“What was that?” Kyle wiped the blood from his spear as he surveyed where all the killing intent was coming from. Beneath his feet is a corpse of a giant with a large hole in its chest, continuously gushing the soil with blood. The fight between them was one-sided as Kyle’s experience, tricks, and depth of the skills were too large.

With Kyle’s body honed to perfection to kill anyone no matter how powerful, a single stab containing the power of the spell annihilation straight to the giant’s heart was enough to end the fight as the giant was killed without knowing what happened and who he died.

Large explosions ranged through the forest as the ground shakes continuously. With no time to rest, Kyle rushed to where the explosions are coming from only to see a red whip coursing through the wind, creating a whistling sound as it smashes towards Kyle as he quickly ducks away from it. Slight trembling in the ground followed as Kyle jumped sideways before three large spikes made of bones appeared with the intent of penetrating his body.

Kyle gazed forward to find a young pale man with wings unleashing attacks at seemingly random places, by these characteristics. Kyle knew it was a red-winged vampire, a type of vampire that reaches the rank of viscount which has twenty times more mana than a normal vampire and has a body that is harder than steel. Its speed when flying is the most terrifying thing about this type of vampire that even Kyle can’t catch up with no matter how he tries. With the vampire beating its wings, Kyle tried throwing his spear like a javelin in an attempt to shoot it down from the skies.

Kyle wrapped his spear with chaos before chucking it into the air. Unfortunately, the vampire notices the spear by its destructive nature as it flew back to the ground. In a flash, Kyle saw six swords made of blood crashing towards the vampire only to be sliced to pieces before falling to the ground. Bones, shaped like a fin can be seen running through the vampire’s arms as it was unscathed from the blood sword attack.

“You still won’t give up?” the vampire mocked before laughing like a mad man as it opened its palm, red orb appeared in its palm before becoming a red beam of pure blood aimed at Isaac.

Isaac saw this as he used the last charge of his title to teleport away. He heaved and breathed heavily as he is having a hard time healing himself. His body has been beaten black and blue and all of his armor made of blood was already destroyed. Wounds littered his body as he can feel himself losing unconscious any second now. Still, he gritted his teeth and glared at the vampire who was enjoying the entire fight. He could’ve taken out Isaac but he felt that he needed someone who would become a dummy for his newly gained skills and spells.

“I can kill you if you want” the vampire teased with a cackle as Isaac can only stand up despite his injuries. No matter what injuries he suffered, he would never stop fighting as long as he leaves.

‘I’m completely outmatched, whether by speed or the deadliness of spells. I can’t turn this around without doing something drastic’ Isaac pondered as he hides his arms behind his back. He activated the rotting effect of his blood as he slowly slashes his palm open as violet blood started dripping in his katana. Dalmos wondered what Isaac is doing but with him completely controlling the battle, he shrugged it knowing that whatever Isaac threw at him would be meaningless. His face crumpled to a wicked smile as he slowly walked towards Isaac.

“Chaos Magic: Annihilation” from Kyle’s palm, a black rapidly spinning orb appeared. With the use of Kyle’s title, he teleported towards the vampire’s back before slamming it to the back of the vampire. The vampire screamed in pain as Kyle pushes the orb away from him as it ripped the vampire’s clothes before ripping its skin as the spiraling orb continued on slashing and crumpling its muscles as the vampire felt like a rapidly spinning blade is hitting his back. What’s worse, the vampire can’t get away as it slowly sucked the feathers from his wings before being consumed by it, the gravity of it forcefully pulls his wings towards its spiraling destructiveness as the vampire continued on shaking it off his back like a mad man. It was a black hole of destruction as blood and flesh splattered everywhere.

Pillars of blood started appearing from beneath the ground as red wisps appeared which slowly heals his back but the black orb rendered it useless as every wisp was swallowed by it.

“Damn” Despite this Kyle gritted his teeth as sweats dripped all over his body. He continued on feeding the orb with chaos to avoid it from flickering away. The vampire’s toughness is out of his estimation as it was far above the league of that giant. He knew that it can’t kill the vampire but it can only stop it in its tracks. The orb can’t obliterate all through its organs as the muscles of this vampire were too tough. Added with the pillars slowly healing the vampire’s skin, it would be a battle of attrition. This reminded him of killing that knight in the forest of doom but with his target having a hundred times toughness compared to that knight.

‘Dammit! i thought it was a normal red-winged vampire but it was actually a primordial winged vampire. What did it cause to be like this? Only 1% of vampires who choose to follow this evolution path would even survive, much less become stronger. '

‘What the hell is Isaac doing? Don’t tell me he already left me?’ the wings of the vampire are blocking Kyle from seeing what’s in front of the vampire as he honestly wondered what is happening. He continued on holding on, hoping that Isaac can deal the final blow.

Noticing Kyle is currently holding the vampire in place with a black hole spell of his, he was surprised that it didn’t kill the vampire quickly and merely stopping it in its track.

“This might not be enough” Isaac muttered as the katana of his is fully coated with violet blood. He closed his eyes before breathing deeply, with his katana in front of him. He raises it slowly, he opened his eyes like he was looking at someone who’s about the die.

“Forbidden Katana Art: Rapid Laceration” by the time Isaac muttered those words, he saw the tip of his blade facing the ground as a sharp whistling of the impact of his katana to the air followed. He raises his head to see the expression of Dalmos blanketed with shock, anger, disbelief, and despair all in one. His chest was covered with six large deep wounds, so deep that organs of his started slipping of his body. The blood inside the wounds started bubbling like acid as it eats through his body. He screamed in horror and in pain before a black spiraling orb penetrated his chest with blood and flesh spiraling around it.

Squelch

His body falls to the ground full of his own blood, flesh, and organs. The violet blood continued on rotting his corpse as everywhere it touches becomes violet and black before crumbling into dust. Both of them stared at the corpse for a while as it crumbled to dust, leaving the blood in the ground.

That powerful being would completely kill them if they fought one on one but with their teamwork, they barely eke out a win. If it continued on flying, it would completely obliterate them. Seeing this, their confidence in their strength dwindled. Isaac stared at nothingness as Kyle bit his lower lip in frustration. Still, this only lasted for a second before their greed for achieving their class become greater. Kyle sighed while looking around before grabbing his spear. He walked slowly towards Isaac with a cheeky smile before changing to a frown.

“You crazy fucker! I nearly fucking died!” Remembering that Isaac used his forbidden art despite knowing that Kyle was nearby and directly behind the vampire. He got angry at him.

“I knew you would survive” Isaac simply shrugged before falling to his knees from fatigue and his body shutting down. He tried standing back up but the fatigue was too much as Kyle was forced to bring him where others are currently staying.

Once he reaches where the bonfire is, he is surprised to see Aleena, Melissa, and Alrich unconscious with injuries in different parts of their body. A sharp rapier appeared out of nowhere before stopping near his neck as Cellica sighed in relief who was hiding near the bushes once she notices someone is walking towards the camp. She sheathes her weapon back before worriedly gazing at the injuries she saw at both Isaac and Kyle.

“What happened here?” Kyle asked with concern before summoning 5 sleeping bags out of his storage spell as Cellica knew what he’s planning. With her help, Kyle was able to transfer everyone to their respective sleeping bags more easily.

After that, Cellica explained with a heavy heart what happened without hiding anything from Kyle as he nodded before stopping Cellica

“Did you just said that Alrich was able to control lightning? That isn’t supposed to happen and where did he get that power?”

“I don’t know…he was already unconscious before i got to ask”

“Did he appear to be dazed and acting differently than normal?” as Cellica nodded, Kyle quickly examined Alrich to find a black mark on his chest.

“What are you doing?!” surprised at what Kyle is doing, she hurriedly grabbed her shoulder to stop

“He has the mark of delusion…”

“Mark of delusion? What is that?”

“Whatever Alrich imagines that he has, he gets it. If he thinks he can control lightning, he can and will absolutely use it. " Kyle grimly said as Cellica didn’t get it, isn’t it supposed to be a good thing but an apparent frown appeared on Kyle’s face.

“Every time he uses it, his vitality and life force would be consumed. If he continued on using this power, he won’t reach the age of thirty” Kyle sighed

“I see….Do you have a solution?”

“Once a mark manifested, it can never be removed. Only a saint can absorb the mark but other than that, i would advise Alrich to stop using this power”

The both of them stayed there silently before red potions started appearing in Kyle’s hand as he carefully puts the healing water to their wounds. Their wounds started closing and healing as Kyle used a total of ten potions to heal everyone as he can only wait for the others to wake up.

Despite all of their injuries healing, all of them are still tired and lacking the energy to wake up as Cellica and Kyle guarded them. Both of them are tired too but they prioritize their unconscious companions instead of the over-looming sleepiness and drowsiness their body extremely needed. Kyle decided to check his storage to find that he doesn’t have any healing potions anymore, he clicks his tongue in annoyance.

Entering the ruins of the forgotten kingdom without any healing potions would be extremely deadly as traps and monsters littered that place. He wanted to buy more potions but the lack of money and the large price of healing potions forced him to look for medicinal plants that aren’t as refined and effective as the potions created by alchemists.

A groaned surprised the both of them as they can see Isaac waking up from his short sleep. With his high mentality stat, once his body is fully healed. He doesn’t need to take hours to get the energy to wake up.

“Thanks, Kyle” Isaac stared at Kyle before the latter nodded like it was nothing. He tried standing up but his body won’t cooperate as he can only stare at the stars in the sky.

“We might have to cancel this expedition to the ruins..” Kyle said with a sigh as both Cellica and Isaac were shocked by this.

“What do you mean? We already spilled blood and sweat just to reach here and you just wanted to cancel it?!” Cellica yelled with anger

“With the lack of healing potion, it’s better to cancel this for now than risk it. Besides, the treasure inside will stay there since no one knows where to find it and how to open its door” he explained

Cellica wanted to argue back but seeing what happened in just two days, it is indeed dangerous to continue. She just bites her lips and stayed silent as Kyle knew what’s she feeling. It’s frustrating but without potions or someone able to heal, this risk is something he can’t afford.

“Don’t worry about that. My blood mist can be used to heal. I just need blood to convert it to healing” Isaac said calmly

“Really?!” Cellica shouted with clear excitement and a bit of hope in her tone.

“Yes, that’s why Kyle was able to heal himself. It can also remove poisons but it tasted spicy according to what Kyle said. It’s extremely inefficient compared if i use it for myself but the healing is still acceptable” Isaac explained

“So that’s what you let me drink. It was the blood of the monsters?”

“I don’t know if it has any side effect but we can just investigate Kyle for now”

“This is great! Does this mean that we can continue?” Cellica asked

“Yes, but don’t complain if it’s too spicy. Besides, Isaac doesn’t seem to have a limit on his spell”

“Now, we have to plan what our battle style is. With the blessing of the deity, we can’t break the contract so whether we don’t like each other. We need to cooperate.” Kyle said with a serious tone

“I’ll start. I mainly dodge and wait for the perfect time to strike the enemy. Although i can provide continuous damage and area of attack damage, i mainly use my spell annihilation and my dragon spear arts to kill the enemy in one fell swoop.” Kyle continued as the both of them nodded.

“I guess i’m next…i can’t dodge that well since i don’t have any speed-type spells. I can regenerate my body parts without issue and with the help of my armor of blood, i can take damage without worrying about dying. I can deal area of attack damage and i can execute my enemies with my forbidden katana art.” Isaac explained

“I can switch from long to short-range attack quite easily with the help of my sacred weapon. I can deal any type of damage, whether it’s aoe, executing my enemy, or continuous. Although i can escape and dodge, i have low vitality and no healing spells. I can’t really take any damage and i’m quite fragile compared to the both of you ” Cellica admitted with a heavy heart as she can only be honest.

“With this, it’s better if Isaac takes the front to deal with any damage that comes in our way. " Kyle suggested

“Without blood, i can’t tank any injuries and damages since i can’t heal or protect myself. "

“I nearly forgot about that. This makes you quite unreliable to take the damage from our enemies.” Kyle muttered as Isaac nodded. He pondered for a while but he can’t think of any solution. These people don’t have any tanking abilities and are solely focused on killing the enemy. This is great against humanoid races like demons and humans who don’t have that much vitality, to begin with, but with monsters that have a lot of vitality stat and attacks that can quickly kill them. This is a huge problem that Kyle started looking for a solution.