Surya was that guy who annoyed you a lot, although I guess there are also times where I might have annoyed him as well. There were even times when we got into fights. However, we always reconciled by the next day and acted as usual. In short, he was a friend with whom there was no need to hold back. I also played many co-op games like monster buster with him.

Bagus rarely talked. He was the one who was always able to put up with the trouble Surya and I caused and just silently helped us to face the aftermath. There was a time when Surya and I went too far and made him angry. I don’t want to go into more details but it was scary as hell. However by the next day he was the one who apologized first to us for getting angry. I might have not realized it before, but I think both Surya and I respected him.

Mira was a daughter of my parents’ best friends. She lived nearby, was the same age as my brother and always in the same class as him ever since kindergarten. The three of us played together a lot, and I considered her as my little sister. At some point I realized I have started to look at her differently. Realizing that I liked her, I also started to watch her a lot, although from afar or when I was next to her. However, by watching her I also noticed that she looked at Reza the same way I looked at her. The hardest blow was when she came to me for the so called ‘love life counseling’ regarding her feelings for Reza.

My brother Reza and I can be said to be always together. Nobody might believe it now, but Reza used to have a weak constitution. On the contrary, I was the rough and rash adventurous kid with seemingly unlimited energy. The once weak little Reza always tried to follow me anywhere and imitate whatever I did, which resulted in him getting hurt or ill a lot.

The worst was that when me, a friend, and Reza secretly went to explore the forest outskirts of the town. The then 6 years old Reza got separated from us. While my friend went back to tell our parents, I searched for him alone. I couldn’t find him until dusk. He was hugging his knees under a hollowed tree. His face was pale, his breathing was rough, and his body was feverish. When he saw me he just smiled and said “I knew you would come for me big bro.”. He fell unconscious so I carried him while feeling afraid that he would never wake up again, but I didn’t know the way home as well so I just wandered aimlessly, crying, until the adults found us. Since then I began to care for him even more, even being a bit overprotective at times.

Then I found out that Reza liked Mira as well so I arranged for them to get together even though it failed most of the times due to my overly dense and shy brother. The perfect chance came before our raid on the demon lord and it worked. I was both happy and dejected but their happiness also meant everything to me so I’m sure I’ll be able to get through this somehow.

***

I was drifting in the darkness. Images of the past appeared and disappeared for who knows how many times in front of me. Is this the rumoured revolving lantern?

‘What is happening?’

‘Where am I?’

As I try to remember the most recent events, the images I wouldn’t want to ever see again appeared before me.

Bagus disintegrating, next was Surya, followed by Mira, Reza, and then I see my legs started to disintegrate as well.

Before I disappeared completely, I saw that bastard’s sickeningly laughing face.

Despair.

Sorrow.

Anger.

Hatred.

As I felt all those emotions swirling inside of me, everything returned to darkness once again.

I wanted to kill that bastard, I wanted to destroy the empire. I wanted revenge.

However what could I do?

I didn’t even know whether I was still alive or even still in existence.

Even if I was still alive, what could I do against an entire nation by myself?

No matter how strong I have become, taking down an entire nation by myself was out of question. The empire also has several people capable to fight on equal footing with a demon general.

I have to become even stronger, strong enough to destroy everything that stands in my way.

I needed the chance to become stronger. “I want... no, I vow to have revenge against the empire. No matter how long it will take, as long as I am alive I will crush the Empire, I will kill that bastard, the mages who mocked us as they use the annihilation spell, and the emperor by my own hands.”

I was kind of surprised myself, my desire for revenge was so strong yet I didn’t lose my calm.

At the moment I noticed a bluish light, from my chest. I moved my weak hand to grab it and found out that it was the amulet of Praesia which Lavinia gave me.

THUD

Suddenly, I felt an impact on my back and I could see a dim blue light in the shape of a winged maiden holding swords on both hands in front of her chest surrounded by decorative engravings, the goddess Praesia,which was also Rifst’ royal crest, in front of me, “I guess it should be above me since now I’m lying down.” The surrounding was now bright enough to let me see that I was in a small circular room and that there was a door to my right.

“What happened? Am I still alive? Where am I?”

I guess I’ll find the answer soon so I set those questions aside for now.

After letting my body rest a bit more, I gathered my energy, stood up and approached the door.

The floor, wall, and the ceiling seemed to be completely made from stone, however the door was metallic. While it was obviously a door from the shape, I couldn’t see any handle.

I touched the door and the amulet of Praesia glowed once again. A pattern appeared on the door in response, the royal crest of Rifst, the goddess Praesia. However the door didn’t open.

As I wondered, my hand, which was touching the door, slipped through the door. I was kind of surprised but I just walked through the door without much thought.

Next I found myself inside a large hall, when I looked back I could only see a tattered dirty wall. There was no sign of a door whatsoever.

The place was a complete mess. There were cracks and holes on the wall and ceiling, broken furniture, and thick dust everywhere. I could see some windows with broken and dirty stained glass positioned quite high above but the outside was rather dark, was it nighttime already? There were no light sources other than some luminous crystals which might be as bright as a 15 Watt neon lamp on the ceiling and along the wall. It seems I’m inside some ruins or something.

Okay, at least I don’t think this is heaven... or hell.

I walked around and left the hall. I didn’t sense anything nearby and there were also luminous crystals arranged at a certain interval along the wide hallway so it seemed safe to explore the ruins.

The more I explored this place, the more that I felt like I’ve been here before. The building’s layout was the same as the ruins of goddess Praesia’s shrine which was inside the 50th floor of Tower of the Gods –Orum Arx- one of the 4 great dungeons which we couldn’t conquer due to the sheer number of juggernaut class demon beasts from the 51st floor and above.

If this was true then I’m currently in Rifst southwesternmost territory near the border. There is also a town at the base of the tower. Should I go and ask for help from Rifst?

No, I don’t want to doubt the king and Lavinia but there is no guarantee that Rifst wasn’t involved 100% with what the empire just did to us. There might also be spy from the empire as well. Maybe I should focus on getting stronger first.

There was no concept of level and levelling up in this world however your stats would increase with training. For example if you run a lot your speed and endurance will increase. If you get hit a lot your endurance and max HP will increase. Of course the status increase won’t just happen at the instant you do the training. The status will only change after one good night sleep. I don’t know why it was like that but that’s the rule in this world. Maybe it’s like that training program where you exercise at one day and do a full rest at another. As to how much increase you can get, of course there are things such as aptitude and limit. Age is also one factor that affects status increase.

But I guess if this was a game I might already be at the level cap. It has been harder to get stronger lately and that is the reason why we finally decided to fight the demon lord. Being heroes as we were, our growth rate was far beyond the humans from this world. I don’t know how many times we suddenly got abnormally far stronger than usual even for the heroes in only after one single battle. It’s no wonder we reached the cap rather quickly.

Wait, I can’t confirm this since there’s no fight after the fight with demon lord Orcus but I think I am stronger than before the battle so...

I must remember when it was that we got a huge jump in stats increase.

If I remember it correctly it was after we defeated a demon general, after every the first time we killed a juggernaut class demon beast, and I do feel stronger after we defeated the demon lord.

Which meant I will need to fight a stronger enemy. I see, it wasn’t that I reached a level cap. There weren’t many stronger enemies lately so I couldn’t get enough experience points that’s all.

This is the great dungeon. The five of us couldn’t get past the 54th floor so if I can conquer this place by myself, I’m sure that I will be far stronger.

I don’t care how hard it is, or how long it will take. I just need to not die before I get my revenge.

Time to make a future plan.

First I’ll need a weapon. It’s stupid to go barehanded against the demon beasts in this dungeon.

As I thought so I almost reached the entrance. However my destination lied beyond the door to the right before the entrance.

The room I just entered was about 5x7 meters. Although it was dusty, the dust was not as thick as in the other places in this shrine. It has been 5 months since I last came to this place. We used this room as a base of operation to conquer the higher floors. There were no demon beasts around the shrine so it was safe. I don’t know how or why exactly I got here now but I’m sure the culprit was the amulet of Praesia. I think it protected me from that annihilation spell and teleported me here which was once the shrine dedicated to the goddess. I don’t know why it teleported me to a dungeon instead of a safer place. My guess is that this place might have been something else eons ago at the age of legends when the gods were still interacting directly with humans. Anyway, I have to thank Lavinia for this... If I have the chance.

I approached a corner to find what I was looking for. They’re dusty but I found them. Two daggers and an axe. The daggers were my previous weapons until I got Azanthys and Mareritter from an altar we found in the innermost room of this shrine. The axe was Bagus’, he also got a replacement. We decided to leave the weapons here because our bags were full with better loots. Other than the weapons we also left some empty potion bottles.

I picked up the daggers and cleaned the dust. Their condition seems to be good thanks to the anti-rust magic they got. As I have never used an axe I won’t take it so I just cleaned and put it standing on the corner.

Weapon acquired. Next were food and water. I guess I could eat some demon beast meat such as a minotaur. Although it is only at the basic level, I can use fire magic so it shouldn’t be hard to make a fire for roasting the meat. I hope it will taste like beef if cooked properly and is without any bad side effects. Surya and I ate some weaker demon beast that looked like a fowl which lived mostly underwater and had scales instead of feather called lucrices. It tasted like a mix of chicken and crab meat but we got a stomach ache for the rest of the day.

My poison resistance should have gone up since I’m still alive now after eating the poisoned meal from that bastard so maybe I don’t need to worry about food poisoning, I hope.

As for water, if I’m not mistaken, the 38th floor got a real flowing river. It’s kind of far down there but I guess I can’t help it. I’ll just need quite some containers so I won’t need to go back down there so often, I can use the potion bottles for that. And I don’t think there is a need to mention a toilet, yep, no need to point it out. Let’s just say that I’m going to make a flower garden.

This tower of the gods was really amazing. Each floor was as wide as tens of soccer fields, the ceilings seemed like it was more than 50 meters high with some exception like the 3rd and 29th floor which were like a cave. Some floors even got forests with a glowing orb on the ceiling which acted as a sun while the other floors only had several randomly positioned small luminous crystals here and there on the ceilings. The means to change floor was by using an indestructible teleportation magic circle hidden in each floor.

I heard the great dungeons were all like that in terms of settings. Insanely huge and each floor had different attributes. In comparison, the smaller scale dungeons mostly were just labyrinths, caves, deep jungles, etc. with areas that mostly had one general setting.

“Okay, I guess I’ll use this place as a base again. For now let’s procure some food and water.”

Then, I made a makeshift bag using the blazer part of my uniform and put in all the empty bottles that I could carry.

***

49th floor.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!

I’m currently running. A giant lizard armored with seemingly metallic scales in different sizes all over its body was chasing me from behind. I also dropped my blazer in which I put the bottles near the teleportation circle.

I forgot that the teleportation circle was located near the floor boss, which was a juggernaut class.

When there were five of us it took about half an hour to kill this thing. Could I defeat it by myself?

No, I will defeat this thing. How can I conquer this dungeon if can’t even do this much?

I readied my daggers and turned around to face the giant lizard. In response, the lizard opened its mouth and used its acid spit attack while still charging at me. I jumped up to avoid both the spit and charge. I was about to attack its back through the armor gaps but then I remembered something. I changed my mind and looked ahead. A tail attack was coming at me but I managed to make a dual slash at it, severing a part of the tail. That was close. I’m currently wearing my school uniform, not an armor. If that hit me I might die instantly. Fortunately it was the tip which was armorless so I could sever it. Also, thanks to previous encounter with this beast I remembered that it got one eye on the back of its head so it could see me and launch an accurate tail attack.

I managed to land on its back but the lizard jumped and spun mid-air, so I jumped down. Although the thing was as huge as three large busses combined, its movements were still nimble. As expected of a juggernaut class. Not only were they big, they were also known to be overwhelmingly ferocious.

Landing with a loud sound and shaking the floor, the lizard quickly turned around and lunged towards me with an unbelievable speed. I jumped backwards to avoid the attack. However as it lands it spun horizontally and sends another tail attack, this time the armored part of the tail is approaching me at high speed. I can’t avoid it so I put my daggers in front of me to block it.

“Gahhhhhhh!”

I was sent flying several meters away and landed on my back. My arms went numb but I don’t think that they were broken. I did get stronger after defeating the demon lord after all. If it was the same me who faced this thing about three months ago I think my hands would have been crushed.

I just managed to stand up when I saw that the lizard was going to use its spit attack. That thing really was not going to give me time to think. But I already knew what to do. First, I have to rob its vision including the one on its back, then hack it on all the soft parts on the body. Now that it is using a spit attack its response and evasion should be somewhat slower so this was my chance.

I was the fastest in the group of heroes so using a hit and run tactic suited me better than a full frontal attack. I dashed forward while trying to grip the daggers as strong as possible since my arms were still a bit numb. Avoiding the spit at the nick of time, I arrived near its head at the left side and stabbed its left eye.

“Two more to go.”

I hopped and used my legs to accept its head swing and used the momentum to jump away.

For now I should stay in its blind spot as much as possible and wait for the chance to stab its remaining eyes.

After a few hit and run attacks, I managed to stab the two remaining eyes so it was time for a hack and slash frenzy. Now that I have robbed its vision it should be easy to get closer and I’ll aim for the soft parts of its body like joints and stomach. No, I don’t want to get crushed by its stomach when it collapses so let’s just go for the armor gaps.

It was a lot easier when there were five of us. Surya hit the eyes with arrows, Mira used earth magic to stop its movements, Reza and I kept it busy and Bagus used his herculean strength to crush its armors and then gave the final blow by chopping its neck.

…

No, if I keep thinking like that I won’t be able to get accustomed to fighting alone. I don’t have anybody to call comrade right now. I could only depend on myself. Besides, now that I’m alone I should be able to hog all the experience points, so I could become stronger even quicker than before.

Thus, I charged at the rampaging giant lizard while steeling my resolve to fight alone from now on.

It took countless slashing and stabbing but the lizard finally ceased all its movements and collapsed.

I did it, it wasn’t the type that capable of magic but I managed to kill a Juggernaut class by myself. However in terms of power, I was still not a match. I managed to win only because I was faster and I managed to rob its vision first. This way of fighting was not what I desired to have right now. I wanted an unmatched strength. I wanted to be able to destroy anything that stood in my path so I was currently dissatisfied. However it was also true that if I went with a full frontal attack I might have been the one that died right now.

“It’s alright. I should choose the slow but steady way to get stronger. If I died, there would be nobody else to avenge you guys, right?” I shook my head to get rid of my impatience.

I also needed to focus on food and water procurement right now so I should avoid fighting as much as possible until I had a good amount of both.

I approached the dead lizard and cut some part of its tail. I chose the tail because it doesn’t spurt as much blood as the other body parts.

“I hope this thing is tasty if roasted.”

I returned to where I dropped my blazer which contains the empty bottles and picked it up. I tossed in the uncleaned meat without thinking and walked towards the teleportation circle to go down the floor which should be located right at the opposite end of this floor.

Then I proceeded with caution on each floor to not get into a fight. Although I was unable to get a completely zero encounter, I had to drop the bag and lure the enemy away from it so it wouldn’t get trampled. Luckily I didn’t meet any floor bosses and managed to reach the river after a few hours.

I filled all the bottles I was carrying.

This much water should be enough for three days or maybe more if I drink it economically. There were still a few more empty bottles back there so if I made a few trips, I might be able to not having to worry about water for quite some time. Water could also be stored longer than food like meat or fruits. I might need to hunt for food everyday but fighting the demon beasts was my goal here so I don’t think I would have to worry about that as well, as long as I meet edible enemies that is. As for the trip to conquer the upper floors, I’ll manage by carrying a few bottles of water and dried meats in case I needed to spend time longer than a day or more there.

I also needed to find a closer source of water or a new camp every 10 floors or so. Guess I’ll worry about that later. For now I’ll go back to the shrine.

***

Ah, it’s that dream again.

Everyone was disappearing.

Bagus, Surya, Mira...

Then, before he disappeared, Reza said to me in a low voice.

“Big bro, about you and Mira... I’m sorry.”

Yeah, so Reza knows how I felt about Mira. I thought I hid it well enough though.

Stupid, there’s no need to apologize, Mira chose you. If both of you are happy then that is enough for me.

Reza then disappeared completely before I could say anything to him.

Now I’m alone in silence. Darkness was all I could see.

Why did this happen to us? Why should it become like this?

After everything we have done for the people of this world.

“Khekhekhe”

I heard a sickening laughter. I looked towards the source only to find that bastard’s face and many other people in robes with imperial crest engraved on them laughing.

Hatred began to swell up in my chest and there was only one word that came to mind.

“Kill!”

***

If my sense of time hasn’t dulled, today should be the seventh day. I’m currently roasting the meat of a demon beast called abaveel from the 45th floor which looked like a po**mon called do*rio on steroids which beaks were metallic, complete with shark like teeth. I was also smoking the other remaining meat so they would last longer. By the way, I’ve been eating this abaveel demon beast since the third day. This thing isn’t really that tasty but is the tastiest thing I’ve eaten so far since I got teleported to this tower. It tastes even better than the minotaurs from the 47th floor.

I’ve been going back and forth to the lower floors until the 38th floor. The lizard which magically respawned every one or two days, was no longer a match to me. Its movements looked slower and I could crush its armor with a few punches now. It seemed my statuses that went up the most were strength and agility. I’ve thought of this many times already but it would be nice if I could see my stats in numbers.

The demon beasts in most dungeons spawned magically, although with the floor boss as exception, you could also find some demon beasts’ breeding grounds. They also got proper food chains. If there were some breeding grounds the number of certain demon beasts would rise so much and they stop spawning magically from the magic circles. Only after the number got so low or nearing extinction the beasts would spawn from the magic circle again.

Since I could no longer get a decent status increase anymore from fighting the lizard it seemed that it was time to challenge the upper floors. I have prepared the necessary equipments for that. I was wearing a makeshift armor, a crude vest made from the thick leather of the lizard so it got some steel plate like scales on the back and the chest. I also made a waist bag from kulureet, a monkey like demon beast’s leather which stomach could bulge many times the normal size to shoot a compressed air bullet so the bag can expand as well. It doesn’t look very cool but this was the best I could have right now. If the monsters dropped weapons, armors and items when killed then things would have been a lot easier.

I put the dried meat and a few bottle of water, which was enough for two days, into the bag. Starting from the 51st floor there would be more juggernaut-class demon beasts. And at the 54th floor the juggernaut class would be the regular monsters. You can also find several of the same species in the wild although usually they were a bit weaker, however most of them were unique and thus unknown. This tower of the gods has been explored many times by adventurers but the highest most people in this world have ever reached was around the 30th floor. Guess I have the honor to name the new guys. By the way I named the lizard as Mr. Gecko but I changed it to Geckosaurus since I didn’t know whether it was male or female. Yep, I changed the name not because it was uncool. Maybe I’ll try to give cooler names from now on if I feel like it.

I gulped the roasted hot meat in one go, grabbed my bag and stood up. There weren’t any demon beasts around the shrine but there were many around the vicinity of the teleportation circle to go up. There was also a floor boss near it although not a juggernaut class. It was a humanoid shaped plant type demon beast. It resembled the alraunes you often see in games so we called it alraune as well. It wasn’t a monster the current me couldn’t beat easily. The problem was that all monsters in the surrounding were attracted to it because it released sweet smelling pollen which acted like pheromones. The other demon beasts gathered around to protect it and it might also be why there weren’t any one of them around the shrine. Surya got excited when he first saw the alraune yelling “Mon Musu! Woah Wahoo Yeah!” He was affected by the pollen and approached the alraune while acting literally like an animal in heat but quickly returned to his senses after Bagus and I beat him up… a little. Though looking at how he usually behaves I’m starting to doubt that he was affected by the pollen at all.

“Okay, I’m ready.”

I walked through the entrance and quickened my pace. This 50th floor setting is a wasteland with tall rocks and dead trees here and there. Like most floors in the tower, this floor is also always dark but not to the point where you can’t see since there are luminous crystals on the ceiling.

After a while I was finally able to sense some enemies in a distance so I readied my daggers. I then tried to move as quickly and stealthily as possible, closing the distance in no time. I jumped to one of the tall rocks which got some footings and hid while killing my presence on one side.

I peeked out to see my enemies. There I could see 5 demon beasts, Weretigers. We called them simply as weretiger before, should I give them a name? C**rlie S**en maybe? No, let’s just call them weretigers, I don’t want to get cursed by a warlock.

The weretigers were demon beasts and not beastmen. The main difference is that these weretigers were simply tigers which stood on their hind legs and possessed the basic humanoid body shape while the beastmen looked more human with some animal body parts like tails, ears, or sometimes even the paws. In two years of my stay in this world I have only met two beastmen so far so I can’t really say that all of them are like that.

Other than the weretigers I could also see some more demon beasts scattered at a further distance. I gripped the daggers and dashed towards the weretigers. The strategy this time was simple to ambush, hide, and to ambush again to reduce their numbers and then go for the boss before they respawned. The respawning rate of the demon beasts in this floor was also longer than the other floors so I didn’t need to worry about there being an endless number of enemies.

The weretigers realized my presence and turned towards me but it was too late. I slashed the neck of the first one and the other one to its right easily, then I stabbed the third one in the chest. The remaining two got enough time to react and attacked me. I dodged the one that was trying to grab me from the left and kicked the chin of another one that was charging at me from the front. I leaned forward to slash the throat of the unsteady one and used my other arm to stab the back of the one I just dodged.

I swung my daggers to rid them of the blood and quickly left the place to look for another hiding place. That was easier than I thought.

Many demon beasts which smelled the blood would gather at where the weretigers bodies were. I doubted that cleaning my daggers from the blood would completely erase the smell as well so I rushed to a different area.

My next targets were 3 wild boar like demon beasts and a porcupine, which had six legs and two long tails with some huge spiky bones at the end. The mutant porcupine was actually a lot bigger albeit thinner than the boars. The boars already got a name, it’s a common species you could find in almost every region of the continent although the ones here were much bigger and of course stronger. They were called gibwines. As for the porcupine like thing, Son** or Kn***les? Super S***an? No, I need something more original like… seribu needles? Okay, decided.

Somehow I was starting to feel stupid for thinking about the names seriously. Maybe from now on I would just call the new guys randomly with whatever I can think of on the spot.

I took a deep breath and then dashed out of my hiding place. The first thing I killed was the gibwines, other than when they were charging at their target they were really slow so I took out three in a flash. However when I turned around I saw sharp giant needles flying at me. I jumped to the side and managed to dodge them but this time a tail sweep came at me. I deflected the tail with the dagger in my right only to find another tail coming at me from above so I parried it with the dagger in my left and then cut the tail with my right.

“That kind of surprised me but I got two weapons here as well you know.” I smirked at the seribu needles and raised the daggers at it.

As if it understood me it then roared, jumped away from me and launched the needles on its back at me once again.

I didn’t dodge the needles this time, I could see them clearly now since it was a frontal attack so I deflected each one that might hit me with the daggers. After a while the attack stopped and I saw that there were only the bases of the needles which shaped like tubes left on its back.

“Out of ammo? It’s my turn then.” I walked at the seribu needles, wait, since it no longer has any needles maybe I should call it needleless or simply needless. Argh, who cares?

Maybe it has a last resort, it then charged at me while baring its fangs. I just dashed to its side and slashed it from the mouth all the way to the flank.

I was going to run and hide again when I noticed a presence behind me.

I jumped away to make some distance and turned around only to find something I didn’t expect.

The alraune which should have been rooted and couldn’t move was there. If I didn’t jump away its vines would have captured me.

“How did it just appear over there?” The respawning rate of the demon beasts in this floor is rather slow and so I didn’t get into many fights with it. Maybe it still got some move I haven’t seen.

As I was wondering the alraune opened its mouth and let out a loud shriek, it also emitted gaseous pollen from the large flowers on the head and from the smaller flowers on the vines. Not long after that, I could hear a rumbling sound from the countless demon beasts that were approaching. I took the mask I made from my ol’ blazer’s sleeve from the bag, I soaked it using the water I had and wore it. The minuscule amount of the pollen already in the air wouldn’t affect me but I was not sure if I could say the same against such a concentrated cluster.

I was surrounded in no time by many demon beasts. Should I make a break on the siege and run first and then come back later? No, I planned to conquer the 51st floor by today so I should consider this as a good chance to be early. Even though I was alone The me now was far stronger than the me from three months ago when I faced the same situation.

The pollen cluster was dangerous, I should at least try to thin it or blow it away.

My wind magic was at mid-basic level so I could only make a weak wind to blow, it wouldn’t be able to get rid of all of these pollen. Other than making earth kiln and fire for roasting the demon beast meat for food I have never relied on my magic though so I didn’t really care about magic until now. Mira could use high class magic of every attribute easily since our early times in this world so everyone else never bothered to learn much magic.

“En(Wind ) agis(heed my) serte(call and) af(be a) rauanvis(gentle breeze)” I chanted the spell to create a breeze with a whisper and wind started to blow, albeit gently. At least I managed to decrease the intensity of the pollen. I knew a spell to create a tornado but it was an advanced class so I couldn’t use it.

I readied my daggers in a stance. The alraune simply stared at me, the other demon beasts also halted their movements as if waiting for its order.

“If you’re not going to move first, then I guess the honor is mine.”

I dashed at the pile of demon beasts to my left, I didn’t choose to attack the alraune right away because if I killed it first the other demon beasts would all go berserk at me. I should reduce their numbers first. I had fought against an army several times in the war. Same with any one-to-many battles, the simplest strategy was just to kill the one closest to you as quickly as possible without giving it the chance to attack you then do the next closest one and repeat. The other way was to lure them to a place where you could take them on while having the advantage. I knew that it was easier said than done, but I wasn’t a hero for nothing.

I jumped to a gibwines and double stabbed its back. I jumped again using its back and spun midair, slashing two huge four winged bats then I cut a weretiger at its neck as I landed. I kept charging forward as I killed the beasts in front of me. Like this I would be able to break the siege and lure them somewhere else away from the alraune while thinning the numbers. I would then go back to kill the alraune.

Or so I thought. Something grabbed my legs, tripping me. I reflexively cut the thing grabbing my legs as I fell down by throwing a dagger only to find out that it was the alraune’s vine coming straight out of the ground.

“What the...” The alraune never used this move before so I was taken aback.

As I was still lying down, a gibwines charged at me so I quickly dodged it by rolling to the side. Then a weretiger pounced on me. I blocked one of its claws with my dagger and hold the other one at the wrist. I then gave it a headbutt before it could try to bite me. I heard a cracking sound and I saw its head bending backwards abnormally. Due to my strength, the force of my headbutt actually broke its neck and lifted its body, giving me the room to stab its chest just to make sure that it was dead and also the time to stand and regain my pace.

I quickly picked the dagger I had thrown before and looked around to find the alraune but as I thought it has already gone from where it previously was. How did it move and why couldn’t I sense its presence at all? I dismissed the questions because I still needed to focus on killing the surrounding demon beasts.

I started to repeat the pattern where I killed any demon beasts closest to me then the next closest. Suddenly the ground shook and vines appeared from right beneath me. I jumped to dodge them and since they were faster I chose to cut them. I managed to cut most of the vines but my dagger got deflected by the last. It felt like I was hitting a rock. Thorns suddenly grew all over the vine and it attacked me again right after I landed. As I was going to deflect the vine, the ground shook again and this time thorny vines appeared from the ground behind me.

The situation made me choose to dodge and run instead of deflecting the vines. However the demon beasts seemed as if they are gathering at where I was going so I changed my direction, only to find more thorny vines appear from the ground beneath me faster than before. I managed to stop and shift my posture at the nick of time so the vines grazed only at my armor letting out a metallic ringing sound. The vines then tried to wrap me but I stepped back before it could happen.

Was it just me or did this thing really know whatever I was going to do?

It was like it knew my pattern or it was looking at me from a vantage point. Maybe I should find and kill it first, it’s bad if it got me when I’m getting too focused on the other demon beasts.

I only killed the demon beasts attacking me and focused on any change on the ground while also looking around to find the alraune. I didn’t like being on the defense but I had no choice.

There it was. I found it hiding in the demon beasts crowd to my left. I dashed while slashing the demon beasts in my way and the alraune launched its vines attack straight at me in response.

I was going to cut it and plunge straight ahead but since the alraune seemed to know my pattern I changed my mind and dodged to the side with a sudden movement.

Unsurprisingly this time, thorny vines came out of the ground where I was one second ago.

As I thought, this thing knows my pattern. But how?

The thorny vines were sucked back underground. I focused on the ground again in response.

Wait. I had an Idea. There are spells I could use to defeat it although they were of intermediate class. I’ve been using earth and fire magic lately so I guess the me now might be able to use them

I walked to the alraune while fending off any approaching demon beasts while whispering a spell repeatedly.

“Eht, vol en serte prasion iuri af erianx.Ecdurare”

Looking at me, who was walking leisurely, the alraune showed a hint of caution. However as I was getting closer, it finally made a move.

I felt the ground shake but I didn’t dodge right away and smirked at the alraune.

I dashed at the surprised alraune and the ground behind me finally gave in to the vines.

The spell I was casting was the spell to harden the earth. People normally use it to harden the walls made of earth for shelter against ranged attack from their enemies.

I got close to the alraune and slashed repeatedly and as finishing I cast a spell to create fire.

“Rauliet af etus tes init a verux, liet”

It was a small fire but enough to burn the cut parts so they wouldn’t regrow.

The only things left from the alraune were the petals protruding out of the ground.

“Okay next is a berserk fest for the small fries.”

I looked around but rather than berserking the demon beasts around me actually looked more scared than furious.

“What? Are you scared now that I defeated the alraune by myself?”

But it seemed I was wrong. The ground shook stronger, no, this level of tremor is that of an earthquake.

Large vines, larger than I’ve seen from the alraune appeared and caught most of the demon beasts while the ones that weren’t caught just fled in terror. Some appeared around me and tried to wrap me but I managed to avoid them. Then a part of the earth bulged and something huge burst out.

“Now what?”

Alraune…s yeah, alraunes.

Something which I guess was a tuber from its look surrounded by thorny vines and roots as if a meatball covered in noodles, then from several ends of its roots I could see 5, 6, 7 alraunes sprouting while being held above. If you include the one I just cut then it would be 8 alraunes, moreover it seems to be regenerating albeit slowly since I just burned it.

“Did a hydra got into affair with an alraune or what?”

Now I see how the alraune moves. Maybe the main body just pulled it underground then sent out another somewhere else. It could see my movements because maybe some alraunes were observing me separately while one was hidden in obvious place as a decoy for me. It might also got some experience from fighting humans, us heroes, since we never did completely kill it. It’s also a juggernaut class after all.

“Now that you showed your real form, maybe you were thinking that you could defeat me like that?”

Oh well, now that I saw its real body it should actually be easier to defeat, I hope.

I then charged at the alraune with a shout.