Powerful killing intent filled the place. Aleen felt as though his body was submerged in a pool of freezing water. The killing intent was greater than anything he felt before.

Aleen was sure that the new enemy was related to the one they just killed. After all, both of them were blue-skinned men, and their clothes were alike. Even their faces resembled each other. Aleen even suspected they were brothers.

But if the one they killed before seemed like a mysterious and elegant man, this one was purely strong. His enormous muscles were bulging, and his apparently relaxed posture could show unimaginable power in just an instant.

Aleen could felt an intangible pressure coming from him. It was as though his mere presence were trying to suppress him completely.

“Come on, little birds. I promise you that I’ll be gentle if you don’t resist.” The man spoke in a malicious tone.

They could not escape. No matter how fast Lightning Movement is, Aleen’s mana was not infinite, so he could not rely on it to escape from a level-three forever.

Moreover, there were two more hours remaining until the end of the game. Aleen was not confident in playing cat and mouse with a level-three enemy for so long.

So, their only option was to fight.

Aleen held Dark Night on his hands and prepared himself to activate his skill.

“Stay away, Claire. I’ll face him.”

“… Be careful.” Claire replied with a concerned tone and retreated while looking at the man warily. The man simply smiled and let Claire retreat without making a move.

But at that moment, he exclaimed in surprise and moved his sight to a place a bit away from them.

“How interesting. I thought you two were the only ones here.” He then walked towards there leisurely and grabbed something from the air.

Aleen saw a small translucid ball taking shape above his hand. The ball tried to struggle and escape from the man, but it seemed as something was keeping it in place.

It was the Resentment Core, or what remained from it.

“Was it what helped you to kill my kin? It looks like a level-three, but it’s not far from death now.”

Aleen’s expression hardened. He had the feeling that the man could know everything that happened here with just a look.

“Well, it also helped to kill my kin, so it deserves to die. Don’t you think so?”

He then squeezed the ball strongly and grinned in delight. The Resentment Core tried to struggle desperately, but it had been gravely injured after the fight against the level-three dran. Moreover, it also received a great part of the explosion afterward. All the ghosts and wraiths nearby had been killed, and it could not make use of them to fight anymore.

“Eeekkk! Eeekk!” The resentment Core cried pitifully for a few seconds, then, Aleen heard a crack sound, and the cries stopped.

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The man then released the translucid ball and turned toward Aleen and Aya. The ball transformed into dust at the next instant, and then, it disappeared.

“It’s your turn now.” The man smiled again. Aleen grunted calmly and circulated his mana through his body.

Currently, Aleen could feel an enormous amount of mana running through his mana circuits.

Even although the breakthrough failed, Aleen did earn something of it. Not only his mana increased drastically, but his body felt stronger despite the injuries, and his skill felt easier to use than before.

He felt as though the limits holding his skill back were broken, and its entire power was released. Therefore, although he did fear the level-three dran before them, he was confident that he could endure for a while.

Of course, he knew it was not enough. He needed to do more than endure if he wanted to protect Claire’s and his life on this game.

Aleen did fear death, but he was not a coward. Just like before, he could risk his life to find the opportunity to reverse the situation.

And now, it was the moment to risk his life again.

The level-three dran took a step forward, and Aleen's eyes flashed with silver light.

Time slowed down around him, and the surrounding objects began to move sluggishly. Even the level-three in front of him was moving in an apparent slow pace.

Lightning Movement’s derived skill, Dynamic Sight!

Different, from before, Dynamic Sight was not limited in time anymore. Aleen got the feeling that he could keep the skill activated for as long as he has mana. Moreover, the effects of the skill were even better than before.

Under the slowed time, the level-three dran pressed his right foot down against the ground and leaned forward.

The next instant, an explosion occurred in the place where his foot was.

His body shot forward at great speed, and his hand tightened into a punch that aimed directly at Aleen’s head.

All of the man’s movements were clear before Aleen’s eyes. Aleen knew exactly how the man was going to move, where his foot was going to land, and how his muscles were going to act. Everything was clearly reflected in his eyes.

So, he made his move.

A feigned expression of surprise appeared on Aleen’s face. The expression was so real than the level-three dran smirked secretly in his mind and thought that Aleen was astonished seeing his speed.

But when his punch was about to crush Aleen’s head, Aleen disappeared.

At the next instant, a sword was attacking the man from the left.

Lightning Movement!

The man put on a startled expression. He reflexively raised his arm to block the attack, but the sword moved again and this time pierced towards his leg.

More than one hundred vibrations per second made the sword shudder sharply. The level-three dran felt his skin pricking even before the sword could touch his leg.

Supreme Sword of Bringing Calamity’s Sword technique, Sharp Blade!

Thanks to the insights he acquired during his failed breakthrough and the abundant mana on his body, Aleen finally achieved initial mastery of this technique.

Although the current power of the technique could not be compared to a skill, it was not far from it. This attack was more than enough to hurt seriously a level-three.

But the one they were facing now was not a normal level-three.

When the sword was about to pierce his leg, a layer of light surrounded the level-three dran’s body and stopped the blade completely.

Aleen felt as though a metal wall was blocking his sword. No matter how he tried to pierce forward, the sword remained immobile.

Then, he felt an incredible strength crushing at him from above.

Aleen obeyed his instincts and moved away instantly. The next second, an enormous explosion occurred where he was just an instant ago.

A cloud of dust formed in the place where the explosion occurred, and a deafening sound impacted Aleen.

Once the cloud disappeared, Aleen could see the man staring at him with an excited expression. His punch was touching the ground, and a crater of two meters of radius had been created in the place of the explosion.

Just a punch caused so much damage. Aleen could not help but feel cold sweat running through his back when he imagined that punch hitting his body.

The man stood up slowly and looked at Aleen happily. “How fast! Is it lightning? Were you the one that created the explosion? Yes, the girl is a fire type, but I can feel traces of lightning in the explosion.”

Aleen narrowed his eyes and refused to answer.

“Unfortunately, it looks like you can’t use again, right? You would have used it just now otherwise.”

“…”

“Are you not going to answer? How boring. Well, it doesn’t matter. Now that I saw your lightning, allow me to teach you the strength of my aspect, ‘Power’.”