Unfurling her wings slightly, Rena slowly poked her head out from the gap above with an emotionless expression.
Clearly in a stage beyond shock, her eyes wondered across the terrain with an eerie calm.
I was sure I could hear the dry swallow as she shook her head and turned back to face me.
She still seemed a little out of it, so I waited patiently, especially since my ears were still screaming at me anyway.
For a short while, I closed my eyes and massaged the pits of my eyes, trying to rid myself of the incessant ache that noise had caused.
I'm not even sure that can be called 'just a noise' anymore...
When I opened them again, I noticed that life was returning to Rena's face.
Her sheer bewilderment began to shine through, and I chuckled a little mirthfully at the exaggerated yet very warranted look.
She began to breathe again, and her eyes darted to the trees, the ground, the village, and the outpost far off in the distance.
The more she breathed, the more her thoughts seemed to catch up with her.
"What... what was that?!"
That's what I want to ask...
I looked around the area as well; not a single tree had been destroyed per se, but most had been bent in the direction of the sound, with fractures marring their bark after withstanding the sheer strain.
It's the affected area that's mind-boggling....
I can only think of it as some kind of signature for each race; do they do this every time? Who in the fold cast it? Or prepared it?
"I... think it was the counter spell—to the blindness mirage, that is."
Speaking seemed to reset my ears somewhat, and the ringing faded away, only to be replaced by a dull pain. It's somewhat preferable, but it still feels like I've been slapped on both sides of my head.
At least my ears didn't burst... I'd rather not just keep losing body parts until this body withers away or something.
"Blindness mirage..."
Rena muttered, looking a little thoughtful.
The name seems to ring a bell for her...
"Blindness mirage. It's the demons' magic, and now we know where they are..."
At my words, her pondering expression suddenly grew shocked and full of realization, but it soon fell away into one of destitution.
"But... really? Why now? Of all times... of all places... this is so unfair."
I coughed into my hand, a little exasperated.
Shit.
This is kinda all my fault, really... when you get down to it.
"Then we..."
Opening my mouth, I went to speak again, but Rena suddenly held her hand up to my face.
What is she doing?
Her eyes began to unnaturally drift... She's listening.
Quickly, she turned to the side and took a step back to get a better view over the tree line. I stood up and took a step with her, watching as the colour drained from her face.
My eyes darted around, following her gaze.
"What is it?"
I asked on instinct, already knowing it to be what I expected... but so fast.
Of course, I didn't actually expect a reply, and I was already peering above an oddly curved trunk and getting a better view of the outpost.
There were dots in the sky, numerous dots; they were like a swarm of insects whose carapaces shone with a domineering lustre. If it wasn't for the shining, reflective armour catching the light and flickering in my eyes, I wouldn't have recognised them so easily.
Angels...
"So fast."
I repeated out loud, sounding quite aggrieved.
"I guess you've got the better hearing now, huh..."
The joke was a little awkward in the moment, but I wasn't really listening to myself.
There isn't going to be any leeway time at all... and it's going to be even more dangerous for Rena.
But she still seemed to find it a little amusing; she turned to me with a light smile, obviously quite confident that I would have it under control.
I'm not sure where this confidence of hers is coming from; I've literally only been using this guy's massive stats to brute force everything so far.
Hah, well, it's better if she's not as stressed as I am right now.
I can't just leave Rena here now either...
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My eyes moved to the humans some ways away now, tending to wounds near a fairly small body of water. The able-bodied ones were digging through the remains of a collapsed building, fishing for something to help the less fortunate. They all seemed quite desperate, and even the children had calmed down and begun helping, as if they'd suddenly come to understand the futility of crying right now.
...
I can't just send her to some town right now on her own. What if she's caught? The Angel's could easily be scattering and scouring the land for Demons; there's no world where they don't find her...
Yet coming with me is rushing into a hectic battle against people whose strength I can't estimate.
I bit my lip.
Tch... In and out—grab the stuff and leave. If I really have to... I'll put her in my inner-world.
Ah, that reminds me.
"Wait a second."
I rushed over to a particular spot in the treeline and looked down at a corpse now partially buried in the ground.
Ugh... he's being consumed.
I grimaced and waved my hand. A jade swirl surrounded the earth below me for a few seconds before quickly dissipating into the air. Both the corpse and the ground surrouding it vanished.
To Rena, it should look like I'm hiding our tracks, so I won't have to explain myself.
"Okay, you'll have to come with me. It's going to be dangerous."
I turned back to her.
Despite nodding seriously, she was obviously looking brighter than before.
Without waiting another moment, I began to run in the direction of the closest plume of 'smoke' I'd seen.
I don't want to reveal my inner-world to anyone who I don't want to keep there... and I don't really want to reveal my true self to her either.
To me, the Angel's there now owe me their lives, and for the Demon's, I'll give them a choice without going into the finer details—I'm not going to force anyone unless they owe it to me.
Glancing back at Rena, who was not too far behind, I became aware of her speed for the first time.
Come to think of it, this is the first time I've seen her run as fast as she can; I'm obviously not at top speed, but it's not much slower than me at 65 percent...
I keep getting increasingly surprised by her strength; it's just that she's poor at using it.
With that strange magic, I have no idea what level she is... but if I ignore mana, then maybe she's got around 70 points in agility. So her level is higher than 7 at least—a lot higher if she doesn't have a principle stat like I do...
Hm, 50 points for the first stage, at least 70 for the second so far, and then probably 35 more in mind if she has a principle.... That sounds about right, actually. Giving it some leeway, she could be around level 10.
That's... not actually that far behind me, and I've got to focus on the En stats as well. Though I'm discounting skills too much here.
That reminds me, I should really check out a highlighted skill while I have the time.
Rushing through the trees, I spotted a trodden path a little to the side.
I weaved through the trees and continued down this less cumbersome path.
After 20 seconds or so, we broke through the treeline again, into a somewhat ruinous area, to say the least.
There was a large opening that cut deep into the side of a sheer slope.
That was probably a hill just ten minutes ago.
In fact...
I looked around at the many chunks of trees scattered across the ground. Huge rocks turned projectiles must have flown directly through the treeline, tearing out a swath of the forest.
In fact, this likely wasn't an opening in the forest at all.
Slightly amazed at the sheer pressure exerted by the blindness mirage, it suddenly became apparent to me that the spell likely had multiple uses beyond just blinding enemies; using this spell in a cave full of Angels could easily... well... splatter them across the walls like flies.
Shaking my head, I ushered Rena to come to the opening.
I then opened up the interface and focused on my title, [One Against Many (+)], before following her in.
[One Against Many:
Grants a 1% perceived time dilation, +10% mana recovery, and +10% hp recovery during combat with more than 5 opponents. ]
[Conditions satisfied for evolution of title: One Against Many]
[Please choose from one of the following:
| | |+1% perceived time dilation]
| | [+5% mana recovery rate]
| | [+5% hp recovery rate]
| | [Selected skill: 3% mana usage reduction] ]
Oho, I wasn't expecting that. I mean, I was expecting something along the lines of making the effects better, but a new one has been added to the mix...
I tried to visualise the changed effects during the throws of battle while the familiar dull scenery of the caves passed me by; thankfully, despite not spending long here, rushing through these caves is quite instinctive.
Considering the long run, it might actually be a waste to go for it right now; after all, it's only 3 percent.
Hm...
What's that?
Asynchronous vibrations ran through my legs, throwing my balance off slightly.
"Wait!"
I quickly shouted for Rena to stop, and the cave violently shook.
Parts of the wall crumbled, and the fine layer of dust that had settled on the walls was thrown into the air. Loose chunks of stone clattered around the cave, their sounds carrying far into the depths and compounding with each other into a discordant cacophony.
It distorted my vision, and I started to find it hard to focus on what I was actually supposed to be seeing.
They're already fighting?
Rena clasped onto my arm tightly, obviously terrified of the walls collapsing in on her.
That instinct doesn't seem too baked into me, but wait... Can she even see properly?
I held onto her hand and focused through the waning disharmony. The rhythm of sprinting steps picked up in the periphery of my hearing, and I used the pace to make a judgement on their strength.
"Try to stay close behind me."
"Mm"
After whispering to Rena, I leapt forward and handily withdrew the sword I had retrieved.
A moment later, an angel rushed into the intersection point of a few tunnels.
She turned to face me, and I instantly activated [Boost].
My blade cut through the air as fast as an arrow, and my form flashed directly past her.
She wasn't prepared, nor did she immediately see me as an enemy; as such, her hand still rattled against the hilt of her weapon, but her head had already slid from her body and rolled onto the ground.
A howling cry came from my side not a second later, and I aptly stepped back, narrowly avoiding the edge of a sweeping sword.
His attack, wrought with a terror-filled fury, had slammed into the rigid wall of the narrow cave, sending a shocking backlash up the man's arms.
Before he could recover, I threw my leg around and kicked straight into his side.
His arm snapped and his ribs folded around my attack before his body even had a chance to be pushed away.
When the momentum caught up to him, his face had already lodged itself in a small, jagged gap in the wall.
He slumped to the ground, and blood gushed down the black stone walls, saturating the dry surface.
[You have killed lvl14 Angel]
[Exp +1205]
[You have killed lvl12 Angel]
[Exp +776]
[Exp Store: 0 --> 1981]
With my enormous strength and boosted speed, the power of my attacks is huge, even for this level... They didn't even stand a chance.
A part of me didn't want to attack them, but there was nowhere to hide. We would be recognised, perhaps questioned, doubted, and attacked depending on what they knew or how they perceived Rena. Even if it was just a waste of time, it wasn't a risk I wanted to take.
She quickly caught up and didn't even look at the bodies.
I didn't say anything, instead only activating my mana sense. The wisp of soul seemed to point down the left path, so I turned and began to form a plan.
The path goes up... But I can actually work with that.
For a moment, I awkwardly tensed my back muscles, causing the wings to shift in place.