Chapter 7 - Overpowering

Rayrich took a glance at the two siblings he had encountered by chance.

There were many questions on his mind. Questions regarding what had truly transpired inside the city and questions about the true identity of the two siblings.

They had told him that they were adventurers from another country but that was extremely unlikely. In the first place, there were no adventurers who were younger than twenty. The young man named Karna might be a real adventurer but the girl with him was just too young to be an adventurer. Secondly, the siblings had no weapons of any kind on their bodies. What sort of adventurer would even go around with no weapons?

And finally, even though the two claimed to be siblings they looked nothing like each other. The only similarity was that they had black hair.

Putting all those factors together, Rayrich had concluded that these two were lying to him.

What would you do if you find suspicious individuals near a crime scene? Simple. Apprehend those suspicious people.

Rayrich had done exactly that but without letting Karna and Aika realize his true intentions. He didn’t even know their combat abilities so it was unwise to make enemies of them. That was why he had invited them to go along with his group; so that he could keep an eye on them while trying to uncover their true identity.

After several minutes of walking, they got to the walls of Atlean City. The lights posts on the walls shone eerie white light onto the empty surroundings. Splatters of blood painted parts of the walls. Red blood from the City Guards who had been killed by the mermen and blue blood from the mermen that had been killed by Rayrich and co when they had fought their way into the city. Accompanying the blood were lifeless bodies deformed to various degrees.

“Braun, go ahead and scout,” Rayrich ordered one of the men from his squad. Braun was a former adventurer who specializes in scouting; detecting traps or enemies.

With a quick nod, Braun approached the city gates. He kept to the shadows and did a very good job of erasing his presence. Even Rayrich had to strain his eyes to track Braun.

“Oh! What are those movements?!” Aika exclaimed.

“He’s pretty fast.” her self-proclaimed brother said.

Rayrich wanted to scream. What sort of adventurers are you lot to have never seen a scout before?!

After about twenty seconds, Braun returned to the group.

“There’s a group of about five mermen outside,” he reported, his expression grim.

Mermen had much better physical abilities compared to humans but five mermen wasn’t a number that was impossible to win against. Especially for a veteran group like the Orthus squad. However, five mermen meant a hard-fought battle. Considering the tough scales and endurance of the mermen, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the battle lasted for an hour.

And while they were fighting with the demihumans, they would have to leave their unprotected backs to the strange pair of Karna and Aika.

What should I do? Rayrich pondered his choices. Wait … Didn’t they say they were hunting mermen before?

An idea popped into his brain.

“Sir Karna,” he called out.

“Yes? Um… Just Karna is fine.”

“Would you please assist us? There is a group of five mermen just outside the city gates.”

Rayrich wanted to praise himself for his brilliant idea. By asking Karna for help, he would essentially remove the risk of getting stabbed in the back and would also get to see if Karna was an adventurer like he claimed to be.

Of course, his plan would only work if Karna accepted his request.

But Karna’s next words stunned the veteran soldier.

“Sure! Thanks a lot!”

What?!!! What are you thanking me for? Are you being sarcastic? Is that it?!

“Then I’m counting on you, Sir Karna. Would you like to take on one merman with two of my squad members? ” he said instead. It was a good distribution of the Orthus squad. There were five mermen so it made sense for two men to handle one merman each.

“Oh actually. Is it possible to leave all five mermen to me?”

“Huh?!” Rayrich was dumbstruck.

What was this boy even saying?

Taking on five mermen alone? No sane man would spout these kinds of words. It was something only legendary heroes would boast about.

Even a very capable and experienced soldier like Rayrich had no chance if he wanted to go one-on-one against a merman. That was just how large the gap between humans and demihumans were.

“A-Are you sure?” Rayrich asked the boy who was now smiling.

“Yea.”

“Okay. We’ll leave them to you.”

“Thank you,” said Karna as he turned to the city gates.

“Leader…” Braun looked like he wanted to say something but Rayrich stopped him with a shake of his head.

Rayrich didn’t know what Karna had in mind but if the boy had a death wish, he had no reason to intervene. All he cared about were the lives of his men and citizens of the Reneruth Kingdom.

Karna started heading towards the gates with Aika a few steps behind him. Rayrich cleared his throat. “Let’s follow Sir Karna.”

⧫

The five mermen rushed at Karna the moment they noticed him.

Karna cracked his fists and went into a stance. With his left shoulder facing the mermen, legs shoulder-width apart, and his right hand drawn back, it was a boxing stance.

Rayrich and co were about ten meters behind Karna, watching with unbridled interest.

What is this boy trying to do? Was the question on most of their minds.

With no weapon or armor, it was pure suicide to stand up against demihumans like mermen. Especially when there were five of them armed to the teeth.

“Shhhh…” Karna sucked in a breath of cold air.

He was almost in the range of the enormous weapons wielded by the mermen. The swords and spears came at him, glinting ferociously as if in anticipation of the blood that they would soon taste.

It was at that moment. Karna’s body tensed, like a spring that was compressed to its utmost limit. A split second. That was all it took for Karna to unleash a punch.

A thunderous crack resounded as a torrent of wind suddenly erupted on the field of snow.

Rayrich was blasted away by the sudden wind. He shielded his face as he struggled to keep his footing. He could hear grunts around him as his squad members got blown back, some of them even falling to the ground.

Just as the winds died down, Rayrich uncovered his hands to see what had created the sudden gusts of wind. He stopped breathing.

He was not dead. He had just forgotten how to breathe after taking in the scenery in front of him. A large chunk of the waist-deep, densely packed snow covering the area had been cleared out.

The mermen were nowhere to be found. A small ravine was carved into the ground where they stood a moment ago.

“T-They got vaporized?!” Rayrich managed to choke out a sentence.

“Wha-”

“Is this a dream?”

“No way!”

All of the Orthus squad members were in disbelief.

The cause of all the chaos — Karna— was calm. “Hmm… Looks like shockwave is an AoE skill too.”

Rayrich and co had no idea what he was talking about.

Karna walked up to them. Rayrich felt himself freezing in fear as Karna’s red eyes passed over him.

“Sir Karna… What was that?” Braun was the one who managed to ask Karna.

“Oh… It’s a shockwave.” Karna smiled. The same innocent-looking smile he had been wearing before when Rayrich had asked him to take on the mermen.

Rayrich could feel chills assaulting his body. Not from the cold but because of the smile of the devil.

⧫

“Brother, why did you use the shockwave in front of them?” Aika whispered to Karna.

“Why? Is something the matter?”

“What if they have never seen the skills from the game before? Won’t they be suspicious of us?”

“Uh… I didn’t think of that.” Karna admitted. He hadn’t been thinking clearly about any consequences after getting the chance to obtain free EXP.

“Next time tell me before you make any important decisions,” said Aika.

“Roger that.”

Karna and Aika were still together with the Orthus squad. They had left Atlean City and were currently in a small tavern in a village about ten kilometers away. The sun was already coming up and Karna felt like a zombie from the lack of sleep and food.

“Sorry for the wait,” Rayrich said as he came into the tavern.

“It’s fine.”

Rayrich sat down on a seat facing the two siblings. “Here’s the map.” He unfurled a scroll of parchment on the table.

It was a map of the Reneruth Kingdom.

Rayrich pointed to a spot right above Atlean City. “We’re here right now. Varun Village. I already talked to the villagers. No mermen were spotted around the area last night.”

“This is where my squad is heading.” Rayrich tapped a place that was marked with a star.

Naturally, Karna and Aika could read the letters on the map.

Reneruth City. The capital city of Reneruth Kingdom and also one of the cities which could be chosen as a starting point in Xion Online.

“My men and I are heading north. Where do you two plan to go?”

Karna had no idea where he wanted to go.

“Which city has the largest library?” Aika asked.

“That would be Tryst City. It is the old capital and has the largest library in the Reneruth Kingdom.”

“Tryst…. Wanna go there, brother?”

Karna didn’t know what his sister had in mind but her wishes were the highest priority for him. “Sure,” he replied.

“If you want to go to Tryst, there should be some merchant caravans passing through this village. With Sir Karna’s abilities, you can work as a guard and accompany them. That way you get some extra income too.”

“I see… How long would the journey take?”

“A few days perhaps. A week at most.”

Karna put a finger to his chin in contemplation. It wasn’t a bad idea to travel around and learn more about the world which was eerily similar to Xion Online.

“Well then… I have to hurry and join my men so please excuse me.” Rayrich said as he stood up from his seat.

“I see. Thank you for everything.” Karna smiled and thanked the man.

“No. Allow me to thank you both for accompanying us.” Rayrich bowed.

“Bye!” Aika waved the man goodbye and turned to Karna. “Brother… I’m hungry..”

“Uh… We ran out of money after staying in the inn.” Karna scratched his head. The bronze coins from Xion Online were indeed all used up after staying at the inn in Atlean City.

Rayrich froze just before the door. He turned back and came up to the siblings again.

Did he forget something? Karna wondered.

“Please accept this. It’s not much but it should be enough to buy a meal.” He put down a pouch on the table.

Karna was shocked. Rayrich let him steal EXP, gave him a map, and was even offering money now. How kind was this guy?!

He wanted to refuse but his empty stomach said otherwise.“Thank you so much!”