The little girl stopped him on his way out.
“You’re leaving?” she said. “Why?”
“I need to go kill a monster.”
“Oh.”
She stepped to the side. “Good luck, mister.”
Ezra nodded. He rejoined the rest of the group and they set out. Each of them had been handed a bag of rations, including Ezra.
After several hours of walking, Ezra felt a ping. He opened his map and saw some sort of radar, beeping and indicating where to go.
“Hold up,” he said. “We’re heading in the wrong direction.”
The group stopped and heads turned to look at him. Idia crossed his arms.
“What do you mean?” he said. “This is the right way.”
Ezra pointed. “No, it’s over that way.”
Idia’s left eye twitched.
“You’re overstepping your boundaries,” the man said. “We already have a plan, and I’m not going to trust your gut instinct—“
“Which one of us killed a boss monster again?”
Idia’s jaw clamped shut and his face turned bright red. “You little shit.”
Pete stepped forward, his knees shaking.
“Hold on. I think that One-Eye makes a valuable point,” he said. “He has the experience here, not us.”
“I don’t think that I give a single crap about your opinion,” Idia said.
The people up ahead had stopped and looked back at the noise with confusion.
Charles glanced over at the conversation. “We should trust our mercenary friend. After all, that’s what he was hired for, right?”
Idia sucked in a few short breaths before he crossed his arms.
“Fine,” he said. “We’ll follow the mercenary. This’ll end in disaster, though, mark my words.”
The group resumed traveling in the direction that Ezra had pointed out. Somehow, Ezra ended up walking alongside Pete.
Ezra had been impressed with how Pete had stood up to Idia. He’d spotted Pete’s fear, but the boy kept his head high. It was a far cry from the terrified kid he used to be.
“So, you’re Pete?” Ezra said. “I’ve heard a lot.”
“You have?” Pete glanced over at him.
Oh shit.
“Uh, yeah, Dorian told me a little about you.”
Pete nodded. “Oh. Well, it’s nice to meet you properly, One-Eye.”
“You were pretty brave, to stand up to Idia like that.”
“I wasn’t brave enough when it counted, though.” Pete scrunched up his face. “Sorry, forget I said that.”
“What do you mean? Did something happen?” Ezra said.
Pete sighed. “It was a while ago. I won’t get into details, but I failed a friend of mine and he ran away from here. I’m worried about him.”
Wait, was Pete talking about Ezra?
“Well,” Ezra said. “I’m sure that he’s doing okay.”
He might even be right next to you.
The conversation died down and they continued walking. Charles ended up rechecking his map.
“You know, I was a bit doubtful of what One-Eye said at first,” Charles said. “But after checking the map again, I think he might be onto something.”
“Well, he is a veteran after all,” Dorian said.
She glanced back at Ezra and smirked.
Ezra quickly averted his gaze. From the corner of his eye, he noticed something in the snow. He stopped and approached to investigate it. Leaning in for a closer look, he inhaled sharply.
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“Tracks,” Ezra said. “We’re not alone.”
The group came to a stop. Charles looked from left to right. Dorian’s eyes scanned the surrounding trees. It was silent and quiet. Nothing but the snow and the wind.
A shadow crossed overhead. Ezra leaned down just in time to avoid an attack. He looked back and saw a creature fly by.
Lesser Demon - Lv. 53
Four more slammed into the snow to their left and right. Ezra drew his fists back. This would be his first time using his new physical abilities in combat.
He grinned.
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Ezra charged at one of them and threw a hard kick at its knees. The monster blocked the shot, then ripped its claws into Ezra’s cloak—at least, it would’ve if it wasn’t for the fact that the cloak was made of a Chimera head.
Ezra staggered forward, then turned around and smashed a fist into the Lesser Demon’s chest. The bones caved in and a cavity formed. It screamed and stumbled to the ground. Ezra jumped on top of it and hit it three times in quick succession, [Titan’s Fists] activating and multiplying the damage.
Dorian, meanwhile, had coordinated a few of the ranged fighters together and had them simultaneously target a single Lesser Demon. Arrows, blasts of fire, and shards of ice rained down like some kind of wall of projectiles. The Lesser Demon roared and flapped its wings. It shot into the air, through the attacks.
Dorian slashed the air in front of her and stepped into a glowing rift, sword pointed out. She fell out of the air above the Lesser Demon and crashed into it. Her rapier sliced into its spine.
Charles approached one of the Demons, his straight razor reflecting the light of the sun. Pete stood behind him, his bow pointed at the Lesser Demon.
Charles took one more step and slashed out with his straight razor. The Lesser Demon blocked the shot and slammed its foot into Charles. He flew off to the side and managed to land on his feet.
Pete pulled back his bow. A glowing arrow bursting with mana exploded forward and sliced into the Demon’s shoulders.
Idia watched all this and sat on his ass. A moment later, a Lesser Demon smashed into him and the two tumbled through the snow.
“Oh, shit! No, go attack one of the Otherworlders instead, damn it!” Idia said.
A second Lesser Demon appeared and tried to stomp Idia’s head. Idia darted his head to the left and barely dodged the attack.
Ezra hit the lesser demon four more times, collapsing its ribcage. It flapped its wings, causing it to slide along the ground and away from Ezra. Ezra ran after it, [Cat’s Grace] enabling him to keep up despite the penalty from the snow. He jumped into the air and shot forward with [Air Attack], crashing into the Demon’s skull and causing its brain to splatter all over the ground.
[You have leveled up!]
Dorian flew by on top of the Demon, her rapier still stabbed into its back. She had a wild grin and seemed to be using the demon like some sort of plane and her rapier as a control stick.
Charles rolled to a stop beside Ezra. A second later, a claw slashed through the air and toward Ezra.
Ezra jumped into the air and landed on the Lesser Demon’s arm. He rushed up its arms and soccer kicked its head. It flew backward and the consciousness in its eyes dimmed. Ezra landed in a roll. Charles jumped forward and slashed across the lesser demon’s throat.
It exploded into a cloud of ash.
Ezra took a few deep breaths. That was far easier than the first time. His new levels had made a difference. It didn’t hurt that he had far more room to maneuver in compared to last time.
Dorian crashed her demon into the ground and it dissipated. She pulled her rapier away, held it out, and it vanished into blue specks.
“That was fun,” she said.
“You’re a sociopath,” Charles said.
Pete marched over to Charles and narrowed his eyes.
“What the hell was that? Why didn’t you grab a few more people? You just dumped them all onto Dorian,” Pete said.
Charles crossed his arms. “I thought we could handle it.”
“You can’t take these kinds of risks, Charles.”
“It wouldn’t have been a risk if you’d hit it in the heart,” Charles said. “I know that you can do it. We’ve all seen you make these ridiculous shots, but you always hesitate.”
The tone of his voice quieted. “That’s not relevant—“
“It’s very relevant,” Charles said. “I need to be able to rely on you in the battlefield, Pete.“
Ezra coughed into his hands. Everyone turned toward him.
“Is this the time and place?” he said.
Charles looked around at the Otherworlders who definitely weren’t listening in on the conversation. Dorian wasn’t even bothering to hide it, she’d just wandered up to the conversation and stood there as if there was nothing weird about it.
Before they could continue, they heard the sound of heavy breathing and snow crunching.
Ezra turned around. Idia looked like he’d just fought with… well, like he’d fought with two Lesser Demons on his own. His face was covered in bruises and his back was slumped over.
“Why…” he panted. “Why didn’t any of you brats help me!?”
“Oh, but mister Idia,” Dorian said. “We’re but poor, weak students and we didn’t want to get in the way.”
“I asked for your help!”
Dorian put her index finger to her chin. “Really? I don’t remember hearing that. Sorry.”
Idia clenched his fists and his nose flared. After a few seconds, he untensed and stared up at Dorian and Charles.
“Right, it’s clear that you lack respect for authority,” he said. “I’m afraid that I’ll have to give you a punishment. Both of you will be in charge of carrying the equipment of three other people. I’ll need to see you physically carrying it.”
Charles ground his teeth together. “Of course… sir.”
Idia snorted and walked off. Ezra rolled his eyes.
He couldn’t wait to kill him.
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It was late at night. Tents had been set up for each of them—including Ezra. He was inside, a single candle lighting up the inside. Ezra shut his eyes. [Mind Partition] clicked on and he resisted the urge to wince.
Two parallel streams of thought kicked in at the same time. One part of his brain focused on [Stitch Wounds], moving one arm to stab himself in his thigh, then activating the spell to heal himself. The other part of his brain whirred to life and activated [Thread Manipulation] repeatedly, on and off, on and off. After an hour, he’d gained several levels in the skills.
[Thread Manipulation] - Lv. 1 > [Thread Manipulation] - Lv. 4
[Stitch Wounds] - Lv. 10 > [Stitch Wounds] - Lv. 15
He went to bed soon after.
[Please select your class immediately! If you don’t select it within the next 42 days, the system will be forced to disconnect to prevent your death!]