The muddy road was unpleasant to travel over, even when you were probably prepared. First of all, it got everywhere, 'I wouldn't call myself a partially tidy person, but this is too much.' he spent too much time trying to ignore or clean the mud drying to his skin and carapace. With the time and resources, he usually had his carapace shining, but the mud ruined that. His pride in his appearance was taking a hit.

"if you glare that hard, you'll turn the ground to stone or your face." Aero looked up from where he was sitting. Leaving on the edge of the carriage that was watching the road go by. While listening to the helper, give him some exercises. He had started on some more resource management this morning; it was worse than the mud. at least he could wipe away the mud.

These sheets are about budgets and resource reports. It was something else; it made Aero want to tear out his carapace and hang his head against it. It would be so much easier, but Aero was prideful and stubborn, so he kept working at it. His experience with the ship simulations and his time as a hunter formed a good foundation. But what the helper gave him was on a completely different scale.

It kept Aero busy for most of the day, and his only real problem was the mud. And the person driving the cart for them, Aero, was putting in a lot of effort to ignore the looks they constantly gave him. If he pays attention, he is going to knock them out.

Hopefully, it won't go that far or go beyond that. Aero didn't want to deal with what had followed; he tried to be positive. Though he wasn't experienced with it. "Damn this mud!" his teammate furiously scrubbed in the stream. Not wanting the mud to dry in her clothing. Honestly, he got it. The stains would be a pain to remove if they let them sit too long.

But his current loose outfit was already stained and pretty torn and patched." I really should do something about this." He looked down at the clothing before struggling; he wore it into fights. How it looked wasn't too important; how it smelled was a bigger problem. some old stains he couldn't wash out left unpleasant scents.

'I'll deep clean it later; maybe that will get the stains out.' he knew a few ways to get them out of the way. 'but I didn't bri-' stopping mid-thought, he looked up and saw a four-legged creature with silver fur and spiraling horns on its head. "By the zalts." Aero silently swore before jumping to his feet and springing out into a kick. the creature quickly retreated. Baring its fangs at him, circling around him, its footsteps barely making a sound in the mud. 'no wonder, it snuck up on me.'

What alerted Aero to its presence was its massive pride.' this amount is rather dangerous; if I don't kill it, I have to deal with the energy.' Taking a breath, he summoned out energy to coat his body before taking an orb and wrapping it around his staff.

'I'll stain myself like this, but what better time to improve than the middle of battle?' Locking eyes with the creature, both of them moved. The creature was trying to retreat, and Aero was trying to beat it. For a medium-large creature, it was agile. even hopping among the tree branches.

'with this kind of speed, it's going to be hard to land a clean hit with my physical ability; forget my energy.' at least if the lord did things straight out, instead of trying to chase the creature down, he chased it into a trap. making use of the terrain and the fact he wasn't alone!

"ha!" his teammate shouted, lior coming out to stick the creature directly in the legs. Got a bit of blood on her despite returning from washing. 'can we go a day without this,' she swore to herself several times, pulling back, bashing aside the horns of the creature, and trying to stab it again, only for it to pull back, reaching for another three.

"not so fast," staff spinning over his head notes in the air, he swung hard. The creature just lowered its body to avoid a complete hit from the weapon, a shock wave sending it flying. Directly into a tree, its thick bark cracking. Aero landed, shaking for a moment before ruching at the stretching staff, moving in his hand more notes playing.

but unseen only to his eyes was the energy he had gathered around his weapon, the creature hiss barked at him. Hair standing on end as it lunged at him, teeth bared to tear out flesh; Aero first did side-step the wide approach, throwing his leg up into the bottom jaw.

Forcing the mouth shut with a snap, he quickly brought his staff down on its upper body. He would have aimed for the neck if not for the horns; he felt both impacts against its body and its energy. 'that was some solid, then I expected.'

twirling, he pulled his leg away from the teeth that would have taken a chunk out of his body. "ha," he threw his momentum behind the next swing, and the creature jumped out of the way and right into the weapon of Galia." blood darkened their fur and the ground. Aero didn't wait, following up with his out quick strikes.

but not too quickly so his energy could keep up with his body. he could feel the creature's pride cracking and chipping away. but the bigger problem was it was regenerating. right before his eyes. 'I doubt that's normal,' Aero had checked on the people he whittled.

They did not regenerate, not this fast. As far as he observed, it was a case by the bass thing. some did it faster than others, and Aero generated a good amount by the day. since he didn't use much beyond chains and practice. His stockpile helped.

Galia's pu-doa cut through the creature's skin once more, spilling more blood and leaving it open to several heavy strikes from Aero. each laced with his own pride energy damages its energy. It was regenerating once more, but Aero watched closely, focusing as much power into his eyes as he dared.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

'damn this beast!' now he could see it, the faint otherness in the creature's pride. Fueling its regeneration, it looked like it was about the size of a grain. but it was definitely powerful,' can I break it?' he'd never done something like that,' can only try and improve!' which he knew he could do.

Focusing his energy, he collected it as the tip of his staff, shaping it like the blade of Galia's pudao. turning his staff in hand, Aero looked at the bleeding creatures, 'Honestly, they were trying to chase it off.' No reason to kill it, so why is it staying? Could it be the beast's influence?' one way to find out is the next time he clashed with it, he directed the energy blade directly into the tiny grain of otherly nonmortal pride.

"hard!" Aero was taken aback by how the small grain cracked his construct." well, I guess I'll have to do better." preparing the constrict, he forced on Harding the contraction, condensing even more energy into it.

the next time he slashed at the grain, he felt the recoil, and the construct cracked again, 'seriously?!' the cracks were smaller, ' How hard is this thing.' it was so small but so hard. "what's going on?" Galia asked; somehow, she could tell Aero was getting frustrated about something she couldn't see.

"the beast of pride had caused this creature to attack us; if I can break the thing that is being used to control the creature, I'm pretty sure it will leave us alone..."

"but it is not breaking, and this thing is getting closer." Galia pointedly looked at the cut on his left. aero only nodded before Galia took a deep breath; the air around her chance shimmered as he realized the bit of heaven and earth energy she had managed to gather. As they traveled, days of meditation have helped her form a drop of energy inside of her. While it wasn't much, it was plenty enough for her to move faster.

the creature couldn't completely follow her subsequent movements, but it felt the late side of her blade crashing into its face. Aero heard the bone crack at the blow; he was mostly filled with the emotion of envy. He let it go the next moment instead of focusing on his construct swinging again when it was ready.

It cracked, and he reforged it harder. it cracked her remade it, sharper. It cracked. He tried again, pouring more energy into it. Again and again, he focused on control and energy. 'I will do this!' he had to, who knows how many times the creature would try this trick. who knows if it would always be a creature he could kill.

Plus, he saw a challenge that cracked his contracts. he had to make something strong enough to break that grain, so why not while he had the chance. Neither he nor Galia were in some serious danger.

'I'll do it! I'll overcome this!' he just had to swing harder, swing faster. His blade was solid and sharp, his strike fast, strong, and accurate. He would break it even if it took a thousand swings; it would shatter under his power.

While it wasn't a thousand swings, his arms and shoulders ached. His eyes were bloodshot from the stress of controlling his energy of such an amount of energy. He was a moment away from a nosebleed, but with everything, he swung, throwing the entire weight of his exhausted body into it, along with most of the remaining energy. He swung, but the blade did not crack.

'Come on!' Though it didn't crack, neither did the grain. Digging his feet into the ground, he pushed. Galia was holding down the creature, so that wasn't a problem for the moment, 'come on, break!' he and Gailia had put in too much effort to fail.

Gritting his teeth further, digging in deeper. pulling out every bit of physical strength he had. pulling on every bit of energy he had, even what his body held on its own. flowing through his body, muscles, bones, and skin. towards the blade, the weapon that would win.

he didn't doubt he would win! He didn't believe this creature had the power to kill him; his skills were much too high to die from such a simple thing. 'even if its sneak attack had gone off, I would fight! I will fight until I win; I will win the way I desire!'

He wasn't sure what had happened or how to describe it. the energy flowing through his body changed, or was it his body that changed around the energy? either way, something changed; it was slow, but his construct started cutting through the grain of energy.

"wow!" he was almost physically pushed back as the energy burst out from the grain, "ahh!" Galia screamed as the energy brushed against her, burning her skin and carapace." by the zalts and zaltess!" he pulled back as same continued pushing into the grain, his blade moving at a torturous slow pace. The energy brushed against his own and reached through his skin.

Stressing his mind, further Aero worked to wrap his energy around himself to protect himself. 'come on then, break Zalts, damn it! I'll even ask the mother at this point!' he had to be realistic. He couldn't keep this up forever. The power was burning away the construct. If he wasn't feeding it, would have long since broken.

But it still seemed like his construct slowly moved in at a pace slower than the change of the seasons. But like the seasons, they moved, unable to be stopped.

"HA!" Aero cheered as he finally cut through the construct, the energy finally dispersing in a wave that almost threw them on their ass and left fresh burns over their bodies. Aero was pretty sure that a pettiness or an attempt to deal a final blow. Still, Aero didn't fall over, partly because he's gone partly numb to the burns that appeared under his energy armor. The other reason was the strange reaction that going on with his body.

observing, he got a better idea of what was happening,' Oh, I definitely going to talk to Xoqax. Can you handle giving him the data?' he asked the helper, watching as the creature recovered from the removal of the grain. leaving it a rather tatter pride. it didn't hesitate to retreat.

The entire time, its eyes focused on Aero and Gailia. Both of them were a bit unsteady but more than ready to fight if necessary. "Let's get back to camp. Do you think the medicine we have will work on these burns?" He gestured to one of her arms where she had been in contact with the creature.

"I really don't know," he was hoping, but he wasn't betting high. They made it back to camp without any complications and focused on treating their injuries. Inni was helpful to see the burns and lunges for the medicine bag and grab bandages as well. The driver was not; she screamed and insisted they turn around for the nearest healer hunt.

Aero ignored her and focused on getting his wound treated. When she kept persisting," Listen here you -" the words he said were not written down. They were considered too foul by the lord of stories.

[HAHAHAHHA!]

[shut it you!]

"oh wow," Inni said after serval petals of him just cussing women out with words that might not have been from their world. gently she pulled the panting hunter back and set him on the edge of the cart so they could start banning his burns; the burn cream at least soothered the pain of what looked like a burn that scorched the upper layers of skin.

Through their combined medical knowledge, they figured the burns didn't get too deep; they were painful but wouldn't hinder their movement too much, "definitely going to need a healer when we get back."

After making sure the wounds were as treated as they were going to get in this situation, Aero went to bed; he was tired, and something else was necessary for the rest of the day.