"Grrr!!!" Fenrir growled furiously as he looked at the hole in the ground. Though he immediately recognized the familiar figure, his growl only grew louder. The intense killing intent and turbulence in the ground clearly indicated that something was chasing after Cale.

"Fenrir! Get in the carriage quickly!" Cale shouted as he hopped towards the hole by bouncing against the highest rock in the perimeter. Numerous spiders with murderous eyes pursued him from behind, and when they saw the sudden departure of the human, their Qi exploded in rage.

While Cale got back to the surface, spiders jumped one on top of the other, trying to reach the ground by using their superior numbers.

"Grr!" Fenrir, who had been dragging the unconscious body with his fangs, was suddenly caught by the running Cale. Without wasting a second, Cale charged towards the cart with both companions in his hands.

Tap! Tap!

Unexpectedly, a few spiders already poked their heads out of the dungeon entrance, locking their eyes on the retreating figure.

"Neigh!!! Neigh!!!"

The horses were as startled as Fenrir, who covered both eyes with his fur in fear. Fortunately, Cale was calm as ever. He had been in more critical situations throughout his life, and something like being chased by a couple of spiders didn't even trigger a sense of threat in him.

"Neigh!!! Neigh!!!"

The horses tried to tear the ropes with their teeth, but the material proved to be thicker than expected.

"Fenrir! Bark when they are close!" Cale threw Fenrir and Leo onto the carriage while he rushed at the struggling horses. Qi surged as he swung his blade upon the ropes.

'Damn it! My power is almost exhausted after using two divine powers at the same time!' Cale cursed inwardly after seeing the sword leaving only a barely visible cut on the ropes.

"Bark! Bark!"

As Cale continued to slash at the ropes, Fenrir tried to scare away the approaching host of spiders. The number of beasts already exceeded Fenrir's line of sight.

Fortunately, just as one of the beasts was about to reach Fenrir's tiny body, the carriage abruptly began to move. Followed by another scream from the horses, all the spiders were left behind, and soon none were to be seen at all.

"That was close," Cale sighed as he leaned back into the wooden partition, "Good work, Fenrir. Once we reach the kingdom, I'll buy you plenty of snacks," he added after glancing at Fenrir's still imperceptibly shaking body.

"Now...we should...get some rest" Cale struggled to finish his sentence before his vision blurred. The backlash from the excessive use of Qi and the injuries he had sustained finally hit his body. He could do nothing but surrender to this overwhelming fatigue as his sight completely dried up.

-

After a few hours, both horses were already calm and no longer traveled across the road with such abrupt speed.

'What's happening? We're moving?' Leo, who had been unconscious all this time, suddenly opened his eyes and looked around in confusion. The first sight that greeted him was an armored man sitting in the corner with Fenrir on his lap.

"You finally woke up?" asked Cale nonchalantly.

"What happened? Did I pass out?" asked Leo before placing his palms on his head in concern.

"Yeah, you suddenly fell on the ground in the middle of the woods. Luckily we found this carriage later and we're already on our way to the kingdom," Cale explained, deciding to skip the part about the dungeon. He was still pretty exhausted from earlier and didn't want to spend the whole night teaching this boy.

"I see..." Leo sighed.

"How are you feeling, Leo? You should probably get some rest before we reach the kingdom," Cale said.

"I'm better..." Leo replied in a slightly hoarse voice. Though Cale couldn't see his expression as it was hidden under his hand, it was clear that Leo was frightened after seeing his somewhat shaky body.

"What are you doing?" Cale was quite surprised to see Leo take a seat in the corner and put his hands together.

"I'm going to train" Leo replied indifferently, but Cale managed to detect a wave of inadequate anger in his tone.

'Maybe a little training is for the best, at least it will push the thoughts of his family away for now,' Cale thought before pulling something out from under his armor, "Eat this before you start."

"What's that? A leaf?" Leo became confused after seeing Cale hold out a simple-looking leaf to him.

"Don't be so quick to draw conclusions. Although it looks like a simple leaf, it's actually a herb."

However, after hearing Cale's words, Leo turned even more doubtful.

"Don't tell me you don't even know about herbs?" Cale sighed after seeing Leo's head moving side to side, "Remember how I said that resources can help with cultivation? Well, this is one of those valuable elements. Normally, warriors eat this herb when they want to treat minor injuries on their body, but it can also fasten the cultivation speed"

"It's not usually eaten raw, but right now there's no other way," Cale added when he saw that Leo still had some qualms looking at this bizarre leaf.

Believing Cale's words and not doubting himself any further, Leo swallowed the leaf and strangely enough, the effect was immediate. He felt a warm sensation in his stomach like his organs were being lit on fire.

Subconsciously, his eyes closed and instead of darkness, he was greeted by a completely white display. A somewhat fresh smell flowed through his nostrils as he was drawn to all the Qi around him.

'Even after seeing this so many times, I still can't get over it,' Cale thought, looking at the glowing Leo's body, 'There's no way he's just a simple villager. Is it the mother?'

Cale became more and more interested in this child's background, but after a few seconds, he pushed all worries aside. It didn't matter who or what, but as long as they were on Cale's side, he wouldn't trouble any of them.

-

[Name: Cale]

[Current Condition: Regular]

[Divine Powers: Absolute Defense, Wrath]

[Qi: Peak-Rank Dispicle]

-

"I still can't believe that I have two divine powers... And both of them are powerful" An inner smile wafted within Cale, "If I can absorb even more divine powers, then I will be unstoppable"