Michael's eyelids twitched, the dazzling rays of the sun pierced through his eyelids. Opening his eyes, a breeze of fresh air welcomed his face as his disheveled hair fluttered in the wind.
But he immediately became dumbfounded. The scene before him was very peculiar. There were no traces of paved roads nor high skyscrapers before his eyes. It was all bare grasses. He realized in this point that he was inside a grassy plain.
Michael fell to his butt. He still didn't know what to do, should he thank her for giving him another chance in life or should he despise her for not saving him from that truck?
But still. As Micheal's mind circulated all the events in his previous life. He was wracked by endless bad lucks. His father went on a drinking spree and had an affair with another woman, eventually leaving him and his mother alone. His mother died of pneumonia when he was still fourteen years old.
All sorts of events flashed by inside his mind, and made him somewhat emotional. Wiping his teary eyes. Michael finally mustered strength to stand up. Glancing around the area, he found out that he was somewhat on top of a grassy hill.
This hill was quite strange since it doesn't have any trees surrounding it, but a lifeless, barren desert. Below the hill. He could clearly see a pack of people moving in a certain manner. They seemed to be guarding something valuable.
Witnessing that, Michael could clearly understand that he was somewhat transported into a world of medieval times. With no advanced technologies to speak of. Due to this baffling event, Michael didn't even noticed that his eyesight became a thousand times clearer than what he had in his previous life.
"Power, huh?" Michael murmured as he glanced on his opened palm. His eyes suddenly lit up as he clenched his fists and decided to slide down the hill towards the desert!
~Dzzzz...
Michael felt friction pricking on his foot. Michael endured the pain and reached the bottom of the hill. There, he could now clearly see the caravan.
But now, the mercenaries surrounding the caravan had their swords unsheathed, as they slowed down their paces and shot off their alertness to the roof.
~Rumble...
Boom!
With a sudden explosion, dusts filled the air as visibility disappeared around the mercenaries. One mercenary was quick enough and procured a small jaded bottle from his pouch and howled as he threw it on the ground.
~Ding!
The jaded bottle broke and a green filled substance floated in mid-air before exploding in a series of shockwave. With that, the dusts surrounding the air cleared and the creature which emerged from the ground could now be clearly seen.
A huge purple centipede with innumerable legs reaching a height of eight meters appeared before them!
"Red alert!!! A platinum ranked desolate beast!" A mercenary shouted before igniting a firework. The firework then flew to the sky before exploding in a series of brilliant lights.
The mercenaries' eyes flashed with killing intent. As their alertness surged to the roof.
"It's a platinum ranked beast! Don't expect it to be damaged with those puny iron swords! Use martial arts to attack it!" A mercenary howled before his sword shined, a grey light enshrouded his sword as he shot off towards the centipede beast.
Seeing the actions of the mercenary, his companions morale increased as they all shouted in unison.
"Kill!!!"
Their swords started to shine in different colors as they attacked the centipede in a coordinated way. But their attacks were akin to an egg striking a rock. When their strikes landed, they could only leave a small white mark on the skin of the centipede.
But nevertheless, the morale of the mercenaries didn't loosen as they furiously continued their onslaught.
~SCREECCHH!!!
The centipede led a howling cry as the dust surround it shot off towards all directions. The unguarded mercenaries became blinded due to the dust while the more alert ones used their arms to cover their eyes and maintained utmost vigilance.
Soon, stomach churning cries emerged from the sandstorm as blood spewed on the ground. There, silently rolling, were three heads of the mercenaries who didn't even knew how they died. Their face maintained the frozen expression of alertness.
But once they noticed that their head were already severed. The heads visage became twisted in horror as they glanced over their headless body. Falling like a kite without strings.
"Tcch! Dragon Clears the Sky!" Witnessing the fall of their comrades, a mercenary clicked his tongue as he furiously howled, the sword on his hand became captive with a reddish light as his aura simultaneously exploded.
~ROAR!!!
A fierce dragon roar emerged as the man stepped on the ground before exploding forth towards the furious centipede. But he immediately regretted his actions. The centipede, seemed to reveal a mocking gesture as it opened his mouth in a circular fashion.
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With that, a silver fluid flew from the centipede's mouth towards the incoming mercenary.
Having realized the incoming danger. The man's figure became hard as he forcefully twisted his ankle's backward and evaded the centipede's trajectory. He immediately retreated in a swift fashion as he shouted.
"Retreat! This beast is a fire elemental one! We cannot hope to defeat it!" But as he shouted. The ground where the spit of the centipede struck became melted into lava. Seeing this, the man's face became filled with horror as he increased his pain, not minding the searing pain coming from his right foot.
Just as his shout resounded, his vigilant comrade immediately retreated backwards, but not in a fast paced manner as he did. Instead, they retreated in a coordinated manner, all while throwing various jaded bottles towards the centipede.
But still, It was unharmed.
After confirming that all of his alive comrades had already entered the appropriate radius before the caravan. The previous man shouted.
"Activate the defensive array!"
"Yes!" The surrounding mercenaries immediately scurried around the vicinity of the caravan as they placed some shiny stones in a decent calculated manner.
Meanwhile, inside the caravan. A small voice of a maiden resounded. "A platinum ranked beast? I hope that everyone is okay..." Her voice carried extreme worry.
"Don't worry, young mistress. Everything will be okay, let's just believe that the main party will help us." An olden voice consoled the young maiden in a careful manner.
"Formation is up! Circulate all of your qi on the stone tablet!!!" The previous man shouted as they swiftly carried out the intended actions.
~Bang, bang, bang...
The centipede neared the caravan. With each of its steps. The ground beneath it would be melted to lava. It's might alone was the proof that it was extremely formidable.
"Defense formation is up!" A mercenary shouted as a bright yellow membrane of light covered the area surrounding the caravan. Meanwhile, on the center of the array. All of the mercenaries placed their hand on the scattered shiny stones as light enveloped their arms before being absorbed by the shiny stones.
~BANG!
A fierce sound resounded. The centipede forcefully used its mouth to break the barrier. But only a ripple appeared on the barrier. And it immediately stabilized.
Noticing this formidable barrier. The centipede grew impatient as it understood that the humans were barely borrowing time to wait for their reinforcements. So without further ado, it lifted its head towards the sky as fire elemental essence gathered over its mouth, forming a small fireball.
"Shit! It's concentrating its power on a fireball! Damn it!" A mercenary cursed as he witnessed that the fireball became increasingly brighter.
Michael witnessed all of this, and his face became fierce. He closed his eyes as he imagined a sword hovering before him.
As Michael snapped his eyes open. Countless sand particles gathered before him as it formed a longsword. The longsword appeared to be extremely fragile but as Michael clutched it on his hand. A profound feeling of power emerged within his mind.
Without understanding what happened. The world before Michael came to a halt. Everyone became frozen still. The gathering fire elemental essence stopped, and the fierce expressions of the mercenaries stood frozen.
Michael seemed to have entered a deep profound state as his eyes flashed with fierce killing intent as he darted his gaze towards the centipede. The frozen centipede in his eyes became practically naked. All of its weakness was revealed to Michael.
Without further ado, Michael shot off with extreme speed towards the centipede with the longsword in hand before utilizing a thrust on the centipede's chest! Aiming at a vital position of life!
Without any interruptions. The longsword embedded itself in the chest of the centipede. But the centipede didn't have any reactions, and blood didn't even flow.
Michael's expression turned to a twisted smile as he landed on the ground. His right eye flashed with a green pentacle of light. With a blink of his right eye, the monotone world before him immediately became alive.
Blood gushed out from the wound of which he stabbed earlier and the centipede led out a mourning cry before it quieted down.
The people inside the barrier was dumbstruck. Michael himself was dumbstruck!
Earlier, his body moved in a way that he didn't will! It felt like he was possessed by something terrifying! Looking at his bloodstained hands. Michael didn't utter any words as his body fell unconscious on the ground.