Katsuro was breathing heavily. Around him lay the bodies of countless corpses. Their corpses were charred and the original forestry was now nothing of its former shell. The once vibrant greenery was filled with smog and a gloomy haze. The charred trunks stood eerily still amidst the devastation. Completely devoid of its former life.

He had no idea why there was a Monster Wave but he was caught in the crossfire. Withstanding the countless stampede of monsters, he couldn’t help but feel fear, a rare emotion for him. It was as if the bodies of the countless monsters in their path didn’t deter them. They trampled over the corpses with red eyes, charging ahead regardless of the danger in front.

Katsuro had a feeling. A feeling that, whatever they feared, was countless times more horrifying than the burnt corpses of their comrades. The feeling of an invisible hand causing the Monster Wave was a horrible thought for him. What kind of monster can cause that?

Fortunately, the Monster Wave that he faced was just a small branch of it. If he faced the main group, he did not doubt that he would be sent to the afterlife.

‘Damn, I’m bleeding too heavily. Not only that, I can’t use my Ghost General anymore. It suffered too much damage fighting off the Monster Wave.’

Katsuro’s current appearance was a far cry from his originally pristine and dominating figure. As his robes were nothing more than rags, not only that he was suffering from blood loss. Blood ran down from his forehead to his fingers. Drips of blood painted the ground a fine red liquid.

‘Hide, I need to hide. In my current state, I can barely even move.’

With that thought, Katsuro heavily limped across the charred forest, looking for any piece of refugee he could find. The logical decision for him was to give up, he had proven himself already. Who else could withstand the force of a Monster Wave at his age except him? But, his pride stopped him from doing so. He was on foreign lands, representing his country. If he gave up, he might lose favor with his father. Making him pay attention to his other siblings. He couldn’t allow that!

Dragging his heavily injured body across the forest, he couldn’t help but frown.

With his naked eye, he could see a force cutting across the sky with undeniable authority. The clouds seem to be parting for its figure as it surged through the sky. Its figure casts a shadow over the land.

Knowing that he was heavily injured, Katsuro held his breath. Trying to hide and blend into the forest. It was a cowardly act in his eyes, but he couldn’t care enough to worry about that. The figure in the sky was a wyvern! All though they weren’t pure-blooded dragons, they were still terrifying to deal with, especially in his injured state.

Luckily, the wyvern seemed to not have noticed him as it flew away from him. Watching the figure’s distance getting further and further away. He couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

‘Who here can control a wyvern?’

Taking those messy thoughts out of his head, he continued to trek across the forest while limping. Unbeknownst to him, someone was watching his disheveled figure with a hint of arrogance and mockery.

It was Katrina!

She had already spotted him, but she just wanted to test him. Would he challenge the wyvern or ignore it? Seeing that he feigned innocence to it, she now had confirmation that his disheveled figure wasn’t for show. He truly must be injured! Not only that, judging by the countless corpses around the forest, he was probably exhausted from the fight with the Monster Wave.

She was flying on her Bronze Wyvern, so she was able to directly bypass the multiple Monster Waves that were spreading across the forest. But that didn’t mean she came out unharmed though. There were still some flying monsters that attacked her, undeterred by the presence of the wyvern.

This wouldn’t have been a problem, but her wyvern seemed to be scared during the Monster Waves. It was wimping and barely listened to her orders. So the fight with the flying monsters was harder than it should have been. This was the unfortunate effect of monsters with dragon bloodlines. They would suffer under the suppression of a pure-blooded dragon, barely able to let out a whimper.

This was not only the case for dragons though, any monster with a bloodline would suffer bloodline suppression. Bloodline suppression was like a hierarchy system. The one with a purer bloodline could suppress the weaker bloodline.

Fortunately, her Bronze Wyvern shook off the bloodline suppression after a while. Allowing them to promptly kill the pests bothering them.

As for the reason why she came in this direction? Well, it was mainly because of the environment. Unlike the vibrant scenery that one would expect of a forest, this area was filled with smog and gloom. So she went to the area that was different from the rest. And it seems like her decision paid off when she found an injured Katsuro!

The opponent that she had been chasing after the whole time.

She could only thank her lucky stars for the Monster Wave. As it easily allowed her to find him in such a messy and large environment. So she stalked him like a predator. Hiding in the clouds, waiting for the perfect opportunity to deal with a lethal strike.

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She couldn’t help but admire his tenacity, as he was able to drag his injured body across such distance. Not only that, but the sun had already collapsed. Allowing for the full moon to take its place. It cast a light onto his lonely figure, as he traveled under the guidance of the moon and stars. It wasn’t until long though.

Katsuro is mentally and physically exhausted. Decided to set camp. In an inconspicuous place, covered by the foliage of trees and debris. He hollowed out a trunk of tree as he decided to lay rest there for the night.

‘Haha! What a perfect opportunity to strike!’

‘But I’ll wait for him to completely fall asleep forest.’

Although eager she was still patient. Why make her task more difficult when she could just strike him while he was at his lowest? Her main goal was to garner fame anyway. It didn’t have to be good or bad fame, any fame was good for her. Publicity was all that mattered. So in her mind, whether people would call her a coward or not, she didn’t care about it. Also, she had plenty of trust that the only people who would call her a coward would be people from the Eastern Continent, while the Western Continent would definitely defend her behavior with a fervent attitude.

So she waited for another 10 minutes making sure he was soundly asleep. When she decided that, he was finally asleep. She ordered her wyvern to attack!

A ball of flames lit up in the throat of the wyvern as it rolled itself from its throat all the way to its mouth. Dragon Breath! Well in this case it would be called Wyvern Breath, it was an attack that dragons and wyverns all specialized in.

Without waiting for much longer. A breath of flames cascaded across the night sky. Traveling all the way from the clouds to the hiding location of Katsuro. The flames were a violent red, as they domineeringly destroyed the trees in their way while causing a forest fire.

Katsuro, who was awakened by his sixth sense, warned him of immense danger. Dragged his tired body out of the tree he summoned his monster. It was a wooden mask painted in blood red. The mask was heavily cracked as it depicted a demon’s face. It had two horns and a furious expression on its face with heavy eyebrows that were scrunched. And two wooden eyes that were burning wrath. It had two pairs of sharp fangs protruding out of the bottom and top of its mouth.

It was the Hate-Filled Oni Mask.

A monster special to the Eastern Continent. Not found in any other of the continents. Except for those who purchased or smuggled it out of the Eastern Continent. They were rumored to be birthed by an Oni who reached maturity in its life. Each mask was different as they all portrayed different expressions. This one depicted one of pure fury and anger.

Seeing the breath of flame coming his way, Katsuro ordered the mask to stop the attack.

The mask flew into the air as it stood in the direction of the breath of flames. It looked like suicide, but when the flames reached the mask, the mask opened its mouth. Revealing its long and barbed tongue. Which promptly absorbed the flames into its mouth.

Seeing that the attack was stopped, Katsuro ordered the mask the retaliate.

“Demon Breath!”

The mask that originally depicted a furious expression seems to have an even more furious expression. A ball of black and red flames was spat back to the wyvern. Who seeing the attack, blocked it with a wall made out of rock. The demon flames desperately ate into the wall of rock, but after a futile attempt, the wall only had a few holes, looking like a sieve. Which was quite surprising for flames, which usually can’t burn through rocks.

“Why are you attacking me?”

Katsuro questioned the woman who was letting out pompous waves of laughter.

“Haha, why can’t I attack you? This is an exam all about fighting? Not to mention you’re a dirty foreigner on western lands.”

Seeing that she couldn’t be reason with he just labeled her as a lunatic and a coward. While desperately defending from her attacks. He didn’t know how long the waves of attack would last, but he had to find a way to escape. His body was simply too injured and his state was not at its peak. So while the wyvern fought against the mask he retreated.

Katrina had already figured out how to deal with the mask. Although it could spew out demonic flames and absorb any flames sent its way, it seems to be too weak in its current state. Not to mention, her wyvern was a Bronze Wyvern. This means that it not only specializes in fire attacks but earth attacks too!

So she simply bullied it by shooting earth blasts from the wyvern. Who was kiting the attacks from the mask. While mocking Katsuro who was desperately trying to escape.

“The great Katsuro is escaping his enemies? I thought you came here to prove yourself in battle.”

Gritting his teeth, Katsuro feigned a look of cowardness. As he continued to make his escape. He already had a plan, but it relied on the girl being confident and arrogant of herself. Hoping to strike her while she was in a momentary brief of carelessness.

It didn’t take long for Katrina to reveal a flaw. As when she ordered the wyvern to hit the mask with its clubtail. An invisible force reached out to grab her and the wyvern. It was a gigantic and bony hand that had been invisible before. Biding its precious time, for her to make a mistake.

Caught in the grasp of the hands, Katrina couldn’t help but reveal a look of shock and terror. Her wyvern which was already big in her eyes was nothing but a mere toy in the hands of this monster. Who seen revealed its figure. It was a gigantic skeleton with protruding eyes and the bones made rattles with its every movement.

The skeleton measured over 15 meters in height. As it had a toothy grin on its face. It was a Gashadokuro, a famous demonic spirit in the Eastern Continent. It was extremely hard to capture one, as they were known for their invisibility and cleverness. They looked like an undead monster, but they were actually a demon.

This means that not only can holy monsters restrain it but they can also restrain holy monsters. Holy monsters and demonic monsters were two sides of the same coin. Both counteract each other, compared to the complete suppression of holy monsters onto the undead, demons were doing far better than them.

Katrina desperately tried to struggle out of the palms of the skeleton but it was a futile attempt as demonic flames lit up across its entire body. Threatening to creammate her and her wyvern. So seeing the hopeless situation, she shouted.

“I give up!”

With that, she was teleported out of the forest.

The skeleton made a rattling noise as it looked down at Katsuro.

“Human, why didn’t you call me earlier?”

Not bothering to reply to its question, Katsuro sent it back to the pocket space. The reason for this is that the demon was always trying to bewitch him. Trying to drive him into insanity and feeding off his negative energy and emotions.

This wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t his strongest monster, but because it was. It could be arrogant. Not only that, he relied on his father to help him contract this monster. Which made it always disdain him.

Ignoring the monster. Katsuro tried to calm his emotions, being in close contact with it, had already made countless negative emotions flare up. He entered a meditative state, as his restless mood soon calmed down, and he entered into a peaceful sleep. This time, not interrupted by any lunatic in the middle of the night with a wyvern.