"Okay, wow, you're crazy strong now, man," I remarked with a grin.

"Heh, I know, right!?" Exclaimed Rion enthusiastically, giving me a high five.

​​

Today was the 10th of May, late in the evening. I had finally gotten around to sparring with Rion to see how much stronger he'd gotten thanks to the axe he'd claimed after defeating one of Belia's summons...and it exceeded my expectations.

His raw physical strength was what was most impressive, it was on par with mine when I'm in Lazarus Mode...keeping in mind the fact that that form is now a good four to five times stronger and faster than it used to be, thanks to my new twin blades.

Naturally, he was no match for Diablo Mode, but he put up a really good fight against my Lazarus Mode...in this form, I'm about twice as fast as he is, while my strength was about equal, so overall, I definitely had the advantage, but he's gotten really good with that axe. And based on what I've seen, it looks like each of the weapons of Belia's summons boost their users in different ways.

My twin blades gave me more of a speed boost and a smaller boost in strength, while his axe gave him a massive strength boost and a less significant speed boost...he was definitely a lot faster than before, but the increase wasn't as drastic as his strength boost was.

"I think you might be strongest in Abyss after Az and I now, way to go," I replied as I returned his high five, before asking as I recalled, "Oh, yeah, how's the ranking system you've been working on coming along?"

"Not as smoothly as I hoped," He sighed wistfully, "Like, Rai and I have been working on it, but it's just...really hard to find the line between cool and cringy, you know?"

"No need to overthink it, dude, just go with whatever works," I shrugged in response.

"Yeah, but...after putting in this much work, I feel like I shouldn't half-ass it, you know?" He replied with another sigh.

"Well, I guess that's-...hold that thought, I'm getting a call," I remarked, reaching into a pouch on my hip and taking out the Spell Card that was buzzing, "Oh, it's Az...yeah, hello? What's up, dude?"

"Hey, Kuro. Just wanted to let you know that there's two people approaching us, they're still about a couple kilometers away, I just picked up on their presences with one of the sensory barriers."

"Seriously? Huh...they're probably just bandits or stray Demons or something, but I'll go check on it anyway...which direction are they at, I'll find them with one of my monsters," I replied, feeling a bit curious.

Anyone approaching us was really rare, since you know, we're a nation that includes Demons, Vampires, freaking dinosaurs and a whole lotta other monsters too.

"They're coming from the southwest...from the direction of the sea."

"Huh, that's weird, I can't imagine why anyone would sail all the way here...alright, thanks for letting me know, I'm connecting to my monsters in that area now," I responded, closing my eyes and focusing.

I took control of a Phoenix to get a wider field of vision and started looking...

"Okay, I'm going to make sure nothing happens to the protective barriers, just to be safe," Replied Az, before hanging up.

He's reluctant to take on any responsibilities, but if and when he does, he doesn't half-ass it...which is a huge relief because we've got no one who's even close to his level when it comes to spell creation and casting. Oh, I think I see them...I made the Phoenix swoop down lower to get a better look...

Wait, is that...an Elf!? Tch, it's a guy Elf...wait, no, I need to focus. If I had to guess, they're scouts from the former floating island. The other one looks more human, a young girl-.

"No, that's a Halfling," Spoke up Lazarus.

"Damn, how long since we've seen either of these races?" Remarked Diablo.

If I remember right, Elves use Wind Magic and Halflings use...uh...

"Lightning Magic. Watch out for General Magic too, remember, they don't need any parchment or anything, they can activate General Magic spells naturally," Warned Lazarus warily, before adding, "That said, they won't be able to activate any spells as fast as Belia does, it's just not possible, even a simple spell would take them about a second or two to construct and cast."

Got it, I'll keep some distance, I don't really need to worry about spells that are activated without direct contact, thanks to the anti-infliction-spell enchantment that's cast on my clothes.

Now, then...let's go greet our visitors, shall we?

———————————————————————————

Point-of-View: Syvlar Miirphys

———————————————————————————

"Something has been bothering me ever since we set out," Remarked Bell with a frown.

"Everything has bothered you since we set out-...sorry, I'm just tired...mentally speaking, anyway. Anyway, what's been bothering you?" I asked with a tired sigh.

I really don't care right now that I'm talking all formal and shit. After Belia left, I checked on Bell, who was just unconscious, nothing a simple healing spell couldn't fix...so it's a good thing we had some allies nearby who could cast healing spells, because, you know...I can't.

We then began teleporting northeast...but teleportation spells have range limits, so it takes several teleports to cover a long distance.

And as a result...we inadvertently ended up falling in the sea and having to fight off a ton of monsters, it was super annoying...especially when Bell panicked because she couldn't swim and unleashed her lightning, electrocuting the water...yeah, it killed the monsters, but I thought I was going to die too.

I managed to stay conscious, because otherwise, both she and I would have drowned for sure...I mustered my strength and flew up using my Wind Magic while carrying her by her shoulders...at that moment, I was never more grateful that Halflings are all so small in statute, because even though my body was super numb from the electrocution, she was still really light.

And all that was less than half an hour ago. After we hit land and I used my Wind Magic to dry the both of us off, we decided to just fucking walk for a while.

"Do you not think it was strange that we did not run into any normal monsters at all until we fell in the water?" Frowned Bell, her eyebrows furrowed, "We did encounter a few Demons, but not so much as a single low level monster."

Huh, now that she mentions it...

"Yeah, you're right...we should have run into plenty of monsters given how much we were teleporting around. But, hey, it's been a thousand years, we have no idea what things might have changed by now," I pointed out...though I myself wasn't very satisfied with that explanation.

"Perhaps...but monsters do not cease to exist when they are killed, they simply resurrect elsewhere," She argued, before letting out a loud sigh, "I suppose it does not really matter...should we not hurry a bit more?"

"No, it's fine, I feel like walking a bit more."

I mean, thanks to Belia giving us the locations of the human nations, we're probably well ahead of schedule, so-...hm? What's that above us? A bird? Is it swooping down?

"That is...a Phoenix!" Exclaimed Bell, as it swooped down and halted right in front of us, hovering there with its wings spread wide and its eyes watching us sharply.

It does match the illustrations I've seen in the history textbooks...but...

"Don't these things tend to live in greener areas!? What's one doing here?" I inquired, taking out my spear into my hands.

"Tch, how do you expect me to know th-...!" Began Bell, before trailing off as it suddenly vanished.

"Uh...Phoenixes aren't supposed to be able to teleport, right?" I inquired skeptically, taking a couple of cautious steps back.

But before she could answer me, the monster reappeared...along with someone else. A young man dressed in black, with glossy black hair, the whites of his eyes were black and his irises were dark blue, and he also had a tail with a couple of spikes at the end...okay, what is he?

"I'm just gonna cut right to the chase," He remarked, narrowing his eyes at us, "Who are you and what do you want?"

"What kind of creature are you?" Inquired Bell suspiciously.

"Huh, rude...but fair enough, I don't really know the answer to that anymore. Eh, let's just go with human, though if you don't like that answer, I'm also part Demon, Vampire, ninety percent of the other monsters in this world and a few other random ingredients...take your pick," He replied with a faint smile that was kinda scary, before adding with a dark, serious expression, "Now, then, I was nice enough to answer your question even though I asked first...now tell me, who are you and what do you want?"

I don't know what it is about this guy exactly, but I don't think we should piss him off.

"We are-," I began politely.

"You said human...I do not care about the technicalities, if you are human...then I shall kill you!" Exclaimed Bell, a look of hatred and fury on her face as she shot towards him...and got sent flying back before she even got near him.

"With all that bloodlust, I saw that coming a mile away," He sighed wistfully, before an ominous look appeared in his eyes, "Well, just for the record, I tried to be nice...but that approach never works, does it?"

I quickly sprang back and got some distance, a shiver running through my body...we might have fucked up here...

"Tch, how dare you!" Snapped Bell, rage in her eyes as lightning began to violently spark and crackle around her.

Is she unlocking her full Lightning Sage power? That means she's acknowledging that this guy is seriously powerful...either that, or she wants to avoid getting KO'ed like she did against Belia.

"H-hey, you sure you wanna do this!?" I yelled at the guy, "I mean, it's two against one, so-."

"You really think you can beat me just because there's two of you? Alright, then...let me turn these tables and take the numbers advantage for myself," He responded with a smirk, before snapping his fingers.

Huh? N-no way...how is this even possible...?

"What the-...what is this!?" Exclaimed Bell in shock.

All around us, as far as the eye could see...were monsters, hundreds, no, thousands of them. Wh-who is this guy...j-just who the hell are we up against...?

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