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  They heaped words of praise on us, telling us about how great we were, how strong we were, how they wished they could be that amazing. I wasn’t exactly modest, but I also didn’t like playing up my abilities. I tried to accept their praise with a smile and “Thank you,” but I never got the chance to say anything.

  “YEOWCH! MY TAIL!!”

  Lin’s furious scream—so furious she didn’t even refer to herself as “this princess”—echoed all around us as someone stepped on her tail. The next thing I knew, Spiritualists were flying everywhere as the girl used her six-meter-long tail as a bludgeoning weapon. It seemed several of them had stepped on her tail in their enthusiasm to reach us.

  That had been the beginning of our special treatment. From that moment on, even Catalyna began deferring to us. I understood why, of course. Nevaria was a city-state where the strong were revered, and we had just proven ours by taking down a Demon Beast with relative ease that most normal Spiritualists had trouble defeating without a large group. At the same time, even if I understood it, that didn’t make their treatment of us easier to deal with. I also ended up being glared at by Finn and Marko even more than before, though Marko was at least more discreet than Finn.

  After exiting from the grasslands, we came upon a jungle—a humid forest with a very tropical climate. The trees of this jungle were twisted and gnarled, bending in shapes and ways that trees in a normal forest didn’t. Moss covered most of the trees while vines hung from the branches. The ground beneath our feet was soggy, sucking our boots in and forcing us to expend more energy when pulling them out. Several Spiritualists nearly lost their footwear that way.

  Almost immediately after entering the jungle, most of us burst into a thick sweat as the humid air clung to our clothes and skin. I avoided this by circulating the water element through my body, but Kari and Fay complained about the heat and were even tempted to strip off their armor, which was a bad idea. The others were feeling much the same. Only Lin seemed to like the environment.

  “This princess doesn’t understand why you dislike this jungle. It’s so nice and warm here.”

  “Nice for you maybe. For a human, humid jungles like this are torture,” said Kari.

  I wasn’t surprised that she preferred this climate since Lin was a Lamia, a cold-blooded creature who absorbed heat from the environment. She also wasn’t wearing that much. The wrap-around fabric that covered her breasts only covered her chest and some of her back. It didn’t even cover all of her chest. The only other item was the skirt that kept her modesty intact. So even though she did sweat a little, she wasn’t overly bothered by it.

  The jungle itself was a harsh place filled with more Demon Beasts than even the grasslands, but we made it through after another day of travel. I don’t think I’d ever seen so many Spiritualists sobbing in relief as I did when we made it out.

  And then, finally, the night of our fifth day arrived.

  It was late at night. I was on the night shift. Catalyna had told me there was no need for me to take a night shift, but Kari, Fay, and even Lin told her that we would take our shifts just like everyone else. We didn’t want any special treatment.

  I had just relieved Lin, who was now snuggling with Kari and Fay in our futon. I would have liked to stay in the tent and snuggle with them, but I also understood that now wasn’t the time. As I stood beside the fire and activated Spiritual Perception, I kept my eyes open for any sign of a Demon Beast attack, since Spiritual Perception would only alert me if a Demon Beast of B-Rank or above was nearby.

  While I was keeping lookout by the fire, Marko came up to me, his expression serious and stern. He was my partner for this night shift.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked.

  “Yeah, something is wrong.” The frown on his face increased. “I’ve been keeping this in for a while now because I didn’t want to cause Lin trouble, but there’s no way I can hold this in anymore. I know you mean a lot to her, but I want you to stop seeing Lin!”

  “That isn’t your choice to make,” I responded in a mild voice, but that just seemed to make him angry.

  “You don’t even need her!” he spat. “You already have Kari and Fay! Isn’t that enough? How many more women do you plan to sink your teeth into?!”

  I wanted to sigh, but I did an admirable job of holding it in. “You say that as if the idea of courting all three of them was mine.”

  “Wasn’t it?!”

  “No, it wasn’t,” I responded with flat-out denial. Marko, however, scowled at me with obvious disbelief. “You can choose to believe me or not, but the truth is the idea of having me court all three of them was Kari’s, not mine. Furthermore, Lin and I are connected.” I held up my hand. Even with just the firelight, the rose-like patterns around my ring finger, the Ring of Marji, was visible. “Lin gave this to me several months ago. It is sort of like a marriage ring among Lamia, and as far as I know, it’s impossible to remove.”

  “What’s your point?” asked Marko. “You saying I should let that little thing stop me? I’m not gonna give up on her!”

  “Listen, you.” I finally sighed as my irritation reached its peak. “I’m saying it doesn’t matter how hard you try. You can flirt with her for the rest of your life. She’ll still never return your feelings. What’s more…” My eyes finally narrowed as I released some of my Spiritual Power and directed it toward Marko as Spiritual Pressure, which emitted from my body in visible waves that caused the other man to take a wary step back. “Lin is mine. I love her, and I refuse to give her up. I put up with you because you don’t seem like a bad person and you come from a powerful family, but if you keep this up, I will beat you black and blue until you give up on Lin.”

  Marko’s scowling face had turned a bright red, a vibrant hue the color of blood. He opened his mouth. I could tell he was seconds away from snapping at me.

  He would never get the chance.

  In that moment, a powerful Spiritual Pressure washed over us.

  “What… what is that?” Marko asked, eyes widening as he twisted his head around like he was searching for the source of that immense power.

  “I don’t know.” I narrowed my eyes as I grabbed the Dragon’s Tail Ruler and pulled it from the ground. “But I’m going to find out. You stay here in case something happens.”

  I didn’t give Marko time to argue with me as I took off, using Spiritual Perception to follow the Spiritual Power to its source. Whoever was releasing that Spiritual Pressure could be in danger. What’s more, it had a very strange feel to it. When I used Spiritual Perception, it didn’t show up as a color. It was completely clear.

  I had never seen a colorless Spiritual Signature before.

  After traveling for several minutes, I picked up a strange glow emanating from a line of trees. I could hear the sounds of rustling fabric and pained whimpers. Now I was on guard. The hairs on my arms were prickling.

  I crept toward the light, careful not to make a sound. When I reached a tree thick enough to hide my body, I steadied my breathing and looked around it.

  There was a small clearing on the other side. The light came from a series of glowing sigils on the ground, runes, which several people in rusted and dingy armor were standing around. As I continued to observe these people, three of them caught my attention.

  The first was the cloaked man kneeling before the runes. I could see nothing of him. His—or maybe her—entire body was covered from head to toe in a dark cloak. However, their boney, skeletal hands were placed on the circle and I could see Spiritual Power running from their hands to the runes. What’s more, the hands were not the normal color expected of a human. Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me or the fire’s light, but this person’s hands looked green.

  Next to the man was a figure I knew from having defeated him in the Spiritualist Grand Tournament finals. Torgny Leucht stood with his battle-axe resting against the ground, hand on the pommel. His back was turned to me, so I couldn’t see his face, but I recognized him fro
m his armor, stature, and unique Spiritual Signature.

  Tearing my eyes from Torgny, I looked into the center of the rune array, and then I froze. My eyes grew wide and my heart seemed to stop, then it picked up and began beating rapidly in my chest.

  The person inside of the circle, kneeling on all fours as she released several pained howls that didn’t sound human, was none other than Dyr.

  Chapter 4

  Demon Beast Mountain Range - Part IV

  I stared at Dyr, trying to figure out what was going on, but I couldn’t for the life of me understand what my eyes were telling me. Dyr was kneeling on all fours in the circle of runes. I recognized it as a highly complex rune array. Her body still looked human, but there was something beastly about her, something distinctly not human that I couldn’t put my finger on. The runes around her continued to glow. Her agonized howls filled the night air.

  “What the heck is going on?!” Marko shouted in surprise.

  Hearing him shout almost made me curse. Had he followed me?! I would have smacked him on the head, but the group surrounding Dyr had already noticed us. Torgny was looking my way and glaring like a man possessed, while the mercenaries were all readying their weapons.

  “Ke ke ke. It seems we have unwanted visitors,” the cloaked man sitting on the ground said. “Kill them. Don’t let them escape.”

  “Shit! Marko! Back me up here!” I shouted as I moved into the clearing.

  “What? R-right!” Marko didn’t seem to understand what was going on, but he was smart enough to realize these people meant trouble. He was already wearing his gauntlets, which he pounded against each other several times in a staccato rhythm. His body erupted in brilliant flames that were an earthy green color. Then his gauntlets began glowing with vibrant light.

  The mercenaries had already drawn their weapons. Swords, staves, axes, and polearms were held at the ready. There were exactly one dozen mercenaries, which meant there were thirteen people to fight, including Torgny. That cloaked man was pumping Spiritual Power into the rune array. At least, I think it was Spiritual Power. It felt much different than anything I’d ever felt before... no, more like it felt familiar but different from the Spiritual Power I had become used to. Either way, he wouldn’t be able to fight right now.

  “Eryk Veiger,” Torgny said with a feral growl. “I’ve longed for the day I could have my revenge on you.”

  “Too bad today isn’t gonna be that day,” I said, and then I attacked.

  I channeled Spiritual Power through my Dragon’s Tail Ruler. Lightning crackled along the unwieldy-looking weapon as I swung it forward, undoing the locking mechanisms on each segment and attacking.

  My target was not Torgny.

  The tip of my ruler flew toward one of the mercenaries, a big man with a scar running down the left side of his face. It plunged through his chest, armor and all, and emerged from his back. Blood spilled from his chest and mouth. I must have ruptured his lung. Whatever . With another surge of my Spiritual Power, the blade continued moving while the first mercenary died, still impaled.

  My next foe was smart enough to realize her armor meant nothing. She activated her Spiritual Aura to protect her, but I just pumped even more Spiritual Power into my ruler, until the blade segments were glowing so brightly it was impossible to look at them directly. My Spiritual Power overpowered her aura completely, pierced her through the stomach, then went out her back. A look of shock was etched upon the woman’s face.

  It was the look she died with.

  My actions caused the other mercenaries to stop moving; I could see hesitance in their eyes. But Torgny growled at them.

  “What are you fools doing?!” he demanded. “We didn’t pay you to stand around! Kill him!”

  Torgny’s words caused the remaining ten mercenaries to move again. I pulled the Dragon’s Tail Ruler back, returning the weapon to its original state. While I did that, the mercenaries had closed in on me. But there was someone else present who they seemed to have forgotten about.

  Marko.

  As a member of the Kriger Family, one of the Three Heavenly Families, I knew that Marko had been well-trained in combat. I’d also seen his battles during the Spiritualist Grand Tournament. Tonight, I got to see those skills up close.

  Marko stomped on the ground several times, then knelt and punched the ground with his gauntlets. The earth erupted in front of him. It transformed into numerous spikes that shot at the mercenaries. However, this attack was just a feint. Several of the mercenaries swung their weapons as they activated their Spiritual Auras, destroying the spikes. Marko used their distracted state while dealing with his first attack to race around and attack them from the side.

  “What the—he’s in our midst!”

  “Don’t panic! This man is just a—urk!”

  “Damn! He’s good!”

  Marko’s first attack was a punch infused with the power of the earth element. As the sturdiest of the seven elements, it could be used to strengthen the body to almost absurd levels of physical prowess and durability, which I could see was what he had done. The sound of bones shattering echoed throughout the clearing as Marko’s fist caused the face of a mercenary to cave in. That man was dead before he even hit the ground.

  “I guess it’s not good if I just stand here,” I muttered as I hefted the Dragon’s Tail Ruler over my shoulder.

  For some reason, my instincts were telling me I needed to deal with these people quickly. That was why I generated the lightning element into my feet and activated Flash Step Version 3: Lightning Step.

  My body moved several times more quickly than it could with the regular Flash Step. I don’t think anyone even saw me as I raced through the mercenaries’ ranks. I swung my blade nine times. Horizontal. Vertical. Diagonal. Each attack sliced through a mercenary like their bodies and armor were made of butter, but the attacks didn’t seem to do any damage at first. That was how it appeared, at least, but it was just that I moved so fast the results had yet to show.

  I think barely a second passed before I moved out of the Flash Step Version 3: Lightning Step. It was an extremely exhaustive Spiritual Lightning Technique. Currently, one minute was my absolute limit, but I didn’t want to exhaust all my Spiritual Power when I still had to deal with Torgny and the man empowering the rune array.

  When I stopped using the Lightning Step, which also slowed my perception of time, the world seemed to revert back to its original flow. That was when the results of my attacks finally showed. All nine mercenaries were dead. Two of them were bisected through the waist, their upper bodies falling away from their legs and hitting the ground with wet thuds as their intestines spilled onto the earth. Another mercenary’s head slid off her shoulders. There were three I had sliced through using diagonal slashes, and my attacks had gouged deep chunks into their chest, blood spurting as they fell backward and released a panicked gurgle while choking on their own fluids. The last three fell forward. I had attacked them from behind, and their backs were sliced open, spines severed.

  “What…?” Torgny’s eyes were bulging as, barely a few seconds after he’d given the order to kill me, his mercenaries lay dead on the ground. He wasn’t the only one expressing shock. Marko was gawking at me as if I’d just sprouted an extra head or turned into a Demon Beast.

  “Ke ke ke. My, what a powerful young man you are,” the cloaked figure cackled. “No wonder Hagen thinks you are such a threat.”

  I glanced at the cloaked figure standing several meters from me and prepared to move. Dyr looked like she was in pain, her body was shivering as she howled, and I could see tears streaming down her cheeks. If I wanted to save her, I just needed to kill this cloaked man, which would disrupt whatever ritual he was performing.

  Yet as I prepared to move, a massive fire python five meters in length attacked me from the left, forcing me to dodge. The fire python hissed as it turned and leapt forward at me. I clicked my tongue and brought the Dragon’s Tail Ruler down, channeling water through the blade to
create a very thin but hard-as-diamond coating. I ignored the cracking sound that came from the stressed metal. My weapon split the python in half.

  “I’m not done yet!” Torgny roared as he spun his axe and rushed forward. He was pretty quick. He swung his axe several times, pythons appearing with each swipe. The smaller snakes lunged at me with the intent of immobilizing me like I’d seen him do during the Spiritualist Grand Tournament in his fight with Ulf Ulfric.

  “Tch!”

  I stopped using the Second State of Spiritualism and activated my Spiritual Aura. The watery blue aura erupted around my body, crackling as arcs of lightning shot off it. Each bolt struck one of the pythons, destroying it. By this point, Torgny had reached me. With a ferocious battle cry that made him sound only half sane, he swung his axe at my head.

  I didn’t bother blocking.

  Sidestepping the attack, I let his weapon strike the ground where I had been standing. Fire erupted from the swing. It was hot enough that the ground turned a vibrant red as though about to boil. Unconcerned by that, I placed my index finger against his temple.

  Torgny froze. “What—?”

  That was all I let him get out before I shot a beam of combined lightning and water through his head. It went through one temple and out the other, burning a hole clean through him. I couldn’t see through this hole since blood was gushing out of it like a fountain, but I didn’t need to. Torgny’s body teetered several times like he was still alive. Then his corpse crumpled to the ground.

  “You really are a monster, aren’t you?” Marko said, eyeing the corpse at my feet.

  “That’s an awfully rude thing to say,” I muttered, but I didn’t let his words bother me as I turned back toward the cloaked figure and Dyr.

  “Ke ke ke. Hagen is going to be furious to know that his nephew is dead,” the old man hiding inside his cloak said. “Oh, well. Such is life. I never expected those mercenaries and Torgny would be defeated so easily, but since they have, I guess you’ll have to play with my Shadow Puppets.”