Waking up from his chat with Soleed, Daelos found himself staring at a white ceiling. Looking to his right he saw a nightstand and a bouquet of flowers. Where am I?

Looking around the room he noticed that it seemed oddly similar to a hospital room back in his world. The only difference was that this place lacked the medical machinery and had a weird calming aura that seemed to seep into his bones. The floor was completely white and unblemished as it reflected the ceiling on its surface.

Oh right, the hydra. Replaying the events back on in his mind. He eventually formed a timeline that’d help explain his reasoning for being here.

My arms! Looking down at his bandage wrapped arms, he noticed a weak purple glow underneath trying to escape. Unwrapping the bandages, he discovered a thin vein-like pattern extending from his palms to his shoulders. What the hell is this!

Looking at the glowing vein, he felt a faint but familiar aura emanating from it. Hydra!

Before he could think any further, a woman in a white and gold nun outfit walked into the room. Lifting her head from the notepad she froze when she saw the young man awake. A look of shock was written all over her face as she dropped the notepad and ran out of the room screaming some unknown name.

Shortly after she left, a group of people rushed into the room with the nun trailing right behind them. There 3 people in total. 2 nuns like the previous one and a middle aged man in spectacles wearing what seemed to be vestment of the same colour.

Like the nuns outfit, the vestment had an emblem on it, but unlike the small ones on the nuns shoulders, his one was dead centre in the middle.

Walking towards Daelos the doctor checked his arms and whispered something to one of the nuns. Turning his attention back to Daelos he put on his best smile as he tried to speak to the young man. “Hello there, I’m Dale Ludvic, do you know why you’re here?” Probing the young man, Ludvic’s eyes never left his arms. He gave off a disgusting feeling that made Daelos want to get away from him.

That being said, he didn’t actually know where he was and decide to play along until he had more information.

“I was injured by a hydra?”

Hearing that, Ludvic chuckled. “Injured is an understatement. Your arms were completely covered in hydra blood! Even though those friends of yours kept you alive by freezing you in ice, the poison should have sped up the moment your were released.”

Friends? Is he talking about the mercenaries? Why would they save me? They have no reason to. Its more than likely that’d they’d just leave me to die and take the hydra as a reward.

“But the interesting thing is that when we removed you from the ice, your body had adapted to poison and slowly neutralised it!”

My body did what!

“It was truly a miracle!”

My body adapted to the poison? No that can’t be right. From what he said the poison was definitely toxic enough to kill me. That means that while the ice was slowing down the spread, my body slowly adapted to it. But why would it do that? Is it a racial ability? I’ve never heard of anyone on my planet being poisoned before. Maybe that’s the reason. Even if that is true, its thanks to whoever put me in the ice in the first place! If it wasn’t for that my body wouldn’t have had enough time to adapt to the poison.

Thinking about it now, he actually dodged a bullet.

Realising what had happened, he decided to focus on the most relevant factors. Looking at the doctor he asked. “Where am I?”

“Huh” Taken aback by that question, he momentarily froze before he regained his composure. “You are at Breamore’s temple of light.”

So I’m in Breamore, that makes things easier.

“I’m feeling slightly tired is it okay if I rest.” Trying to get the doctor to leave, Daelos came up with an excuse.

“Ah, how rude of me. Here I am prattling on when you’ve only just woken up. If you’ll excuse me.” Taking his leave, the doctor looked at Daelos before he closed the door.

“WAIT!”

Before he could make it through the door, Daelos’s shout stopped him. “Yes?”

“What happened to my clothes?”

“They were also covered in blood, so we had to dispose of them.”

“Oh that’s a shame.” Putting on a forlorn expression, Daelos waved goodbye to the doctor.

Since my clothes aren’t here then I guess I can go.

Dressed in nothing more than his hospital gown, he waited until it was dark before he slipped out of his room. With his vibrational sensing technique it was quite easy to avoid coming into contact with anyone as he walked right out the front door.

Wearing a hospital gown would make him stand out so he kept to the shadows and searched for anywhere that sold clothes. Stumbling across a closed blacksmith’s, he vibrated the handle until it broke and easily made his way in.

The walls were stacked with numerous weapons whereas numerous mannequins wore different variations of heavy armour.

Not finding what he was looking for Daelos, headed towards the back room where the weapons were forged. Moving around as quietly as he could he found a pair of black bracers that seemed to be of a higher quality than his last, encased in a display.

Tier 3!

Vibrating the lock, he opened up the display and attached the bracers to his wrists. They had an elegant design that suited his taste and felt comfortable on his arms.

Leaving the back room, he returned to the store front and picked up a crossbow and a few bolts. He also took a couple silver coins for good measure just before he left.

Walking out the blacksmith, he noticed a tailor shop on the opposite side. Smiling to himself he made sure no one was around before he approached it and snuck in. Similar to the blacksmiths, the store front had many of its average goods place on display. Ignoring the cheap products Daelos went straight to the back, not even looking at the stuff on display. Unlike the blacksmiths there was no forge or armour laying around in the back. Instead there were several mannequin’s wearing different types of light clothing. One of those mannequins caught his attention as it displayed a sleek looking hooded black outfit with reinforced armour applied to it. It had small leather pauldrons attached to the shoulder area and a small black utility belt wrapped around its waist. The small face mask covering the lower part of the mannequin’s face also aroused his attention as he felt the entire outfit was perfect for him.

Removing it from the mannequin, he dressed himself and attached the crossbow to his back before he took a single gold coin from the register. He also found a small map in the corner of the room which he took for obvious reasons.

Leaving the shop, he headed towards an inn to spend the rest of the night. What surprised him was that when he entered he saw an entire table filled with nothing but females.

Shit! Not these guys again.

Attracted to the sound of the door being opened the rowdy inn looked towards the entrance before returning back to its noisy atmosphere. Unfortunately the female mercenaries didn’t return to their conversation.

Seeing that they’d already noticed him, Daelos headed towards their direction and sat on the empty stool.

Seeing him sit at their table, a charming smile spread out on Helga’s face. “Well if it isn’t the sleeping monster hunter.” Teasing someone as strong as him gave her a weird sense of joy. “So how’s our little patient doing?”

This damn vixen!

Ignoring her teasing, he asked a question of his own. “What happened after the I killed the hydra?” This was what he really wanted to know.

Seeing him brush over her question, Helga didn’t get mad. In fact it was the exact opposite. “We brought you back to the capital and sent you to the temple of light for healing.” Stretching out her arms she let out a low yawn. “And after 2 long months here you are.”

“2 months!” Visibly shaken up by the news, he stood to his feet knocking over the stool behind him.

This caused everyone in the inn to look over at him. Several rowdy looking fellas didn’t seem to like seeing a man sit around a table occupied by nothing but females. Using this disturbance as an excuse, they thought they could intimidate him into giving them each one of the girls. (minus Cassie, too much muscle.)

Four massively built men in heavy armour strolled up next to him and exerted their aura. They looked at Daelos slowly. Trying to size him up.

How can a weak fucker like this be surrounded by so many girls! Fuck! one of them is even an elf!

As if watching a show, the entire inn was covered in the sound of people whispering to each other. Trying to guess what was going to happen next.

" It's the 4 idiots again."

“They’re just B rank mercenaries and they think they’re all that.”

“4 on 1! Have they no shame.”

" My soul prays for his safety."

" Dinner and a show. What could be better?"

"Isn't this their last warning, maybe the owner will finally ban them."

" They never listen do they..."

Not trying to conceal their conversations, the whispers were quite audible as everyone was trying to size Daelos up. Lost in his thoughts, Daelos didn’t notice the several burly men standing at his side. The girls also didn’t make any noise. After seeing him take out a hydra, something like this wouldn’t even faze him. Sitting quietly they just waited for the show to start. Taking the girl’s silence as a show of fear, the four men got even more confident in their approach.

After sizing Daelos up, the leader put his hand on his shoulder. He had the most muscles of the group. He was 6ft4 so he had an intimidating presence. He had several scars on his bulging muscles that were visible because unlike the rest of his body, his arms weren’t covered in armour. He had a shaven head and a few scars on his face giving him an ugly appearance.

As he was about to place his hand on Daelos’s shoulder, he felt a weird force repelling him. In the eyes of others it looked like he was just standing there stretching out his arm.

What the fuck!

What’s he doing?”

“Is he stretching?”

“Did he lose his nerve.”

The various whispers made their way into his ears as a look of embarrassment covered his face.

“Boss what are you doing?” Even his mercenary buddies were starting to feel embarrassed as their faces grew hot from all the stares.

Feeling the need to prove his dominance, the bald headed leader swung his fist towards the young man.

As if by instinct Daelos dodged the fist that was approaching him and quickly moved under it. Seeing the unassuming young man avoid his punch, a sense of dread started to rise within the leader as he realised Daelos was now in the perfect position to strike back. Rising up after avoiding the punch he shot up like he was about to throw an uppercut. But instead of forming a fist, he cupped his hand and grabbed the leader by the neck. He then proceeded to pick him up off the ground with his one hand and slam his body down on the floor hard enough that the entire inn shook.

Various gasps escaped the mouths of the audience as they didn’t expect the stocky mercenary to be taken out so swiftly. Not to mention the way it was done. He lifted him off the ground!! The man weighed at least 270ibs as well as a suit of heavy armour, yet he was still picked up like he weighed nothing!!

To the audience this was incomprehensible, impossible even.

Seeing the stares of the crowd and the mercenary’s buddies land on his body. Daelos subconsciously released a wisp of battle intent that caused everyone to back up. Looking down at the man below him a confused expression was seen on his face.

Who’s this?

Releasing his hand from the mercenary leader’s neck, he realised that his windpipe was crushed. When everybody else saw this, they sucked in a few breaths of cold air. Ignoring their reactions, Daelos focused his attention back on the girls. “You said 2 months have gone by right?”

In a state of shock, the girls didn’t answer. They never expected him to kill the man in cold blood. Okay maybe that wasn’t true, but they definitely didn’t expect him to do it with so many witnesses around.

Snapping out of their shock, they all answered him by nodding their heads.

“I see.” 2 months! Is that enough time for me to get back to the academy on time? Fuck!!! Kira didn’t even tell me how to reach the island when I got there!

Looking towards Amara a sudden question appeared in his mind. “Elf how do I reach the mage knight academy islands?”

Although she felt shocked about the whole situation and the question, the thing that shocked her the most was that this guy still didn’t know her name! Calling someone by their race was quite rude. How would he like it if she kept calling him human all the time.

Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, she tried her best to answer his question. “Only representatives, graduates and drop outs are allowed to leave the island. To return you need to be escorted back on an iron wing eagle.”

That fucking lousy ass teacher! How the hell did she think I was gonna get back!

“I…see”

Seeing his mind about to wonder, Helga took the opportunity to talk to him. “Don’t you have something to say?”

“Huh?” The fucks she on about?

“We saved your life, don’t you think you owe us some compensation.” A sly smile crept onto her face.

So that’s her game. A sense of realisation dawned on him.

Smiling back at her he asked. “Why would I compensate you when we’re even.”

“Even?”

His smile widened. “If I remember correctly, I’m pretty sure I saved your lives from a pact of savage scaled wolves. In turn you saved my life after I was injured by the hydra.”

Shit! He’s trying to worm his way outta this!

Showing him an equally gentle smile, Helga continued her point. “While it is true that you did save us, and we did save you. Your forgetting a very important part.”

“Oh? Pray tell.”

I’ve got you!!

“Although you did defeat the hydra, you only found it because of a member of our party. So you owe us for finding the hydra and allowing you to fight it.”

Does this bitch think she’s smart.

“I think your also forgetting a very glaring issue miss Helga.”

“Oh?”

What’s he planning now!

“While it is true that it is thanks to you that I did manage to find and fight the hydra. You forget that it was also because of me that you guys completed the request in the first place.”

Hahaha, what you gonna say now.

“True, but. Don’t forget that you essentially stole the request away from us and held us hostage for three days! You owe us.”

“On the contrary, it is you who owe me. Not only did I defeat a monster that would have mercilessly slaughtered you guys, I also allowed you complete the request and not only earn the reward money, but also let you guys rank up to A+. And what did I get out of this? I was poisoned and now I’m being blackmailed. How unjust.”

Seeing the look on not only Helga’s face, but the entire party’s, Daelos knew he’d won. (Light Yagami this bitch!!)

Hearing his argument, Helga couldn’t say anything back. Rather she had nothing left to say. It was true that he did complete the request for them and let them keep the reward money, while he slept in a temple for the past 2 months due to being poisoned.

“Anyway ladies, I must take my leave.” Slightly bowing to them in a mocking manner, he proceed towards the door.”

As he approached the door, the crowd made way for him, while keeping their heads lowered. That battle intent he sent out honestly scared them. It was like a predator seeing its prey.

“AMARA!”

Hmm..

Turning back around he saw the elf girl shout an unfamiliar name to him.

“?”

Feeling all eyes on her, Amara felt completely embarrassed, but she couldn’t let him go without him knowing her name at the very least. “My name is Amara.”

It took a couple seconds for him to digest what she was saying. And at long last, he finally answered.

“So?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

The entire inn fell silent as they heard his response.

Feeling extremely humiliated, Amara took several deep breaths and regained her composure. “You called me elf the entire time and I just wanted you to know my name.”

“Oh…Noted. Bye.” Closing the door behind him he left the inn as silently as possible.

“Did he seem different to you.” Speaking up, the usually loudmouthed Shea asked.

“You think so too.” Agreeing with her was the muscly Cassie.

“Yeah he seemed…less likely to kill us compared to before.”