful, hmm I¡¯ll use it myself.¡± he slid the necklace that seems to shine in the dark to his neck, and hide it inside his shirt. Chapter 03: Hatred William patted his clothes and sent the dust scatter around, then shook his head. "I want to sleep, but not here! I want a soft bed with Raisha on it! ahh... the greatest of pleasures.¡± ¡°As for this ring.. I¡¯ll give it to Raisha later.¡± William put the ring back into his pocket. ¡°I hope she¡¯s safe, maybe now she starting to babble about wanting to eat chocolate.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Chocolate..¡± ¡°Chocolate....¡± ¡°Come to think about it, I think I still have some chocolate bars left in my coat.. oh no, my .44 Magnum is also there, where did I throw my coat?!¡± Ding! ¡°...¡± Ding! ¡°...what?.. earthquake?!¡± A stench could be smelled within the darkness. The fishy stench of blood mixed with the distinct smell of a corpse. He could feel a strong abnormal stench in the stagnant darkness. Suddenly, a roar rang out within the vast cave. The sound was extremely sharp and intense than before, causing william eardrums to hurt. Ding! Roar! William was surprised and took a breath out of fear. ¡°The sounds is getting closer.. is the monster coming this way?! Oh no did it realize that I was here and the one who killed the meat? Not good!¡± William cried out. Two scarlet eyes were very bright, and could be seen through the darkness, and the pair of eyes heading this way, its speed was extremely fast. ¡°Holy shit! What a rotten luck!¡± William crying out and felt fear grow within his heart. It¡¯s body was very huge and cover the whole cave as it rushing towards him. He madly trying to escape by relying on his trained body. He ran towards the endless passage of the cave without care in the world, as long as he can stay alive, then it¡¯s fine even if he stranded in more weirder place, not that there is something more weirder than this place and the beast inside. *Crumble* *Crumble* Rubble of stones flying in all direction and many big pilars that stand still in the cave were smashed to pieces by its enourmous wings, causing them to fly all over the cave. It crushed all obstacles in its path, this made William horrified and screaming loudly while running as fast as he could. The huge monster was extremely mad, smashing everything with its black wings and big body. The mad lion destroyed the cave passage as it madly chasing after william. It eyes were flickering in the darkness and very intimidating. *Crumble* Within the rumbling sounds rubble and stones scattered and flew everywhere. Many rocks smashed in all directions sometimes it flew on willam head, which is very shocking sight for him, fortunately he dodge it at the very last moment. This beast was simply too monstrous. If not for William agile movement and reflect, he would be smashed by a rock and trampled to death by now. ¡°This won¡¯t do, the beast is too fast. There¡¯s no way I can get away from it alive!¡± shouted William while panting heavily. After running continuously for one hour he is very exhausted. He¡¯s fleeing within the cave and bypassing some large rocks and rubbles that randomly flew around, he charged into a crack of the cave and slipped in, and after running 20 meters from the crack did he finally stop. ¡°Haa, haa, haa.. did it stop chasing me? The cave wall won¡¯t be smashed to pieces rig-¡° Boom! *Crumble* *Crumble* ¡°You got to be kidding me right...¡± William muttered with a miserable expression. The wall is extremely thick, even if a truck crush into the wall, it won¡¯t crumble in the slightest, but now it¡¯s destroyed by the mad lion, it¡¯s eyes full of hatred staring at William. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Within the darkness, there is a heavy breathing sound, and seeing that the cave wall being destroyed and the beast continoue to chase after William without stopping make him frightened and take a deep breath then start running once more. ¡°Haa, haa so dangerous! Looked like it won¡¯t satisfied before it flatten me into a mud of flesh!¡± ¡°This is cheating! Unfair! Let me rest for a moment! ¡°...¡± ¡°What is that light? exit?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Oh no! More of creepy light, it¡¯s another beast!¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Oh... they are running for their lives...¡± ¡°At least I have a comrade now.¡± William madly running after the beast, following them go through many complicated passage, the narrow one, wide, and the complicated passage full of obstacles that was 3 m in diameter He wondered how much he walked. William started to feel tired, until he finally reached a huge crossroad that was presented to him, and the group of these running beast split, half of them go to the left while the rest go to the right passage. he wondered which path he should take. Withoust time to think about it, he bit his lips and go to the left passage. From the passage straight ahead, the cave is not that dark anymore and he can see the pack of beast running in front of him clearly. It has a white fur, and had long pointed ears, and it looked like a wolf. However, the legs were heavily muscled and was very creepy. The tremor following william to the left passage, right, the monster is still following him. It was a bad luck for these wolf and lucky for those who go to the right passage. William peeked his head behind to observed the situation. No matter how you look at it, the monster is going to catch up soon as the passage is full of mud which make him and these wolves speed slowed considerably, meanwhile it does not affect the monster considering it has a huge body and limbs. "Why do I have to get into this mess, when I just planning to enjoy my holiday with Raisha?!¡± William complained while breathing heavily. Feeling that the situation is getting worse, William raise his speed and catch up with the wolf that close to him, he half rose his feet, jumped into the air with a rotation and gave a roundhouse kick and got a clean kick to the unlucky wolf¡¯s head, sending it flying to the mad lion behind and smacked into the lion head, halted his charging, the mad lion then trampled the wolf. *Whimper* *Cruck* There was a resounding echo and William could see that the wolf¡¯s body had been flattened into a mud of flesh. William went rigid at that display. Coming back to his sense, he starting to run again, this time he planning to do the same method by sacrificing these wolves to safe his own live. ¡°Taste my christmas kick!¡± Using the centrifugal force from the roundhouse kick, William rotated in the air, and fell towards the ground. Just before landing, he rotated himself perpendicular to it and gave a powerful heel drop to the wolf close to the landing point stopped it¡¯s movement, mud splashed in all direction and then he sent the wolf flying with a straight kick to the lion head once more. *Cruck* The second wolf, third, and after 6th wolves were pulverized. The mad lion seems to become more enraged and growled, then ruffled its tail. Soon the tails started to burn and emitted a blue flame, sending it flying towards William. The flame fly at him with a blazing heat. As the flame approached, William avoided it splendidly by performing zigzagging steps. When the flame dissipated William drove a somersault kick into the wolf¡¯s jaw smacking it to the lion head once more. As William planning to run again, a hole 1 m in diameter lying on the ground, William slipped into the deep hole that seems to have no end screaming like a woman. The mad lion was overwhelmed with anger from losing a prey who dare to killed it¡¯s kid. Rooaarr!! The beast casted flame magic with it¡¯s tail while roared and burn the remaining wolves that still running for their lives. It also aimed its magic towards the wall and roof of the cave near the hole where William slipped, causing a destruction sending the rubbles flew about everywhere and some of them into the deep hole, and sealed it. Chapter 04: This is another world *Drip* *Drip* William felt his consciousness return gradually as the drips of water hit his cheeks, and slowly opened his closed eyes. ¡°¡­I¡¯m alive?¡± Attempting to get up, he was stopped as he felt a pain from his head. ¡°Aghh shit, so much blood.¡± ¡°This amount of blood would have normally killed someone, but I indeed still alive, so it should not be my blood right?¡± William survey the surrounding and his hand felt something. ¡°What is this?... soft.. no way¡­was this weird looking animal who prevent the impact from killing me..?¡± He take a breath of relief. Six days have passed since he trapped in this cave. All this time he had not eat anything so of course the hunger is unbearable for him. The rigorous training with his father kept him alive under this extreme circumstances, even though the starving sensation assault him madly like a mad lion. ¡°This animal... disgusting, guess I can¡¯t eat it.. no, even if I suffered from pain and hunger, I won¡¯t! This smell is very disgusting like a rotten meat.¡± Two more days elapsed, William had not taken in any food, only drink by accumulating every drip of water that fall from the cave stalactites using his gloves as container. ¡°These stalactites... speleothems?.. which usually occur in limestone caves, it form through deposition of calcium carbonate and other minerals... but this cave is very different from the limestone cave, nah whatever, without waters I would be dead by now, even so I got to find some prey soon, so hungry.¡± Will rub his stomach as he walks through the cave passage. ¡°Woah speak of the devil, I found some prey, but there are too many of them. It would be hard to kill them with just my knife.. what should I do?¡± These beast is like a deer, but have a long and thick tail with enormous mouths and long ears hanging. They also have small horns across their head. Their skin is smooth and It''s covered in thick fur. In front of William, there was a pack of furred deer. ¡°They are moving in pack meaning that they are weak to stay alive in this place alone, that¡¯s why they move in a group, I have to finish them one by one.¡± Cautiously, he observed the pack of deer from his hiding spot near the big stone and waited for the best timing to launch his attack. The most fundamental hunting method was setting up an ambush. He throw a pebble behind the rubble of stone that was 2 meters tall to attract the attention of one of the wandering deer. He waited for the prey to come. The moment one of them showed up, he sneak behind the deer and there is whimper sound as William slit the deer throat while hold it down by putting all his weight on it to prevent the deer from running away. The deer still trying to resist and trying to throw off william from it¡¯s back even after william slit it¡¯s throat and blood flowing like a waterfall. After it¡¯s attempt to throw william failed, the deer trying to scream and ask for the packmate help but it can¡¯t produce any sound as the throat is now in a sorry state. It was until William cut clean the deer head and sent it rolling on the ground that it finally stopped moving. William fetch the head of the deer and throw it to the group of four deer that not far from him. Their attention immeadiately shifted to the object that rolling on the ground. ¡°...¡± After one minute of silence, they run away with tail between their legs, leaving the head still on the ground. ¡°Hahaha I was planning to kill them all but this reaction is worth it afterall.¡± After he finish his intense laughter that last for five minutes, william get back to the headless deer. he was salivating as he butcher it with his blood stained knife. William build a tinder nest out of the dry plant in the vicinity and burn them with his lighter that barely spew a small fire after two minutes of trying. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. In a cave passage, a silhouette of someone crouching in front of fire that illuminating the dark cave could be seen. ¡°Hmm, not bad but the lion meat is more delicious.¡± chewing could be heard. The meat was a bit tough, but even so he took a bite and swallowed them in a fast motion. This had been his first meal for the past weeks. The stomach was surprised to suddenly receive the meat. Pains shot through his stomach. William did not even consider such a thought before he eat but now that it already happen, he ignore it and keep eating because he was very happy to have a meal after many days of starvation. His appearance looked so elegant while he was eating even after he trapped in this cave for week. If any people or traveler saw what he looked like, they would think that it was his first day in this cave. After eating so much of the deer meat and drinking the water from his glove, he lean his body against the boulder to take a nap, of course he didn¡¯t forget to dispose the fire to prevent any unnecessary attention from the beast nearby before doing so. Two minutes of resting, his left ear twitched as he heard a familiar sound echoed in the dim cave. The closed eyes were opened slightly. His unfocused eyes settled onto the direction of the sound and the open his eyes wide. He stood up slowly, then starting to walk towards the narrow passage behind the boulder. Along the way, his pace becoming more and more fast, finally he is running with all his might until he can hear more clearly the wind that blowing from this narrow passage, and a big grin formed on his face. ¡°Finally, an exit!¡± William exclaimed as he left the dark cave and looked into the distance. Blinding light starting to assault his eyes that already accostumed to the darkness. The morning sun was illuminating the horizon with no end in sight, A very spacious grassland with a various flowers dancing by the wind, there was no longer darkness. He also noticed many weird shaped fruits hanging in the trees, showing themselves to him, its luster flickered in the light and so dazzling. These fruits were all as big as apple. William dispel a thought to pluck them because he didn¡¯t know if this fruit is safe to consume or not. With no map and no sight of civilization to be seen, William travel further to the south. Occasionally, William see one or two wolves that were separated from their pack. he was prepared to kill them if they come at him, but they are smart enough to avoid him. There is no need to spill unnecessary blood if you can prevent it. The vegetation around here flourishes wildly, but not one of the them is recognized by William, which is weird. Grass is very tall and the ground is muddy. The air is very fresh that hard to find in modern world that full of contamination. He stroll the grassland like walking in the park, but even so he never drop his guard and stay vigilance in every moment. When the sun is about to set, William set up camp near a rocky area, building a rock shelter covering the roof with driftwood and a tarp for protection. ¡°Building a fire is the most important task when dealing with survival in the wilderness, at least the oldman said so.¡± William muttered as he build a fire in the rocky area. He recalled what his oldman said to build a fire in a sandy or rocky area or near a supply of sand and water as to avoid forest fires. ¡°The most common mistakes made by those attempting to build a fire are because they choosing poor tinder, failing to shield their matches from the wind and smothering the flames with too many fuel.¡± It was night. ¡®The sky tonight is beautiful.¡¯ William thought while looking up at the sky filled with stars. If he think back about it, it has been a long time since he had a calm sensation like this while looking at the sky. He begin to think how he had survived since the first day he wrapped up in this huge mess, separated from raisha, transported to this strange and dangerous place, nearly freeze to death, hunting a beast, and hunted by a beast. William avoid thinking about what had happened to him and this weird place, despite the fact that he know something was unnatural. An animal that shouldn¡¯t exist in this world roaming around in the sky, he even spot several creatures that known as slime that only exist in RPG bouncing around in the grassland. ¡°There is only one answer to this question...this is another world.¡± Chapter 05: Peeping tom? Below the blue sky were two rows of blossoming cherry trees. The road between those two rows led to a towering wall surrounding a large area of land that seems to be endless to the naked eyes. The gigantic stone gatepost in the east was inscribed with the words ¡°Nastia City¡±. William trying to go through the gate, but stopped by a muscular man with set of armor. The shoulders are rounded, short and small in size. They''re decorated with shield and two swords on each side which crossing each other. The upper arms are protected by rounded braces under the shoulder plates. The lower arms have rows of small metal pieces. The breastplate is made from layers of metal, It covers almost everything from the neck down and ending at the groin, but the sides are only covered near the bottom. As for the upper legs are covered by a skirt of several layered metal sheets reaching down to the knee while the lower legs are protected by greaves which have a row of short but somewhat curved spikes on the outer sides, the armored man block his way and said. ¡°Show me your city permit.¡± ¡°What? Permit?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t enter the city without permit.¡± ¡°I lost my permit.¡± ¡°.....¡± ¡°Alright, I forget to bring it with me.¡± ¡°.....¡± ¡°Ah! I remember, I left it at my house, let me in so I can get my permit.¡± ¡°.....¡± ¡°Someone stole my permit?¡± ¡°Max, throw him to the dungeon! He¡¯s clearly very suspicious, not to mention that weird clothes.. definitely a spy from Lionel Kingdom!¡± the other armored man behind the gate bellow to Max, the armored man who block me outside the gate. ¡°That¡¯s it! you come with me!¡± ¡°What?! How come? I¡¯m innocent, definitely not a spy! You can¡¯t do this!¡± ¡°Innocent my ass!¡± The guard grasp and pull William hand to arrest him, william necklace swaying in the air, and when the armored man saw the necklace on william neck, he freeze on the spot unmoving, his face pale drained of any color. The necklace had a dragon head with golden crown atop it¡¯s head, it has an abundance of gems decorate the outer sides, and there are seven star surrounding it, glittering in the light. ¡°Ah! I apologize for my rudeness! I really didn¡¯t know that you are ¡®The Last Ranker.¡± The armored man bowed his head to William in exaggerated manner which draw many attention from the other guards. ¡®Eh, What? Ranker? Last?¡¯ William was confused in his mind. ¡°Y-yeah, don¡¯t worry about it, I¡¯ll forgive you but do you think a mere apology is enough? You even planning to arrest me!¡± ¡°Forgive me! And here as a token of my apology, please accept it.¡± the armored man sweating profusely as he handed William a leather pouch. He open it and there are ten gold coins inside. ¡°What is this?¡± William ask with question mark atop his head. ¡°Uhh, still not enough? Here, this is my saving for this month salary. This is all the money I have. You can ask my buddy there if you don¡¯t believe me!¡± The armored man handed one more pouch to william, but more heavy this time, no doubt it¡¯s content is different from the previous pouch. As william open the pouch, there are twenty gold coins inside. ¡°Y-yeah.¡± The other armored man on the other side of the gate twitched his eyebrow, and muttered a torrent of cursed then nodded his head furiously with nervous expression hanging on his face because he¡¯s the one who declare that william is a spy and turn his body, planning to leave the gate. It¡¯s obvious that he doesn¡¯t want to get involved with his buddy misfortune. Now William has 30 gold coins on his possesion, the two pouchs are somewhat light, It''s about 70 grams. They are misunderstanding something, but since william is somewhat lazy in nature, and this is the best possible outcome, so he didn¡¯t bother to explain it. ¡°They think that I am the Last Ranker because of this necklace? I found it on the pile of bones so I guess this so called Last Ranker was killed by that mad lion inside the cave.¡± ¡°Last Ranker... I better ask around for more information about it, I don¡¯t want to get involved in more troublesome thing. This whole crap is already make me tired, I was planning to ask for police help to find Raisha but considering my current situation now its not possible.¡± ¡°Have you seen a cute woman with silver hair and blue eyes?¡± ¡°... No kid-I mean, no my lord.¡± ¡°Hah... as expected. if you saw that woman come to this place, tell her that William is looking for her.¡± ¡°Yes Kid-I mean, yes my lord!¡± ¡°.....¡± Flower beds decorated both sides of the path as it extended directly forward. The city itself looks elegant. With beautifully built building, stores, stone walls and rainbow of different flowers, Nastia City has a cheerful atmosphere. Many stalls grilled their delicacy, spreading the thick and tasty aroma of tender and juicy meat that melting down the lips of the costumers that stood enjoying their meal. ¡°Let''s look for a change of clothes while strolling the street for now, it''s very uncomfortable to only wear one set of clothes for week, and I also want to take a bath before changing clothes..." William stroll the street and ten minutes later, in front he could see a fountain square. On the left of the fountain square was a brick built western-styled huge building with a sharp tower that seem to reach the sky. The classic brick structure carved with strange words, ¡°Ranker Guild¡±. ¡°I can talk but cannot read letters¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong kid?¡± ¡°Ah, nothing. Do you know a good hotel around here?¡± ¡°Hotel?¡± ¡°Um, a place to sleep.¡± ¡°Ah! you can see that building with bear on the signboard next to the Ranker Guild, that is the best Inn the Nastia City have, though they somewhat expensive, but their food is very good and the bedding is soft and fluffy. Be sure to stay there, my daughter run the Inn.¡± ¡®Even if i locate the signboard I can¡¯t read it¡­ Well at least there is bear stick to the signboard.¡¯ ¡°I see, thank you.¡± William come inside the place with bear waving it¡¯s paw ouside the door, it¡¯s also have a bar inside, Inn and a bar? There are many young man filled the space, toasting their wine and chattering nonstop providing the place with somewhat warm and lively mood. "It''s a customer? you don¡¯t have any luggage, are you really a guest?" A beautiful woman in her 21 with a slim body came out of the bars counter. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Her curved body is really feast to the eyes, but her expression clearly show that she¡¯s not interested in williams pretty face. Must be a woman that have a thing for older and muscular man. "Uh, I lost my luggage in the forest when wolves attacked me, fortunately my money is safe.¡± "Oh my, it¡¯s good that you did not lose yours money.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to worry about the person first before worry about the money?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t stay here without money, so it¡¯s important you see.¡± ¡°Yeah whatever.¡± ¡°Our inn charges 10 copper coins for one night, including meal that served at this bar twice a day.¡± William didn''t know how the currency here works, so he paying with one gold coin. ¡°How many days I can get with this? ¡°90 days, are you sure?¡± ¡°Yeah..¡± ¡®So many?!¡¯ "I''m writing the guest book for you so can you give me your name?" ¡°It''s William.¡± "Your occupation and age please." She fills the guestbook slowly. ¡°Uh, Hunter, 20 years old.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡®D-did I made a mistake? I somewhat blurt out hunter as my occupation. is there no hunter job in this place?!¡¯ ¡°There¡¯s no need to lie, you definitely not even 17 yet.¡± While shaking, William feels irritated. Certainly the girl in front of him has a grown up atmosphere, but she should be about the same age as him. And yet... ¡°I may not look like this, but I¡¯m 20 years old and will be 21 soon. Well, I¡¯m often told that my face looks childish, but..¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Could I have my meal now?!¡± "...What do you want?¡± ¡°Anything, as long as it¡¯s meat.¡± "We only have black chilled pork?" ¡°That will do.¡± ¡°I''ll bring it immediately, so just sit there.¡± "Wait beautiful miss, I intend to buy some change of clothes, do you know any good places?" There are too many stores in this city with sign written in a strange language that does not consist of alphabet, so william can¡¯t find what he¡¯s looking for. ¡°...¡± ¡°Beautiful miss?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not interested in kid you know.¡± ¡®K-Kid.. kid, doesn¡¯t she care about what someone told her!?¡¯ ¡°Did you even listen to what I say? I¡¯m not a kid.¡± ¡±What are you looking for? something cheap or expensive one?¡± ¡®Kuh..she ignore me.¡¯ ¡°Money is not a problem for me.¡± Since william can stay for 90 days including meal just for 1 gold coin, then he assumes 29 gold coin can be used on various things and still have some left. Even if he used all of them, he can collect some again using his good luck charm (necklace). But he was planning to try earn some money first, afterall it¡¯s not good to use an unknown object nonchalantly without understanding it¡¯s value and effect. "The store on the city center would be the best choice, very expensive but they are using high quality material, and only nobles that go there.¡± ¡°I see, what about groceries?¡± ¡°You can find the General stores in the market.¡± ¡°Thank you. ah, do you perhaps know anything about Last Ranker?¡± The beautiful girl glanced at william with strange expression. ¡°You don¡¯t know? Even five years old brat knows about ranker.¡± ¡°Y-yeah.¡± William replied while scratching his head. ¡°What an ignorant kid. Listen, Ranker is a title for those that hunt and exterminate dangerous magical beast that plague this continent, many aspire to be a ranker especially young man. They explore the vast world, fighting magical beast, and kill a dragon and finally become the Last Ranker. ¡°Last Ranker..¡± ¡°Yeah, Last Ranker is the highest rank that one could obtain after subjugating a dragon. the lowest of them is one star Ranker, then followed by two star, three star, four, five, six, and finally seven star Ranker or known as The Last Ranker.¡± ¡°Dragon.. is it strong?¡± ¡°Hah? Of couse. They are a nighmare for a city and it¡¯s people if dragon come to attack. Dragon even can destroy a city in a single night if there are not enough 5 Star Ranker and above available to defend the city. Even so they can only drive away the dragon, only The Last Ranker able to kill a dragon. That¡¯s why almost all city have it¡¯s own Ranker Guild, not only to avoid annihilation due the dragon attack but also to protect the city from the magical beast that getting too close.¡± ¡°I see, That was very educating. well then I¡¯ll be going to buy some clothes. You can prepare the meat first, I hate waiting.¡± Thanks to the beautiful miss william able to reach his destination in no time. He go into the store¡¯s interior and a store clerk greet him. ¡°Welcome, what are you looking for?¡± ¡°Can you show me clothes that would suit me?¡± The clerk lead william into the dressing room and pushed him into it. And then 2 minutes later several clothes were brought. William take off his vest, remove the necktie and take off his shirt. William sharpen his senses while looking around in the vicinity. ¡®Was it my imagination? It felt like there was someone watching me... ¡°Seems it was my imagination.¡± William bid farewell to the clerk, paying 2 gold coins for a set of clothes and he go out back to the Inn. Chapter 06: Betrayal and Revenge On his way back to the Inn, William bought a stylish shoulder bag since this is the only type of bag available, also some underwears, handkerchief, soap and hand towel from the market street, which is about 5 meter width, horse carriage are going back and forth on it. the price is quite cheap after bargaining for 10 minutes, at least the seller said so. The stalls are abundant here with many people with commoner clothes walking around the street, unlike on the north street. That time, William realized that something was wrong. ¡°A hottie, he¡¯s so gorgeous!¡± ¡°He¡¯s so hot!¡± Hearing that, William turned to look, only to see a crowd of girls looking at him passionately. ¡°Kyaa, he¡¯s looking at me!¡± William shifted his gaze from them, now that he already finished his shopping, he begin to increase his walking pace. leaving the crowd of girls behind before he made more mistakes. ¡®What a cute girls! ...No, no, no. I abosulutely can¡¯t succumb to temptation! I already pledge myself to Raisha, and since that day, I stop seeing other woman on my free time.¡¯ William shakes his head furiously, restrain his desire take those girls back to his room and teach them what is the absolute pleasures. ¡°Do not worry about avoiding temptation, yield to it. It may not pass your way again.¡± ¡°Absolutely not, I won¡¯t!... eh? Who¡¯s that?¡± William observe his surrounding but those fans girls couldn¡¯t be seen anymore. ¡°Whose voice was that? it feels so close that it¡¯s like coming from the inside of my head, it was like my inner thought, but it can¡¯t be, since it¡¯s somewhat soft like a woman..¡± ¡°It¡¯s me, Leona Silverblood. The strongest Last Ranker in this continent.¡± A proud yet soft and tender voice resounded once again in William head. ¡°What the ... who are you?!¡± ¡°Are you deaf?¡± ¡°Of course not! Let me change my question, what are you doing in my head?!¡± ¡°What nonsense are you spouting about, who want to be in your empty and stinky head.¡± ¡°Kuh, so where are you? Show yourself!¡± ¡°It¡¯s no longer possible now. I''m only a soul fragment, and no longer have a body.¡± ¡°A soul fragment?¡± ¡°Indeed, I sealed my soul inside the necklace that you wear right now.¡± Hearing that, William move his gaze towards his necklace that now emit a black particle, the necklace is floating in the air. William immeadiately put back his necklace into his shirt and turn towards the alleway. After make sure no one can be seen in the vicinity, he take out the necklace. ¡°You are inside the necklace?!¡± ¡°I used my family forbidden magic and sealed myself inside this necklace.¡± ¡°You said that you are the Last Ranker, I thought it¡¯s a powerful existence that could even subjugate and kill a dragon. So how could you seal yourself in this necklace? You won¡¯t do that without reason right?¡± ¡°Exactly, just as you said. The great me will never die even from a dragon most vicious and strongest attack, if not for their betrayal, I wouldn¡¯t end up in this pathetic state.¡± Her last words contain an anger and sadness mixed in it.¡± ¡®Did she get betrayed by her friends?¡¯ ¡°What do you mean by betrayal?¡± ¡°We are on our way to subjugate a magical beast that speculated to be residing in the cave south from Nastia City since many Ranker venture inside and never come out.. It¡¯s not that dangerous as there is only small fry and weak magical beast that I could even obliterate with just my pinky.¡± ¡®Small fry?! I nearly died countless times in that cave, and she only use a pinky to kill them....¡¯ ¡°Our party consist of five people including me and the other four Six Star Ranker. After two days inside the cave, we encounter a magical beast with a lion head with black wings inside.¡± ¡°Ah! I know that beast, it has a gigantic sword attached on it¡¯s back. Is that your doing?¡± ¡°Yeah, that was my sword, Balmung.¡± ¡°Is that magical beast really that strong? Stronger than a dragon?¡± ¡°Hmph, it¡¯s only so so. I almost kill him under three minutes, and the moment I tried to deliver the final blow, countless arrows and two longswords penetrated my back. They start plotting against me since the beginning. I suspect they are the one who sent those unfortunate Ranker to their death inside the cave to lure and make me into investigating the cave.¡± ¡°.....¡± ¡°They mixed my waters with Sky Snake poison and attack me at the critical moment.. otherwise how could I die in the hands of mere Six Star Rankers, that¡¯s why I want you to avenge me and kill those bastard!¡± ¡°Wait.. wait a minute, I think you should find other people that strong enough to kill those Six Star Ranker. I can barely protect myself inside that cave.¡± ¡°I know. I saw your pathetic state crawling past the ass of the magical beast and shamelessly picked my necklace as if it¡¯s belong to your father.¡± ¡°Kuh, my father doesn''t use a necklace. I don¡¯t want to admit it but everything you said is true, except for my father part. That¡¯s why I¡¯m sure you know how weak I am compared to you ranker right?!¡± ¡°Fufu. Don¡¯t worry, I will lend you my power.¡± ¡°Power... no, I don¡¯t want to get involved in something troublesome and dangerous again!¡± ¡°Are you sure? Then I won¡¯t help you again.¡± ¡°Huh? when did you ever help me?¡± ¡°Hmph. such ungrateful kid. Can you read the the words in that wall?¡± ¡°That wall? .... I-I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that weird?¡± ¡°Weird.. What is?¡± ¡°Are you stupid?¡± ¡°Kuh, I¡¯m not stupid and not a kid!¡± ¡°I never say you¡¯re a kid. Just think about it, you didn¡¯t know and can¡¯t understand the letters right? Then how could you speak our language that consist of those letters that you don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°It can¡¯t be...¡± ¡°Did you ever speak with people here without wearing the necklace?¡± ¡°.....¡± ¡°I was the one who help you to understand them by using [Mind Wave] which make them to perceive your words as theirs, and theirs as yours.¡± ¡°.....¡± ¡°Hmph. Without my help you won¡¯t be able to communicate with them, let alone protect yourself.¡± ¡°Fine, I will help you to exact revenge. So what kind of power that you will give me? ¡°Fufu, that¡¯s right, you just have to listen to the great me, obey all of my order and I will make you to become a powerful existence comparable to that of the Last Ranker.¡± ¡°Really?! Now give me the Last Ranker power.¡± Willaim eyes beamed with joy. ¡°.....¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Hurry up.¡± ¡°...Do you think it¡¯s that easy? You have to gain that power yourself, I will only show you the way, and push you from behind.¡± ¡°......¡± Hungry after his trip around the city, William welcomed his black chilled pork into his empty stomach, it looks weird but he went for it. Although the shape and taste are different from the pork he envisioned, but it''s a proper meat and delicious. William open his room in the second floor after receiving the key from the beautiful Innkeeper. The light from the lamp is dim even so the room is strangely bright with a double sized bed, chair and desk decorated the bland room, too bad they don¡¯t have a dresser. The window is big enough for people to sneak out from this room in case of emergency and if the situation call for it. William immerse himself in a big bathtub made of steel, cleaning every parts of his body from dirt and sweat. ¡°To think that there is bathtub in this place, I thought I have to take a bath in the river like a homeless people, ah so cold.. I miss hot tub, but it¡¯s usually heated using an electric or natural gas heater, though there are also submersible wood fire hot tub heaters, as well as solar hot water systems, but thats not available here.¡± ¡®I still can¡¯t think about this situation as reality. This world is very dangerous, I had lost count on how many times I nearly lost my life. Not to mention I don¡¯t have gun and ammo with me, shit my future looks bleak.¡± William sigh inwardly. ¡®But this girl called Leona... with her help I can survive in this world and perhaps find a way to go back to my world.¡¯ ¡°Leona, can you teach me a magic now? It would be great if I can learn fire magic, I can have a natural hot springs in this room everyday, and of course the most important thing is to increase my survival rate in this shitty world and help you to exact revenge.¡± ¡°Leona?¡± ¡°Hah.. why didn¡¯t she respond to me...?¡± ¡°Are you sleeping?¡± William shaking the necklace upside down, but no response from it. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Can she even sleep? She¡¯s just a soul fragment, and have no body right...¡± ¡°I hope I can find a way to go back.¡± William dry up his drenched body with towel before he slept. It was night, the stars glittering in the sky and the Inn lay in silence, and quiet. Only a handful of men inside the inn, they filled the silence with conversation and laughter, the clatter and clamor one expects from a drinking house during the dark hours of night. ¡°Can¡¯t sleep?¡± The Innkeeper soft voice could be heard in the youth ears that huddled at the corner of the bar. ¡°Thanks.¡± Said the youth as he placed a mug of wine in front of him. He drank with quiet determination, And in front of him is a beautiful woman, the Innkeeper who stood there, polishing the wooden bar that already gleamed in the lamplight. ¡°Can I have something to eat?¡± The innkeeper went to the kitchen and appeared with one bowl of stew and two warm, round loaves of bread in front of the youth. She refill the youth empty mug with more wine as he tucked away his bowl of stew with the predatory efficiency without blowing the steam off his bowl. ¡°William, can you repair the broken roof for me?¡± ¡°Why do I have to do such a thing?¡± The youth replied with annoyance in his tone. ¡°Well, the person who supposed to do the repairing is suddenly gone missing, so you are the only one who can I ask.¡± ¡°No way, find other people.¡± ¡°Then are you fine sleeping with a hole on your roof for a whole week?¡± ¡°Hah? What did it have anything to do with me?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s the roof on your room that have a hole on it.¡± ¡°...Seriously? why didn¡¯t I noticed it?¡± ¡°Well, you don¡¯t have to. You are a costumer afterall, just wait for one week to get it repaired.¡± ¡°Do you expect me to sleep with the sky as my roof?! Fine, I¡¯ll take care of it.¡± ¡°Sorry to trouble you.¡± ¡°You should! Now I know why my room is so bright despite the lamp is very dim, turn out there¡¯s a hole on it..¡± At the certain place which was located at the north district, there was a shadow that was leaping between roof. ¡°Pervert!¡± William was drunk. he stopped his hands, and put down the broken part of the roof when a woman scream echoed through the buildings and reached his ears. He looked at the direction of the moon baring it¡¯s whole figure from the roof, lighting the darkest part of the city with it¡¯s radiance. William saw a shadow approaching him from the distant in a very fast speed. ¡°Is that the pervert?¡± William narrow his eyes at the shadow and decided to stop it but alas his movement is too slow and the shadow run past him, sprinting atop the roof leaving william behind. ¡°So fast? Should I *hic follow him?... *hic...¡± William chase the figure that known as a pervert to the edge of the city by jumping between the roof building that stretches wide and long. ¡°He¡¯s using [Acceleration] on his legs.¡± ¡°Leona?! Where have you been? Are you sleeping?¡± ¡°Of course not, I can¡¯t retain my conciousness for 24 hours due to my imperfect use of forbidden magic.¡± ¡°I see. Are you not good at it?¡± ¡°What do you know? Forbidden magic is different from your ordinary high-tier magic on the market, only the Last Ranker able to use them.¡± ¡°Haha sorry. You said something about Acceleration?¡± ¡°Hmph, it¡¯s just a magic to boost one speed, but what he used is just a low-tier magic.¡± ¡°So what should I do?¡± ¡°I will teach you how to use [Acceleration]¡± ¡°Is it the high-tier version?¡± ¡°No, the weak one.¡± ¡°Why?!¡± ¡°You are still amateur, to suddenly cast a high-tier magic would be difficult for you even with my help.¡± ¡°I see, well it¡¯s better than nothing.¡± ¡°I will brand the knowledge cointaining [Acceleration] using [Mind Wave] directly to your mind. it doesn¡¯t hurt that much.¡± ¡°Fine, bring it on.¡± ¡°ARRGGGGHHH... F*ck, it¡¯s hurt so much, you liar!!¡± ¡°Haa, haa, haa... the pain is still lingering in my head.¡± William clutch his head tightly. After adjusting his ragged breath, he said ¡°...Okay, calm down, let¡¯s do it... [Acceleration]¡± A countless green flash of particle starting to emerge from William body and increase his speed by twofold, then the green particle fading from the sight. William started to panic thinking that the magic is failed, but Leona assure him that it¡¯s normal for the after effect to fade after it¡¯s casted succesfully. William continued to run chasing the shadow, he kick the wall and jump onto the other roof in a skilled manner, very fast for ordinary folks to see and a faint afterimage could be seen behind him. William lessen the distance between them and upon closer inspection the shadow turned out to be a man in a black cloak covering his body. william saw beard on his face indicating that it¡¯s indeed a man, well there¡¯s no way a woman would be a pervert right? William was already at his limit and about to vomit all his wine and stew from all the running and jumping. ¡°Should I give up the idea of chasing him.¡± ¡°What nonsense are you talking about? It¡¯s a perfect opportunity to train your body to get used to magic.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t wan to spill my dinner... fine just a little bit longer.¡± Below William, there was a flower garden, a rectangular snippet of land with narrow and weirdly shaped with rich, fertile soil. various kind of flowers blooming along the serenity gardens, you can see that they never neglected this garden, since not even a single wild grass could be seen. The garden was narrow, but it went surprisingly far back. There were two flowers that caught his attentioin since they are different from the others. The farther in he followed the shadow that sprinting amidst the flower garden, the more overgrown it got. William caught a glimpse of the shadow, jump up high against a trellis, and to the fence. Before William could caught up with him, the shadow could not be seen anymore. William pushed past the obstacle in the roof and turned his head to the other side of the fence but he was gone. William never would have thought he¡¯d gone all the way through to Noble District by now. He shoved his way through the roof that stretch wide and long, befitting that of the noble mansion. William caught a whiff of something sweet in the air and stopped. It was quiet, no more sounds of people talking in the street, no carriage, no horses hooves, no dog bark. William cover his mouth with his both hands as he was overwhelmed by something inside him, sweating profusely ready to throw up as he step into the fragile part of the roof that already half cracked. *Crack!* ¡°Eh.. what is that sound?¡± The source of the sound came from the roof, the crack is getting bigger and then shattered creating a hole on the roof. ¡°Shit!! *Gulp¡± William fell and the effect of gravity made him swallowed back his stew that already spilling from the corner of his mouth. ¡°Kyaa!!¡± William fell into the building and there was a soft sensation under him. The sweet aroma is more thick. This situation is the same as the time in the cave when he fell into the deep hole. It¡¯s good that he¡¯s safe, william faintly relieved. ¡®But something is different...I hear a woman voice just now..¡¯ William feel the warm water that wet his black pant, seeped into his underwear and his body touching something soft and tender. When he opened his eyes again, he saw a naked girl that were lying on the bathtub with shocked expression on her face. William held his breath for a few seconds, he can feel clearly the warmth of her naked body and the elasticity of her two hills that keep changing their shape according to his hands movement. ¡°¡­ Hey, pervert. How long are you planning to play with my breast? Get off me this instant so I can cut you in half.¡± Sinister words came out from her beautiful face that would make William shuddered with horror if not for her beautiful crimson eyes that on the verge of tears looking straight into his eyes. *Rub* ¡°.....¡± *Squick* ¡°.....¡± *Rub* ¡°....¡± ¡°Stop playing with them you pervert!!¡± she extend her left hand, a faint white glow enveloped her fist and punch him in the face. ¡°Nice, so beautifu-¡± william vision turned black and his counsciousness starting to fade along with soft sensation from his hands. Chapter 07: 9th-tier magic A bird chirped languidly in the silence. ¡°Ugh...¡± All of a sudden William open his eys, but it was dark. William started to recall what happen to him before he lose conciousness, and the reason why his head is throbbing so hard that it¡¯s unappropriate to be called a headache. ¡°I can¡¯t feels my hands.¡± His fingers were numb, he can¡¯t even lift one of them and something is binding his hands. He squeezed farther in through the darkness by dragging his tied body closer to the window just like a snake or worm would normally do, moving slowly to the source of light that illuminating the dark and quiet room. ¡°What the hell is this?!¡± William said after he stumbled over something, the smell made him felt nauseous, it was overpowering. ¡°A corpse? Shit.¡± Said William as he oberve the dead man that spread the rotten stench inside the locked room. His mouth was twisted to one side, revealed a nest of teeth sticking both in and out at improbable angles. He looked like a middle aged man from prominent family, his attire is not someone ordinary or commoners can affords. ¡°Ah, what did I do to deserve this treatment?¡± William pale white face let out a sigh as he spoke. ¡°Thanks god they didn¡¯t took my necklace.¡± William breath a sigh of relief as he looked over to his necklace that still in his neck. To be locked in a place where there is only single barred window as ventilation and a steel door, a corpse as your companion, would make anyone feels nervous and shrouded in despair. That¡¯s why William only hope is Leona that sealed in his necklace, without her, who knows what would happen to him, it won¡¯t be long before his fate become like this man. ¡°Leona, can you hear me? Hey!¡± William called while lowering his chin at her dwelling place, once, but she didn¡¯t answer. ¡°Hah, she was never there when I need her.¡± William was pretty sure that he was at the Inn enjoying stew and wine. He wondered if he was getting abducted by some kidnapper or slaver, but immeadiately remove that thought from his mind, how could a slave trader lock him to rot in this place, he¡¯ll be the one that gonna be the most expensive if being sold. He looked cautiously back over his shoulder, and oberving the dark room. ¡°...this place, this place must be a prison, and this corpse must be the prisoner that they leave here to rot, shit, how did I end up here...¡± ¡°Ah, that sensation...¡± William squezze his numb fingers into many nasty forms replaying the last movement of his hands before he fainted to recall something. Two minutes later his eyes lit up and smile creep on his face, as if forgetting the situation he¡¯s currently in. ¡°That was good, a little bigger from Raisha.¡± ¡°Now that I remember what happen last night, but why a prison?¡± ¡°Whatever, I have to find a way out.¡± Willaim said as he trying to do something while Leona is not absent. She¡¯s his only hope in this situation, even so william didn¡¯t want to just left his fate to anyone else, this was his father teaching. Only your own efforts that won¡¯t betray you. As William reach the window, the sun was sinking for the day. ¡°Where the hell is this place? There is only reddish sky.¡± His eyes spun to the bottom . He held his breath for a few seconds, he could see some big oak trees, but it¡¯s looked like a young sappling from here. ¡°We are on the six floor.¡± A soft voice echoed in the darkened room. ¡°Ah, you finally here Leona, don¡¯t you know how much I miss you!¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need to display your flirting technique on me, I¡¯m not the same with those fans girl of yours.¡± ¡°.... How could you, I¡¯m not flirting, this is my real feelings. Let¡¯s set aside this topic, can you get me out of this place? I can¡¯t stand this smell any longer!¡± ¡°Hmph, it¡¯s easy. Do you know the rank of magic?¡± Leona Asked ¡°No.¡± William replied airily. ¡°Ignorant kid.¡± ¡°This the second time someone told me that.¡± ¡°Wha-¡° Leona surprised as if she inhale a rotting smell from her imaginary nostrills. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that shocked reaction?!¡± ¡°I thought it was your 999th times.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not that ignorant! just tell me already.¡± ¡°Listen closely, I won¡¯t repeat it again. There are nine rank. Starting from 1st and 2nd-tier, it¡¯s the most common level of magic, anyone can use these ranked magic by training and almost every rankers used this magic. Acceleration that you used last night is also 1st-tier magic. Next is the 3rd tier, this magic is only for those who have talent, only some able to cast this magic even among the rankers. 4th-tier, the magic for the most talented individuals. Rankers who are capable of casting this magic is quite rare. As for the 5th-tier, 6th-tier and 7th-tier is for very few and only capable inhabitants able to used them, this is the most powerful magic the six star rankers able to cast. As for the 8th-tier and 9th-tier magic, only the Last Ranker able to use them.¡± ¡°What about the forbidden magic?¡± ¡°This spells only exists in legends that get passed throught the lips of many rankers, only a chosen one is lucky enough to encounter a forbidden magic. In this continent, I only know three of the forbidden magic, one of them belong to my family, to put it simply, it¡¯s a sealing magic. It allow you to seal one soul or more inside some object, make them immortal, keep them alive years, centuries, even if the world cease to exist they would never die unless you shatter the object where you seal them, and once you sealed them inside, you can never free them for eternity. ¡°You..¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need to pity me, I choose this of my own free will. I thought I will have to wait for centuries or even longer for someone to appear, and by then my revenge won¡¯t be possible to realize, but I never would have thought that only after three days had passed, you came and pick the necklace.¡± ¡®Leona...¡¯ To be sealed inside a necklace, alone, in a lonely place, without someone to talk to, for centuries and more. William can''t even imagine what it''s feels like. it''s only happened to her just a few days ago, that''s why she could say that. then what would happen 1 years later? or 10 years, 100 years.. Leona suddenly said ¡°I will impart [Hex of Ashes] to you, it¡¯s a 9th-tier magic so it will be not the same with a 1st-tier spell.¡± William stumped by her sudden declaration. ¡°What, 9th-tier?! Why not something more lower, 2nd perhaps? The 1st-tier magic is already hard to master, you didn¡¯t know how many times I nearly stumbled over myself when I use this magic.¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Do you see the bluish translucent light surrounding this place?¡± Leona asked ¡°...Now that you mention it, yeah I do.¡± William replied. ¡°That is a 8th-tier magic [Lunar Barrier] only a magic with rank higher than it could dispel the barrier.¡± ¡°Damn, I was just touching them, no more than that." William said "Why did they lock me to death by just playing with them?!¡± ¡°It¡¯s your fault to be so defenseless, you should never lower your guard. To be knocked out cold by a single girl, what a pathetic ranker.¡± Leona sneered. ¡°Kuh, I was drunk and not in my good condition, thus let my guard down.¡± William utters some excuse, the heat didn¡¯t seem to bother him. ¡°Who is the one that able to cast this 8th-tier magic?¡± William asked. ¡°Most likely there is a Last Ranker in this place.¡± Leona replied ¡°Afterall if the user is too far, it will cost more mana for the caster, depending on the distance. ¡°I see, I will have leave this place no matter what. you can start now.¡± William said as he stuck the tip of his shirt to his mouth to act as a gag preventing him to bit his tongue. ¡®Arggghh!!¡¯ William gritted his teeth against his shirt under the undescribeable pain but moment later his face change to that of amazed one. ¡°This... what a sinister magic. If you used it on human, they would become ashes in an instant.¡± William shuddered by just imagining what it feels like. Will they even feel pain? ¡°It¡¯s the most convenient magic to torture people, you turn them into ashes part by part, starting from their fingers, hands, or from their legs and move closer to swallow them whole. I used them a lot on my younger day. To see your own body parts crumble before your very eyes, they even start to talk even before asked to do so.¡± ¡°.....¡± A drip of sweat ran down William lower body from his left armpit. It was hot. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Er, nevermind, let me try this 9th-tier magic.¡± ¡°Not yet¡± Leona chimed in ¡°I¡¯ll impart one more magic to you, it¡¯s [Float].¡± ¡°Ah, are you planning to make me jump from the 6th floor?¡± William asked. ¡°You are very perceptive, but not quiet right.¡± Leona replied as she inflicted more pain to him by using [Mind Wave]. Gradually two days passed by in the blink of an eye. The voice which had emanated from the dark and foul prison faded away, but a certain sound ruin the silence. *Growl* ¡°Damn, they really planning left me here to rot.¡± William grunt. ¡°I can barely cast [Float] which is 2th-tier magic after two days of practicing, at this rate I¡¯ll starve to death before I could succeed in learning this 9th-tier spell!¡± ***** In the main house, was a tall, stately Venetian style clock, it was ticking nonstop and across it are two figure seating on sofas enjoying their afternoon tea time. Suddenly the old man dropped his cup to the floor, and smiled. ¡°Eh, interesting.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong father?¡± a woman with a scarlet eyes asked. ¡°Someone is dispelling my barrier.¡± The father replied in amused tone. The shattered cup sink in to the floor along with the splatered wine. The now dirty carpet returned to it¡¯s former clean state as if nothing ever happened. ¡°What?! who could do something like that, is it the Last Ranker?¡± She shrugged out of her sofa, surprised. ¡°I don¡¯t know, it was the 6th floor barrier.¡± She held her breath for a moment ¡°... don¡¯t tell me..¡± and then she looked at her father as if trying to ascertain her doubt. ¡°Exactly, someone must be trying to free him, or...¡± ¡°....He¡¯s the Last Ranker himself.¡± she muttered under her breath and then said loudly ¡°It can¡¯t be, there¡¯s no way that kid is the Last Ranker. I can even knock him out with one punch!¡± ¡°Haha, maybe because he was stunned by the beauty of your naked figure.¡± ¡°Father!¡± she shout in embarassment then puffed up her red face. Then said ¡°It¡¯s impossible. Not to mention it has been ten days since we locked him there without food and waters, he should be dead by now!¡± ¡±Indeed, it¡¯s just as you said Alexa, even his aura is like Gazzle, but I can¡¯t help but to feel something similar to that of the Last Ranker inside him, but slightly different. Well, let¡¯s meet up with this interesting youngster, And see for ourselves if he¡¯s still alive or not.¡± ¡°Yes father. Last Ranker or not, I won¡¯t let him escape after what he... to me...¡± she gnashing her teeth in anger. (Gazzle- Name given to a person that can¡¯t use magic) ¡° ***** Four feet away from the rotten corpse. a golden haired young man was leaning against the brick wall, his face is pale white drained of any color. He mumbled something while watching the corpse that transmit a foul stench suddenly started to crumble slowly until finally leaving only the young man and a pile of ash in the prison. The young man take a deep breath and then the binding on his hands also turned to ash. His pale face smiled and inhale the prison air that now seem like a fresh summer air. ¡°Finally, the day for my escape has come!¡± said the young man, he stood facing the window. ¡°Break! [Hex of Ashes]¡± Suddenly the window starting to disintegrated and crumble as the dark greyish smoke like substance sweep past it. The grey smoke corrodes the window and slowly spread to the white colored stone wall nearby, creating a hole big enough for William to leave. William jumped from the 6th floor, the wind brush against his cheeks. He narrow his eyes, after roughly two meters left the distance between him and the ground, he concentrated the mana inside his body and integrate it with the wind in the vicinity then shout in a hoarse voice ¡°Now! [Float]¡± as if obeying his order, the wind no longer act against him, but loved him. They made him landed on the landscaped terraces and hedges near the fountains smoothly like a mother kiss.