Morrigan’s feline eyes scanned everyone.

“Everyone that can fight is here.”

She claimed.

“Everyone, our scouts are back and they brought us not good news. We may encounter a monster wave.”

Arslan was frowning with his arms crossed. Ama looked worried and noticeably tired. Both of them were like this since we started traveling. No, maybe even before that. After that operation to save beastkin?

I actually tried to talk to them to understand and maybe ease their burden but Ama just waved and said “It is fine.” While Arslan just thought I was messing with him. Even though it worried my old man heart I also didn’t have the most amount of time while taking care of Larve, killing monsters on our way, and catching up with Lily.

Speaking of him… He was making faces and trying to get a reaction from me since I arrived here. I was used to his clownish behavior so I kept a stoic face.

Seriously, he was a clown. What kind of stuff he was even wearing? At least when we were in the army his wardrobe was somewhat limited. Now he wore elbow-length fingerless gloves and a sleeveless tank top that exposed his midriff! I know I look like a character who jumped out of a dark fantasy novel but he didn’t even wear a single piece of armor!

He weaseled his way to me, somehow getting through the crowd without them realizing, and wrapped his arm around my lower back.

“Looks like we’ll have to turn back to old bad days.”

I raised my right eyebrow. Old days. The days we had to fight against hordes of bugs.

“You don’t look disturbed.”

I whispered back to him. I thought he would be displeased with the idea of fighting in this type of battle. Yet he seemed as carefree as ever.

He turned to me, his green eyes looking back at my purple ones.

“I have a knight in shining armor to protect me.”

I pushed him away from me.

“You should be one doing protecting, bastard.”

Strength 25 Agility 70 Vitality 20 Mana 50 Charisma 29 Defense 10 Spark:Theater of Free Minded Spirit ( Intermediate Grade, Growing) *Allows the user to move gracefully and without any burden.

*Grants a passive bonus of 20 to Agility.

*Ignores resistances and defense based on Agility stat.

*Allows the user to cast illusions and manipulate the wind.

*Increases growth rate of Agility stat by 20 percent.

*Grants correction to movement and performance-based skills and titles. Spark Skills: Illusionary Blades C(Active)

Wind Dance B(Passive)

Wind Blade C (Active)

Wind Slash D (Active)

Mirage D (Active)

Wind Resistance D(Passive) Personal Skills Dual Sword Mastery A(Passive)

Evasion B(Passive)

Acrobatics C(Passive)

Graceful Steps B(Passive)

Contract With Wind Spirit C(Passive& Active)

Wind Control D(Active)

Hawkeye D (Passive)

Mana Manipulation C (Active) Titles

Outworlder

The Dancing Wind

Divine Touched

Wind Blessed

Partially Locked

I wanted to learn more about Sparks and how they worked and Lily was the only person with it. After nagging to him for a day he finally wrote it down. I also showed him mine before burning the paper.

Honestly, I couldn’t learn anything. Our Sparks were very different than each other.

“Your stats are higher.”

I claimed.

Strength 28(33,6) Agility 26(31,2) Vitality 28(33,6) Mana 24(28,8) Charisma 28(33,6) Defense 20(39) Spark: Fallen Knight’s Armor( Intermediate Grade, growing) *Can generate armor around the body.

*Increase all stats by 20 percent.

*Increases defense further by 15.

*Will form armor automatically in danger.

*Gives resistances:

-Darkness 20 %

-Fire 15%

-Curse 10 %

-Instant death 50 %

-Poison 9%

-Ice 5% Spark Skills Night Vision B(Passive)

Shadow Melt B (Passive)

Armory of the Fallen E (Active) Personal Skills Full Combat Mastery D (Passive)

Combat Sense C(Passive)

Iron Will A(Passive)

Monstrous Strength C(Active)

Rapid Healing C (Passive)

Indomitable Marksmanship D (Passive)

Armor Collapsing Claw D (Active)

Mana Erupt E (Active)

Synchronization ?(Passive & Active)

Mana Manipulation E (Active) Titles The One Who Have Seen The End

Mythical Beast’s Partner

Partially Locked

“Only in Agility and Mana! I am a glass cannon!”

He bitched.

“Your skills are higher rank.”

I didn’t give in.

“They are not combat oriented!”

“I call bullshit.”

A dagger flew between us.

“Do you guys have something important to say?”

Morrigan called out to us, a hand on her hip.

“No, madam!”

Lily shouted as he saluted her. Bastard. He wouldn’t salute me without making weird faces when we were in the army. I sighed and took a step forward.

“Do we need to fight head-on? Maybe we can scare them off using large-scale magic?”

I suggested, looking at Ama. Monsters in this world were weird. Back on Earth, animals avoided fighting unless they had to. Fighting brought risks and even one small wound could lead to infection and death in the wild.

Monsters were different. Too aggressive, too quick to attack. They didn’t even try to intimidate most of the time. I wasn’t sure if it was a weird type of evolution or mana affecting them but I wasn’t sure if “normal” ways of controlling animals would work.

Stolen story; please report.

“It depends.”

Ama spoke up after a short silence.

“This could be a mass migration. If it is like that it could work. But if there is some other reason I can’t say it could work.”

Lily raised his hand.

“You said it was around 200? It isn’t as bad as I thought. When you called me that hurridly I expected at least 500 or so monsters. Poyraz and I can probably take half of them head-on. But…”

He looked at me.

“We are not going to face them head-on, don’t we?”

I sighed.

“Firstly, I am not going to jump into a monster horde. I am too old for that shit. Secondly, no. First things first. Monsters. What kind of monster they are? Any mutated or boss ones? Their behavior? Terrain? Do we have all the information to formulate a plan around?”

Morrigan shook her head.

“Scouts came back as soon as they noticed the monster wave to inform us. So no, we don’t have any of that.”

I stretched, my body making creaking noises.

“Okay, see you guys the next day. I am going to collect information. Hopefully, they just behave normally and we don’t have to fight them.”

I waited for Morrigan’s nod of approval but it didn’t come.

“I am going with him. Ama, you know what to do.”

Some tried to protest while Lily gave me a smug wink.

“Only we have stealth skills. We will just gather information. We are also strong enough to escape if things go south. It is just one day.”

I already had food and water in the bag of holding I “borrowed” so I just waited for Morrigan to prepare and we headed out to where the monster wave was seen.

“You didn’t have to come. Is there a reason?”

I spoke up as we moved. I tried to stay in the shadows cast by trees. While Shadow Melt was a passive skill, it had the requirement of being in shadows or darkness. To use it more effectively I was training myself to move through shadows.

“What do you mean?”

Morrigan answered from the shadows. I wasn’t exactly sure how her skill worked but it was somewhat similar to mine.

(Your partner is sharing the skill Enhanced Senses with you. Its effectiveness is lowered.)

Gökbörü let out a small growl. He was currently on top of my head. He managed to not fall no matter how fast I moved and wanted to be there so I let him. With my senses sharpening slightly, I could follow Morrigan’s movements at least to some degree.

“Well, Lily told me you have been traveling with humans while hiding your identity. Before that, I assume you were traveling alone. But every time I see you surrounded by others you make “that” face. I thought you would prefer the company of your own people.”

Her movements slowed, making me think I disrespected her boundaries.

“I could say the same thing for you. I thought Lily was your best friend yet you guys aren’t as tight as one would think.”

Her feline eyes sparkled from the shadows. This time it was my turn to slow down. I sighed.

“I am old, Morrigan. I am probably triple your age. I felt too much emotion and I bonded with many people. I buried him. I lived many years knowing I will never meet him again. See him, talk to him, share a meal with him. Seeing him like this again… A little bit too much.”

Gökbörü let out a soft growl and licked my ear.

“Also we are kind of different. Lily is a cat. You can’t just grab him and hold him close to yourself. He will travel the entire city, let everyone pet him and give him food, and will return home when you are busiest and expect you to pet him. He is too much of an extrovert to stay around just one person and I am too much of an introvert to-Wait, did you just made talk about myself to avoid addressing my question?”

I stopped and narrowed my eyes when I realized I was ranting. Morrigan also stopped.

“Nooo?”

She answered after a brief silence. That I took a deep breath before start speaking again:

“If my question made you uncomfortable, I am sorry. Sometimes I think sticking my nose into other people’s problems is okay. It can even be said that’s why I am here right now. It is just, I know you don’t know me that well but you can speak to me. I was sent here to help you guys and I am pretty sure that doesn’t just mean killing and fighting.”

I couldn’t see Morrigan’s face since half of it was covered with her mask but her eyes were filled with emotion.

“It is not your fault. I am not used to this kind of stuff. I think I am similar to you. I was just freeing beastkin and chasing after Regal. I was on the move, always alone. Now that I am surrounded by people, people who expect leadership from me, I feel…”

She looked away while trailing off.

“Overwhelmed? Inadequate? Anxious? It is perfectly fine, Morrigan. Do you think other people don’t feel like that? I, personally am fucking stressed out. Gods didn’t exist in my world and now I am her hero or whatever and she is ordering me to save this world.”

“How do you keep smiling?”

“Fake it until you make it. Sounds pretty simple, isn’t it?”

I let out a quiet laugh before speaking again, this time my voice softer than before.

“I don’t smile all the time, Morrigan. Smiling for me is no different than raising my voice while I am giving out orders. It is a tool to raise morale and keep the ranks.”

I noticed Morrigan pulling her daggers. I also materialized one dagger in my right hand. One of the things I noticed while training to use Armory of the Fallen was if a weapon was smaller and didn’t have options it could be summoned by small amounts of mana and focus. I also could summon it faster.

With a casual flick of her wrist, Morrigan sent one of her daggers in my direction. It was fast, fast enough to make me think she had a high-ranking passive skill like “Throwing”.

There was no way I could block it. The only things I could do were hope and pray that my armor was strong enough to stop it before it reached an important part.

I also threw my dagger. My movement was bigger and slower. I relied on my strength to launch it. I couldn’t help but cringe at how clumsy my dagger throw was compared to Morrigan's. Maybe I should swallow my pride and ask her for tips.

Regardless of how I felt, both of our daggers did their job. I quickly pulled Morrigan’s dagger out of the corpse. It was slightly larger than a cat. It looked similar to a rat. Its bony body was covered with slick mottled fur. Even with all that distinguishing features what caught my interest was its front fangs. They were oversized, even for a rodent. So oversized in fact, the monster’s mouth couldn’t contain all of it. A black, thick goo dripped from their mouth. Some kind of venom?

I swung Morrigan’s dagger. The Monster’s blood didn’t stick to the blade and fell to the ground. Huh, one of the options perhaps? My helmet closed by itself as I handed Morrigan her dagger. Gökbörü hid in my cloak.

“I take the right. Don’t get hit. They have some kind of venom.”

I gave instructions as I gazed upon countless hungry eyes looking at me behind the trees.