It was barely 9 a.m. when Logan and Aria left the guild. They briefly returned to the inn to gather their belongings.
"How are we going to proceed?" Aria asked.
"First, we'll finish this mission as quickly as possible it should take us about a day. After that, we'll experiment on breaking slave seals, and then we'll carry out the plan to save your tribe."
"Very well."
They stopped by several shops to buy a few essentials for their journey and mission. The village in question was located on the western border of the kingdom, about 700 kilometers away. By carriage, it would take at least twelve hours to get there. So they decided to buy horses for the trip on horseback, it would save them about three hours.
Aria, who had never ridden a horse before, had great difficulty mounting it. She fell over and over again, her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment while Logan rode his horse perfectly. She tried for the tenth time, but this time the horse moved suddenly, throwing her off once again. Even the horse seemed to mock her, neighing several times as she sat on the ground yet again.
"You little…" she swore.
She approached the horse to try again, but it bolted, running away from her.
"Come back here, stupid horse!"
Logan sat calmly on his horse, watching as Aria ran furiously after the animal that seemed to take great pleasure in teasing her.
In the end, they took only one horse Aria clearly couldn't handle hers. As they left the stable with Logan's horse, they heard a neigh; it was the one Aria had tried to ride. This time, it was definitely mocking her.
"Tch, bastard!" Aria grumbled, clearly annoyed.
"Let's go," Logan said with a faint smile.
The horse started galloping at full speed, and Aria clung tightly to Logan to stay balanced. It was the first time they had been so close to one another. She suddenly noticed something.
"He smells so good," she thought, holding him even tighter.
They galloped as fast and as far as they could, stopping only for brief breaks to feed and water the stallion. After long hours, they finally arrived at the entrance of the village called Saêl. It was around 7 p.m. They took a small inn to drop off their belongings and rest.
Their rest was brief. After eating an unappetizing potato soup, Logan went out again with Aria.
Logan's gaze focused on the forest surrounding the village. According to the guild's report, monsters had gathered about twenty kilometers away. They were near a cave, hidden from sight fortunately, they had been discovered in time.
"Shall we go scouting?"
"Exactly."
The two naturally headed toward the forest. Before long, they were moving through it, leaping silently from tree to tree beneath a starry sky illuminated by two magnificent moons.
After some time, they reached the place mentioned in the report. The area was indeed teeming with monsters silver wolves, goblins, high goblins, and strange serpent-like creatures whose scales burned with bright flames.
Aria and Logan quietly observed them from the branch of a tall tree. They had made sure to move against the wind and hide their presence as best they could.
Logan activated his Vector Control and used his radar to calculate their numbers. In total, he counted more than 300 monsters, most of them around level 60. Inside the cave, he sensed only two presences, which he found strange.
He concluded that the mysterious man in black must be there but he had no idea what the second presence was. Having assessed nearly all the variables, he turned to Aria.
"We'll finish this in a single night," he declared, his red eyes fixed on the horde of monsters.
A gentle night breeze swept through the silent forest, the scene bathed in the soft light of the stars and the twin moons.
The silence shattered when an explosion erupted a wall over fifteen meters high surrounded the area. The monsters reacted immediately, roaring and beginning to move.
But before they could advance more than a few meters, a second explosion rang out. Instantly, chaos and freezing cold engulfed the area. Some monsters were swept away; others were frozen into statues of ice. Then came a third explosion, just as devastating. Each blast had the same outcome.
"Nice work, Aria."
Aria had already used up 75% of her mana just for those three blasts, sweat glistening on her forehead.
Logan leaped down from the tree where he had been perched and entered the battlefield — a barrier he had erected to prevent the monsters from escaping and to avoid collateral damage to the nearby village.
"Let's try this!"
From the ground, clusters of rocks began to rise and reshape themselves into multiple swords. Around him now floated five menacing stone blades. Seizing the chaos, Logan charged without hesitation toward the monsters.
The blades followed him like loyal hounds, spinning through the air in search of prey. Goblins and wolves were slashed apart without a chance to react their limbs and torsos shredded mercilessly before their heads were severed.
The high goblins, however, managed to parry some of the whirling blades with moderate ease.
"I still lack control," he muttered.
Suddenly, one of the high goblins fighting against the stone blades collapsed lifeless to the ground. Then a second. Then a third. Focused entirely on the flying swords, they hadn't noticed Logan hurling sharp, spike-shaped stones at them.
In addition to his flying blades, he was bombarding them with multiple projectiles each one aimed precisely at their vital points. The monsters were quickly cornered, their numbers already reduced by Aria's earlier attacks.
One of Aria's frozen serpents broke free as the ice melted. It slithered toward Logan, spewing a stream of flames. One of the floating blades broke away from its current target, flying to Logan's side transforming mid-air into a shield that blocked the serpent's fiery breath.
Another blade followed, slicing the creature's head clean off even as it continued to spit flames.
These serpents weren't made entirely of fire only their scales burned. Decapitating them wasn't too difficult; it would have been far worse if they had been made of pure flame. Fortunately, that wasn't the case.
The monsters were being overwhelmed by Logan's relentless assault and impenetrable defense. They couldn't even scratch him. The battle's climax came when Aria finally joined in, her Ice Claws tearing mercilessly through any monster daring to face her.
The slaughter would soon be complete but then, a shrill cry echoed from within the cave.
From its dark entrance, a light began to swell, growing brighter and brighter until finally, a gigantic fire serpent emerged, three times larger than the ones they had faced before.
Nevertheless, the most important figure was a man in a black robe walking beside him. The monsters around him all stopped moving as he stepped forward; he finally spoke, his voice betraying anger.
"What do you think you're doing!"
"It's simple stop your plans," Logan replied nonchalantly.
The man looked over the numerous corpses of monsters; more than half had been killed in so short a time. A vein bulged on his forehead as he raised his voice again.
"There is no way you will interfere with our plans. I will end your miserable life right here!"
A strong pressure of mana, accompanied by a murderous intent, spread across the area. The monsters began to move again, but it seemed the man had done something to them. They now radiated a greater thirst for blood than before; the hairs on Aria's skin stood up in response. The monsters charged at them once more like madmen.
"Aria, like I told you, it will all end tonight!" Logan declared, still confident.
Your level has increased: 95 ➔ 100