It was early in the morning and his host wasn’t up yet, Viers let him sleep. After yesterday, he would need much rest. Viers went to the lawn of Mercer’s house, tossing a ghostly pale blue ball into the air. As it slowly fell downward, Viers slashed it with his sword in one swift stroke. Unlike the usual watery blue, the sword was wreathed in milky green color.

“Hmph!”

The bluish-white ball split into two parts.

“Hyah!”

Another stroke and the ball separated into four.

“Shih!”

Again, and again, and again.

After Viers reduced the ball into tiny pieces, he continued observing it, eyes picking up the slightest of details. Before long the soul dissipated. Slowly, he returned the sword to the sheath like a samurai, finishing it with a satisfying click.

Even with that I still couldn't destroy it completely. Some part of the soul simply… went away, not destroyed. Did they really go to Heaven or Hell?

The soul just now was Tarakai, the one who tried to give him a poisoned soup and wanted to kill him. Viers already excavated any memories worth noting -although it wasn't much- and decided to discharge him from his service.

Simply releasing the souls he captured was a simple affair. They usually floated to the sky then disappeared, beyond even the reach of his tier 5 Soul affinity.

With Viers forgoing the necromantic facet of his power, he experimented with many things, such as what he was trying to do now, soulkill.

I managed to harm the soul, gravely. But I am unable to completely extinguish it from heaven and earth… at least the current me that is. It will have to do. In the stories, unlike bodily harm, injury to the soul is often very difficult to heal. I’m sure it will be useful in the future.

“How are you holding up, Mister Mercer?” Cain spoke to the person watching from behind, his ears were sharp. He knew Mercer had been watching since a short while ago but it seemed the older man didn't want to disturb his training.

“I feel… refreshed. How can I not be, after you bestowed a kindness I’m unable to repay for my whole lifetime.”

“Glad to hear it,” Cain turned around, looking at Mercer’s face. “Still thinking of taking your own life?” He already knew the answer from what he saw but Cain still asked for politeness' sake.

“No, it would… make Martha sad,” Mercer smiled bitterly.

“The burden you bear is heavy. How you live with such a burden I cannot tell you, no one can. You must decide, despite the pain and grief. Dying is easy, living is hard. What can mere mortals such as us do other than living the best we could in this world?” Cain said, trying to convey some words of wisdom.

“It is as you say, lord benefactor.” Thanks to Cain’s show of power yesterday, Mercer took Cain’s words as revelations from an angel.

“I must leave soon,” Cain saddled his backpack up. “May the Radiant Lady light your way,” Cain said his farewell.

“And to you, envoy,” Mercer kneeled on the ground with his hands joined in front of his face.

Oh no, I hope not. Aunt Estelle might smite me for all the bad deeds I have done, Cain thought while smiling bitterly.

“Remember, don't tell anyone anything about this matter and myself.”

“I will hold the sanctity of our pact. I swear this once again.”

Cain nodded with satisfaction and turned around. With that as the parting words, Cain left towards his next destination.

Mercer watched until his figure was no longer visible, the golden light from the morning sun warmly enveloped him. It felt like the embrace of his family yesterday night.

“Thank you, lord angel...” Mercer whispered.

Viers, the maverick mistaken as an angel of the Goddess Estelle was walking in a good mood. Doing something good and getting rewarded for it brought warm feelings to his heart.

It's been a while, let's do a quick check. It's now at... 36.57%, huh? Very good. Keep on rising, my power. Hahaha! Viers’ mysterious number kept rising.

***

“HOLD THE LINE!!!”

The man who said that braced the impact of a 200 kilograms hamster the size of a tiger.

“Rggghhh!” The man grunted, clenching his molars very, very hard.

He was not alone in this, left and right of him stood men and women of various ages. They too were holding their ground against other hamsters although not as big as the one in front of the man wearing a dark-colored metal plate. One used a wall of earth, one used a rampart of wind. Each of them were using different ways of fighting against the horde.

“Iron Spike!”

A cone of metal jutted out from the ground. It had a diameter of 1 meter at the base, becoming smaller until the tip was a sharp point. The cone-shaped metal pierced the stomach of the hamster monster, making the unnaturally sized monster squeal.

“Raahhh!”

Using his sword, the man embedded his weapon in the skull of another monster that came from behind the orange-furred hamster he just defeated. Before he could breathe, another one came from the side, wanting to take a bite at his stomach. In a hurry, the man moved his left arm between them. The hamster gnashed his vambrace with frenzied fervor, its two front teeth looked very menacing.

“DIE!”

His hand turned metallic and gave the hamster a punch on its skull, smashing its head to a pulp. The man saw his friend beside him was almost overwhelmed under the assault of three hamsters.

“Aldo! Let him go, you beasts! Iron King’s Decapitation!!”

The man created a massive sword of iron and swung it downward, slashing the three hamsters in one go.

“Thank you Captain, I-”

“Shut it! Next wave incoming, Frag Explosion!”

The man threw a sphere of metal he created with his Arte into a clump of five hamster monsters. The sphere burst into tiny slugs with such force that the hamsters lost their lives in a heartbeat.

That only brought a moment of respite before the man must again kill another monster that replaced the ones he just killed. Those men and women were like a wall, battered with waves of water. Still, the wall stood valiantly, not giving an inch.

For an unknown amount of time, he kept fighting. At last, he witnessed the last tiger-sized hamster monster slain by one of his comrades. Then the cheering came, they had claimed victory on this ground.

“Captain Jarret, news from the left wing.” A messenger called him out.

“Haah... haah... what?” Jarret wiped the splattered hamster blood on his neck while catching his breath.

“Sir, the left wing is almost broken! Hansen, Tommy, Vurg, and Sharon have fallen. There was a big one among the hamsters assaulting the left wing, we suspect it is the alpha, A Tiger-striped Hamster. It’s a Rank 2 monster, sir.” The messenger said with a pained expression.

“...Those fools, I told them not to die...” Jarret knew he shouldn't let emotions overwhelm him in a battlefield but he couldn't stop the feeling of sadness from approaching him. His discipline allowed him to focus once again after a few moments.

“Mister Holt, I’ll assist the left wing. I leave the center in your command!” Jarret said to a man much older than him. Holt’s hair was all white, he had been retired for years. Even so when the Tide came, he volunteered to stand at the front line.

“Understood, Captain. May the Goddess be with you.”

“And with you. Juggernaut Armor!”

Jarret invoked another Arte. This time, he became covered in sturdy black armor from head to toe.

“Siiir! E-emergency report from the right wing!”

Before Jarret could move to the left wing’s aid, a different messenger came in a panic. Jarret knew he would not bring good news.

“Speak.” Even he himself was surprised at how weak-willed his voice became.

“A-another Beast Tide came from the east! At least a hundred apes led by a Rank 3 Thunder Orangutan are approaching the right wing as we speak. They must be drawn by the battle, for the meat and core of the dead hamsters! Your orders, sir?”

The message was another nail in the coffin for these men. They were barely hanging on against the hamster’s tide. The appearance of the orangutans would break their defense line like a knife against paper.

Ten of them were in the center, now they were only seven. The swarm of teeth had claimed the lives of three of them. When the crisis was nigh, they came forward to fulfill their duty to protect the town. Now, after hours of fighting, they still stood despite being full of wounds. Healers were casting their magic full-force. One healer was trying to attach the severed arm of the unconscious Rudin.

“A Rank 3...”

“We’re finished… The town is finished…”

“Damn those adventurers! They had to drag the whole town into their mess. May the Devils take those idiots!”

Jarret saw the hope and will of his comrades-of-war around him fade like mist. How could they not? There was nothing he -a mere Level 2 Pathseeker- could do against a Rank 3 monster. There was nobody in Osemore town that could match the boss monster in combat. Even if he tried, it would be great if he could delay the Rank 3 for a few seconds. All seemed lost.

“Is this the end?...” Jarret closed his eyes. His heart felt like ice.

A loud blast jolted him to open his eyes.

“Eh?”

“What happened?”

“Captain Jarret, look!”

A blaze of flame ten meters high could be seen from where they were standing.

“That’s from the left wing.”

Jarret used the Arte Farsight to see the hamster boss being engulfed in explosions. At a nearby hill, Jarret saw a lone figure carrying a smoking metal tube on his shoulder.

“Brother!”

“Kate? What are you doing here?”

Jarret saw his younger sister coming from the direction of the town.

“We have come to help,” she said with an excited expression.

“No! There’s nothing we can do. A Rank 3 monster is coming! We must tell the town to begin evacuation immediately.”

“Don’t worry brother. Someone strong came along with me!”

Strange, Jarret thought. His sister looked so confident. While they were talking there were a couple more explosions from the left wing’s side. The hamsters on that side had been blown away, not a single one left standing.

Was it him? Jarret looked at the youth on the hill wearing strange clothes and a strange weapon.

“By the Goddess!”

“How could it be!?”

“He’s flying! Is he a Level 5?”

After he was finished with the left wing, the youth rose to the air and went to the right wing, passing Jarret’s position in the process. The mysterious stranger had some kind of fire coming from his shoes and back. He flew so fast and arrived above the apes’ location in a short time.

He hovered in the sky, surveying the monkeys below him like a deity.

Because he was so eye-catching, it didn’t take long until the apes noticed him. The biggest of them all, the Rank 3 Thunder Orangutan took it as a challenge. It had the size of an elephant, very muscular and imposing. Its white fur bristled and crackled with lighting then a thunderbolt appeared in its arm.

“UHHOOHH!”

It let out a primal roar and threw the lance of plasma to the flying youth, enveloping him in a blinding violet explosion.

“Not good!” Jarret wanted to go to assist but his sister held his hand back.

“Don’t worry brother. He’s strong,” Kate smiled.

The smoke receded and he saw the flying youth once again. He was indeed fine, no signs of injury. A spherical shield covered his body without a blind spot. The barrier had a strange pattern on it, it was like something he saw in a beehive.

The youth with silver hair retaliated. He unleashed a strange… exploding arrow. The power was massive. From a tube on his shoulder, the arrow jetted forward leaving a trail of fire and smoke. It exploded with fiery fury and deafening sound. Jarret witnessed the mysterious youth create another 'arrowhead' with his empty hand, put it on the strange tube, and shot another exploding arrow.

A hailstorm of explosions came upon the monkey Beast Tide. A hundred apes or so were powerless before the explosions. The Rank 3 managed to hold against the first three blasts but the seventh overwhelmed it. The flying attacker used something different to finish the Thunder Orangutan. Jarret only saw a streak of blue light and the apes’ alpha exploded to smithereens. Seeing their leader in such a sorry state was the final straw, the monkeys scattered in all directions. Screaming.

But the silver-haired death god didn’t let them go.

“…Heavens, what did I see?” Jarret muttered. His sentiment was shared with the people around in the center battlefield.

“He’s Sigma, I told you about a strong Idler that saved me from the goblins before, right? That’s him,” Kate explained fondly.