The silver-haired, handsome man simply stared at her, and although she couldn't sense any Ord from him, she ripped off her coat's sleeves, revealing her toned arms and causing her Ord to skyrocket once again.
However, he didn’t look intimidated by her, and for a second Zumi felt something and her Ord retreated. She had no idea what this feeling was, but her instincts were telling her that fighting this man would be a futile endeavor.
He gestured for her to follow and began running at a brisk pace, one she easily matched. They weaved through the trees, and strangely, Zumi felt as though the trees were smiling at her. However, when she focused on them, they appeared entirely ordinary.
What a creepy place!
As they ran, Zumi glanced at her arms and touched her naked face, sighing as she reflected on her past and how she came to possess such a unique ability.
Her father, one of the previous Sun Exorcist, the one that held the position after the Sun Exorcist who was killed under mysterious circumstances—a person who was a leader of one of the clans that the Dark Sword Clan would massacre.
It was no secret that the Dark Sword Clan had a hand in that "mysterious" death. They had numerous ways to eliminate an exorcist without direct confrontation, and their expertise in such methods had only grown over a generation or two.
However, Zumi didn't concern herself much with those political matters. She hailed from a deeply traditional family, and her father was the sole exorcist in their region. There, women were expected to cover themselves fully, with even their faces hidden until they were married.
Her father had intended to mold her into the next Sun Exorcist and had subjected her to training in a sauna to get used to the heat. She often wore a thick cloak in the sauna, and during those times it felt as though the sweltering temperatures would be the end of her. Unbeknownst to everyone at the time, her high Warrior affinity led to the natural awakening of her Ord and the rapid development of a special ability.
Her ability turned out to be absurd—the fewer clothes she wore, the more Ord she accumulated, enhancing the strength of her abilities. It felt like an ability only an exhibitionist would possess, and she loathed it!
With her traditional values and the judgmental community she grew up in, she knew people talked behind her back, deeming her special ability as something only a slut would develop.
Zumi clenched her fist, feeling anger boil within her. The man glanced at her and signaled her to stop. They halted on the edge of a jagged ravine, an unnatural formation in the heart of the forest, likely the aftermath of some long-past battle.
The silver-haired man pointed towards a cave where she spotted the Kuro Clan Head and his son. Gem pulled his father inside, and shortly after, a peculiar scene unfolded with a humanoid demon sporting the head of an octopus stealthily approaching the cave.
Just as Gem glanced outside, the demon's sudden appearance startled him. Yet, before the creature could attack, another silver-haired man, identical to the one she was with, materialized behind the demon and swiftly impaled it, easily ending its life.
Zumi turned towards the man next to her, finding him still present. Suddenly, numerous other beings possessing overwhelming power manifested around them. Before Zumi could react, she felt a hand on her shoulder – it was the silver-haired man signaling her not to make any noise.
In the next moment, she sensed foreign Ord entering her body. It flowed like a scalpel, precisely shutting off all her Ord nodes in an instant, rendering her seemingly devoid of any Ord, appearing like an ordinary person.
That whole sequence of events happened so fast that Zumi was left with her mouth agape. She had never imagined that such precise control over Ord was possible for a human. Even Masters shouldn't possess such capabilities under normal circumstances, making this display likely the result of a special ability.
Nonetheless, the silver-haired man's Ord coated her protectively as a monstrous Ord descended upon them. One of the dozens of demons, a four-armed gorilla, comparable to ultimate rank demons, suddenly exploded like a balloon.
Zumi watched in awe as one of the other demons uttered something, but an overwhelming pressure descended upon them. Strangely, she didn't feel significantly affected, and the demons instantly burst like balloons. Afterward, the other silver-haired man walked away.
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As the protective coating around her dissipated, all her Ord nodes were unlocked in an instant, causing a sensation akin to needles swimming through her veins. Though Zumi hadn't resisted the foreign Ord, she couldn't help but feel peculiar.
Now, she was certain that the silver-haired man had to be a Master. After all, no other affinity could control Ord with such precision. Even for Masters, achieving this level of mastery was extraordinary, indicating that it was now without a doubt due to a special ability.
Then, the silver-haired man next to her pointed towards the cave where the Kuro Clan Head's son stood in confusion.
As someone who had witnessed numerous signals used in battle, Zumi easily grasped someone's intentions, even without verbal communication. Frowning at the silver-haired man's request, she decided to seek clarification. "You want me to protect the Kuro Clan Head and his kid?"
The silver-haired man nodded, providing the first clear response he had given. It should have drained a considerable amount of Ord, yet he appeared unruffled and unpanicked.
Before Zumi could respond, the ground trembled, and an explosion echoed in the distance. Narrowing her eyes, her Warrior vision enabled her to discern the source of the disturbance.
A menacing humanoid demon loomed tall in the distance, it was the size of three standing humans. Which was big, but not big enough to be scary from its size alone as Zumi had seen bigger. However, the size of its Ord and the malice imbued in the energy sent chills down her spine.
It had the head of a grotesque boar with razor-sharp tugs, and a humanoid body covered in fur. Despite its size, the demon was lightning-fast, and traveled kilometers in seconds.
“Honored One! What gives you the right to kill my people!” the demon yelled out, concluding its sentence with a pig-like snort.
‘Honored One?’ Zumi deduced that it must be some kind of nickname.
She had little time to contemplate as the boar demon drew closer, bringing with it a suffocating heaviness in the air. Before she could act, the silver-haired man charged forward, firmly grasping the demon's face. The demon thrashed about but was helpless against the man's hold, and the man dragged the demon’s body through the ground.
Zumi turned her attention back to her task—protecting the Kuro Clan Head and his companion. However, being one to challenge orders, she couldn't resist her curiosity. Swiftly moving through the forest, she managed to catch up to the silver-haired man, who had thrown the beast against a towering tree with a trunk seemingly reaching the sky.
Questions arose in her mind about how they hadn't noticed this colossal tree when they were approaching the island, but she dismissed those thoughts. In a world where people from different timelines were running about, a peculiar tree hardly ranked as the strangest thing she had encountered that day.
"You bastard!" the boar demon roared, charging at the silver-haired man without hesitation.
Zumi kept a safe distance, determined not to involve herself in this monster showdown. She recognized that this was a fight between creatures beyond her realm of understanding.
What unfolded next was hardly what she would call a fight. The grass around the silver-haired man withered, gathering into a wheel of water in his palm. As the boar demon drew near, each step shaking the earth, the silver-haired man showed no hesitation. He released a spinning water arrow with a thunderous sonic boom.
The projectile pierced the demon's skin, and upon doing so, it expanded from within, mixing with its blood, causing the creature to explode in a burst of gore.
However, this demon was different from the previous ones, swiftly regenerating almost instantly, its flesh reattaching and making it whole again. The silver-haired man appeared unfazed, and as the plants around him withered, he unleashed three more water arrows.
This time, the arrows were thwarted by an invisible barrier. The boar demon grinned, but the silver-haired man's expression remained emotionless, his gaze cold. He then shot water-spinning balls, tearing the monster apart once more. The demon regenerated yet again, as its flesh chunks reassembled, restoring what was missing.
Zumi's heart trembled as she grasped the extent of the monster's power. It appeared to possess an adaptive ability, making it impervious to any future attempts at killing it. When coupled with its regenerative capabilities, the demon seemed destined to become invincible in a shockingly short span of time.
The boar demon let out a mocking laugh. "Do you see now? This is the power of the Twelve Dream Lords that you foolishly refused to join!"
Despite the demon's boasts, the silver-haired man compressed the water and unleashed it with such force that it cut through the demon like a hot knife through butter.
Zumi gulped, and a certain thought flashed through her mind.
Previously, her mind had been clouded and preoccupied by the overwhelming power of those around her. However, now her thoughts were clear, and she recalled having seen someone else who could manipulate water...
Her gaze lingered uncertainly on the silver-haired man.
Yet, she had little time for contemplation. Her focus was on the ongoing battle. How could anyone defeat a monster with an adaptive ability and the power to create barriers that rendered conventional attacks futile?