We were moving so fast that when we run past someone, the wind currents whip their clothes.

Sadly, there are no hot guys’ shirts getting lifted.

Then we reach the gate, where the guards immediately lock eyes on us and stand in front of the gate with their spear guns ready.

Yuen comes to a halt and kicks up dust in the process.

He points at me. “She is with me. We are going outside.”

One of them looks at him with a judgmental gaze. “Why?”

“Uh…” he turns to look at me and asks, “Yeah, why?”

“Dude, now you are asking me this?” I ask in disbelief.

Even those gate guards fold their arms and look at him, expecting an answer.

Yuen then exchanges gazes with the guards and me before walking up to me casually and saying, “Don’t make them think I am weird. They are going to think I am weird.”

I mean, he is already too late. The guards are barely keeping their disgust held back as they also whisper with each other.

He then mutters with a terrified expression. “They think I am weird.”

Hmph.

I step forward. “It’s to hunt half-men."

Upon hearing that, they look at me in surprise.

The older man smiles gently, like I am an innocent child that has no idea what she is talking about.

He says, “Oh dear… those things are very scary. They are violent, cannibalistic, and… other inappropriate words.”

Maybe rapey is one of them. Nonetheless, I interject and say, “I am assuming the president told you all who I am? I think it should be evident based on the fact I don’t have the flow patterns.”

His voice cracks a little as he says, “Well, of course, but he also says to not let you all leave the city without one of the royal guards or an entrusted knight.”

That royal shit again.

I ask since it confuses me so badly, “Why are they called royal guards by the way? It’s not like this place has a royal family.”

“Uhh… It’s complicated… Anyway! Like I was saying—“

I click my tongue and point at Yuen. “He is with me. He is a royal guard the last time I checked.”

“Well… Um. Did we say royal guard? We meant entrusted knights. Haha”

Time freezes.

After activating it, his laughter and expression become stuck in motion.

I grab the frozen Yuen and simply make a leap to jump over the gates.

It boggles me, in a world filled with superhumans, shouldn’t the—

I hit something hard and go tumbling to the ground!

Ouch, Ouch!

I grab my head in intense pain and twist and turn.

What the hell was that?

I push myself up and look at the sky.

I couldn’t see it, but it feels like I hit a weird barrier. Which is hard as hell.

Oh, you gotta be kidding me.

I turn off my time freeze and groan. The guards laughing continue until it is replaced with confusion since it appears as if we teleported during the conversation.

Yuen is left stunned as he looks around, while being on the ground, wondering how the hell did he end up here?

He is probably going to figure it out, eventually. I think.

He mutters, “What the…”

I quickly tell the guards, “You see that?! My skill is malfunctioning, if I don’t get stronger to control it…I am going to…’

I suddenly flinch, my eyes widening in shock. My body folds over as I clutch my stomach, my face contorted with pain.

With a groan, I say, “It’s back again… I am going to—!”

Suddenly, I am leaning against the gates, still holding my stomach in pain. “It’s getting bad… I think.”

The next second, the guard is suddenly falling from the sky.

“Oh my, what could have done that?” I say with a British accent, before obviously catching him.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

He is now skittish, and his eyes dart around. “O-open that door to get this creature out of here!”

‘Creature’ whatever.

The gate is opened by the other scared guard.

“Thanks!” I say before seizing Yuen and rushing out before they could change their mind.

Matter of fact, as soon as I make contact with the rough barren road outside, I use time freeze to give the image I teleported away.

***

I take in a deep breath before falling into a small field of flowers that are changing color.

I am so exhausted…

Yuen leans against a huge tree and gazes at the setting sun.

He takes a deep breath and says, “You can freeze goddamn time. Yeah, that makes sense…”

I look at him while embracing the flowers. “You are a smart one.”

“Thanks. My brother thought the same thing.”

Please don’t tell me this is going to be a sad backstory moment.

I don’t want to find out something incredibly tragic and suddenly have sympathy for him, so I don’t inquire about it.

He then stands up and begins walking. “By the way, just to make sure. All you want to do is to kill half-men, right?”

“Uh, yes.”

“I am pretty sure that you are lying, but whatever. Getting outside and walking around was always better than being in that boring city, doing the same thing over and over.”

I can see that being the case.

Randomly, he starts to march, kicking his feet high. “You asked why ‘royal’ guards existed, right?”

“Yes.” I run to his side. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

“Haha… Everyone that’s normal agrees, except for the traditionalists, I guess. Our nation was once the second most powerful, but… civil war broke out between three royal siblings. They both had huge families supporting them. Anyway, the only way to settle the conflict was to basically divide the land into three, and thus we were named Second Cinderayul. Anyway, we weren’t stable, and the people got tired of the kings making stupid decisions, so… they killed the royal family and tried the president shit to elect a leader. Someone that should represent the desires of the citizens… but…”

Oh, I think I understand it.

I finish it for him, “But this current president really wants to be a king? Or like the idea of them and thus named you guys royal guards?”

“Oh, you are quick.”

“Heh!” I shine a grin. “I happen to boast an IQ of 234.”

“Oh? I am not sure what that is, but um… I am happy for you, I guess.”

I click my tongue as I reply, “It means I am smart, that’s what.”

He chuckles.

“Uh huh… anyway, how close are we to that route?”

“Still pretty far. And…” he looks at the sky, seeing the sky getting darker by the minute. “We are going to need your flames to navigate soon.”

“Got it!”

And so we proceed. But holy shit, am I getting bored.

“Oi.”

With a weary look, he turns to face me. “What is it?”

“Uh… umm… oh! Why aren’t the presidential knights called royal knights?”

He turns forward as he replies, “He tried to rename them. But the people threaten to tie his legs to two separate cloud cows and have them run separate directions. Basically, the long-dead president who created the title and procedure for presidential knights is very respected among the people, so changing it would have a grave insult to his name.”

“I see… I think I wanted to ask another question, but I forgot.”

“Oh. I thought you were going to ask why we called our nation Second Cinderayul and not first or anything else.”

I look at him suspiciously before asking, “Are you sure you just don’t want a reason to feel like a teacher?”

“Actually, I do. That’s what I am doing. It feels kinda great. Boosts my ego, you know?”

I sigh. “Go on, tell me.”

He then looks at me with a glare. “Nevermind.”

“What do you mean, ‘nevermind’! You were the one that wanted to talk about it!”

I was actually interested in it.

He replies as he begins increasing his walking pace, “Oh, so now you are interested?”

I keep up with him. “When did I say I wasn’t?”

"You made it seem that way!" he exclaims, before dashing forward so swiftly that, in the blink of an eye, he's already crossed the length of a massive football field.

Of course, I use time freeze to catch up.

I follow him, and we enter a forest in the middle of the night.

Yuen pants heavily, his hands resting on his knees, his exhaustion evident.

His face is drenched in sweat, he mutters, “All that running killed a part of me…”

I am holding onto a tree branch for support. “Yeah, but we are close… so close.”

He then mutters, “Create light for crying out loud…”

Oh right.

I release my grip on the tree and end up hitting the grassy ground.

I stand up and flick a small fireball in front of him before feeding it more flame to illuminate 4 meters around us.

He smiles and then says with a relaxed tone. “Finally… I can see clearly—“

For some reason, he freezes.

Instantly, I use time freeze. I don’t want to take a risk.

Remaining on guard, I crouch low like a soldier, then move closer to Yuen and peer ahead.

Hm… I don’t see what scared him.

I let time resume, igniting my head in flames as I ask, "What's it?"

His eyes dart from what he saw to me over and over.

He points forward, “Those corpses! As far as I can see, I see corpses of half-men!”

Spinning around, he points. “It's just Bodies! And bodies! And bodies!”

Oh… he is looking very far away. Why the hell does he need light if his eyes are that good?

Either way, the amount of corpses is clearly because of us.

I say, “Yeah, whatever passed here was a monster. Crazy… anyway, now help me find a village here.”

“Wait, oh shit…” he slowly backs away from me.

I ask, “What’s it?”

“You… are one of those erratics that hunt down villages to level up.”

“I am not that crazy… yet.”

“YET?!”

I like his reaction and find myself grinning. “Yeah… and guess who is going to be my first flowman victim?”

Horror fills his eyes just as a sudden war cry erupts through the forest.

On the trees from every direction the sound draws closer.

I get on guard, igniting my arms on fire, while also preparing to use time modulation at any moment.

Then from the darkness leaps a semi-naked man… who only has a fur wrap around his groin area.

He lands in front of me on a single knee before standing up with the charisma of a lion killer.

That is the same guy that ran off when I was making a move on him.

Shit… he is hotter. Probably because he is 'naked-er'

He grips the spear in his right hand and readies the huge shield in his other hand. “So you have come to die by our hands?”

I nod as I look him up and down. “Mhm… whatever you say.”

“Look me in my eyes!” he demands.

“Wow wow!” I point at him. “A bit too demanding, don’t you think? Like, where is the compassion, the softness, the… niceness.”

He growls before beating his chest, which causes the others that are hiding in the trees to make the war cries again.

I roll my eyes and say in a casual tone. “Okay. I get it looks weird that I have returned here…”

For a second, his makeshift fur covering shifts, and that immediately takes my attention. But unfortunately, there is no damn fan service.

Annoyed, I continue. “I can revive your village… Once I do that… I think it would be cool if you got um… how do I say this nicely, civili— No, that sounds bad… Hm… Once you start acting and dressing like before, we should get to know each other. What do you think?”

He stares at me in silence.

Yuen whispers to me, “Um. Revive what now? And why the hell did you just ask him out?”

I shush him and then say with a headshake, “Trust in me, I am a professional. Watch.”

My future date's eyes start to get red, which is strange…

The veins all over his face become more visible, and he starts to heave in anger.

Odd.

Yuen then says, “So… this is part of your plan, right?”

“Uhh… No.”

Then he roars and turns into a damn giant. "I am going to kill you!"