Walking for several hours, the group managed to get to the location of the monster nest in this area. It was according to the report, inside a temple that used to worship Blue Tigers as rare mythical animals from the heavens.

Sain found this ironic as these very same creatures were being used to cause trouble and were deemed as monsters instead of anything to worship now.

“This place...” said Sain taking a good look at the temple in question from the outer parts, “Looks like it had been looted quite finely since a long time ago.”

Miriel gave a slight snort and then said, “Perhaps that is why no one comes here and why this place looks like a dump.”

“Well this place is a ruin of a temple. It is natural that many players before have come to this place and took anything of value” replied Sain taking out his canteen for a small drink.

“Why is it natural for people to take and loot thing? How did such a thing become so common?” she wondered.

Thinking about it, Sain replied with, “Perhaps it was due to past games that encouraged people to do so. I mean even this game has elements of looting things as you go like with monster drops being somewhat random.”

“I see but I prefer money dropping instead of loot. So much easier to buy things later with money” Sain thought he saw a strange flash come across Miriel's eyes and could only laugh a bit. Looking forward he saw that the others were more or less exploring the place a bit ahead of them.

Seeing this, he was about to go to them else call them over but Miriel wrapped herself around his arm.

“Miriel?” his face was becoming hot due to this.

“Sain...” she looked up at him with those puppy eyes that he cannot defy. He would have preferred her sharp cold gaze instead though...since he could actually talk back at her when she was like that.

“Y-Yes?” he said nervous. He wondered how much longer she would cling on him like that.

“Is everything all right?” she asked.

In his mind he thought that everything was all right with-

“You seem to have a darker expression on your face recently. Have...you been doing anything behind our back?”

Those words pierced into his heart more than he thought it would. He knew one day that the others would know what he was doing or suspect of what he was doing but so soon? He expected this kind of thing to come in a year or so...

“No” Sain smiled back at her and said, “I'm not hiding anything from you or the others.”

“....”

Miriel stared up at Sain for a bit before letting go of his arm. With a sight pout she said, “One day I will find out what kinds of things you are doing without anyone else knowing. It's not fair that you know what I'm doing all the time and I don't.”

“Haha.”

Sain really hoped that she of all people did not know though Lyndis would be more troublesome for other reasons. He could believe the others would not react as bad as her. Anyway Sain and Miriel rejoined the rest of the group in the hunt for the Blue Tiger.

xXx

Soon enough they encountered one after going into the temple slightly. It was a Tiger...that had black stripes but instead of white or orange, it was coloured blue...not to mention that it's back had spikes on it that poured out blue flames as well...

“This is...I didn't think that it could use flames like that” said Shadow moving away a bit behind Lyndis.

Pissed off, Lyndis asked, “Why did you immediately cower behind me first when you saw it can use fire?”

“Well you are a fire user so you are supposed to have a pretty good resistance to these kinds of things compared to the rest of us” Shadow explained.

Miriel tapped Lyndis on the shoulder as well and said, “In that case, be the meat shield since I am bad with fire in my resistances.”

“Heyyyyy!!!”

Ignoring the scream from Lyndis right now, Sain looked at the Blue Tiger. It was...observing them but was not attacking them. What was it waiting for? There was only one of it and six of them which meant that it would attack them normally.

Seeing that it did not run away immediately, this kind of behaviour was strange at the very least. Sain wondered was there something off about it or that it wished to die?

However it was none of that as they soon found out from behind.

“A second Blue Tiger...?” Serena said in fright. One that looked like it could eat her whole was scary enough for her but two and from both sides...? No, there were even more, four, five of them. They were all surrounded due to this.

“Tch, to think things would get worse” said Shadow already holding his weapons prepared to fight them to the death.

Sain too was holding his spear. He would at the very least need to defend Miriel or Serena if they were to be attacked so they can use their spells.

From the looks of things they were around level 180 as well which makes them evenly matched in normal circumstances.

However right now they were surrounded which meant that these Blue Tigers had the clear advantage. In this thin corridor that only allowed a few people to stand side by side, they had the clear advantage.

Two at the front and three at the back.

“Hey why aren't they attack yet?” asked Lyndis noticing that if they were going to attack then they would have already.

Miriel seeing this point said, “Yeah why-”

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOARRRR!!!

“-Damnit Lyndis! You jinxed it! They were waiting for a signal to attack!” Miriel immediately cursed Lyndis at that moment while hurrying up to case her spell.

“Serena, bind one of ones at the front!” Sain ordered while at the same time chanting, “Astral Bind!” onto one of the Blue Tigers. White rope in the form of his mana wrapped around one of the Blue Tigers while Serena's 'Root Bind' did the same...no.

“The roots were burnt off?!” Serena cried though it was understandable. These Blue Tigers were of the Fire Element which means her Nature Based spells were not effective on them.

“No choice” said Sain moving up to that last Blue Tiger at the front, “Everyone else take care of the three at the back! I'll take this one” he shouted to the others as he swung his spear down at the Blue Tiger.

It dodged and leaped to attack.

Sain raised his hand and chanted, “Magic Arrows!” before rolling away to dodge after he fired a few rounds into the Blue Tiger. Seeing that his attack didn't do that much damage, he once again cursed his lack of firepower.

“Compressed Magic Mastery Release!” he said going full power now.

Compressed Magic Mastery has been released. Magic Strength +672%

Even with the triple boost bonus that the skill had, it would normally be only a 480% boost. However adding on the bonus of the 'Violent Energy Circulation' skill which was at Beginner Level 4 it increased in power by a multiplication of 40%.

Feeling the strength of his magic increased several fold inside of him he fired off 'Mana Bolts' when the Blue Tiger leaped at him again.

Bang Bang Bang...!

Numerous small holes where his attack hit opened up all over the Blue Tiger.

“Paralyse Shot!”

Whether it was partly due to the release of his mastery skill or luck, the Blue Tiger in that one hit was completely paralysed unable to move. Seeing this, an evil grin came up on Sain's face as he walked up and stabbed his spear into the Blue Tiger.

Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!

After countless number of stabs, it finally died. How strong was it's life force for it to survive this long? Sain was even hitting it's vital points several times as well. He was definitely not having fun taking this thing out.

As he was thinking of this, the 'Astral Bind' of the other Blue Tiger came loose.

“Ah.”

Sain was bewildered that it had such bad timing. That Blue Tiger seeing what Sain did to it's comrade immediately went to crush him with it's large claws. Sain could not dodge since it was too sudden but...

He wasn't alone.

“Dragon Dance Art: Fire Slash!”

Lyndis came flying over smashing away the Blue Tiger with a single heavy strike.

Bang!

The attack echoed a bit in this empty temple but was enough to shock Sain a bit. Lyndis was quite fast in her execution of her skills now though Sain thought that she also used 'Sword Dance' or 'Speed Stance' in order to get here quickly as well.

Lyndis turned to Sain seeing his look at her and smacked him on the head.

You took 167 damage

“Ow!” Sain rubbed his head feeling the pain.

“What the hell were you doing fighting alone?!” she demanded. Miriel walked up and also said, “And you didn't even call for help at all. If not for Lyndis noticing...” she sighed at the end as well.

Sain looked back and saw that the three Blue Tigers at the back were taken out, killed by them. As expected, with the five of them it would be an easy task.

However right now he needed to address these two whom were angry at him.

“I killed one of the Blue Tigers and the other escaped from it's binding the next second taking me off guard” he explained.

“Still why were you even off guard in the first place” said Lyndis placing her sword on her shoulder. She looked at the Blue Tiger that was getting up and ready to attack with the flames around it increasing in size.

“Because I was taken by surprise?” he answered. Really to be taken off-guard really only means you weren't prepared for it.

“Why were you taken by surprise?” Lyndis asked again.

“Can we have this conversation after we dealt with that?” asked Sain.

As Lyndis was about to say something again, Miriel covered her mouth and said, “I think so to” with a soft smile there which also made him go off-guard again.

“Right then...” Sain looked at the Blue Tiger that was coming very close, very quickly and said, “Mind Shock.”

A black wave of magical force came down on the Blue Tiger forcing it onto the ground. The effects of confusion, lowered defence and lowered dodge were immediately placed on it.

“Glacier Strike!” chanted Miriel next seeing that it wouldn't dodge at any rate.

Bang!

The Blue Tiger was sent flying into the air due to the spell and Lyndis leaped up in the air at the same time and shouted, “Power Strike!” cutting the Blue Tiger in half before landing.

“....”

Sain made this blank stare at Lyndis as he said to Miriel, “Hey, why does it seem that Lyndis...”

Miriel had this same look on her face as well and responded in kind, “Somehow she is slowly becoming more and more like 'them'” referring to the others in the guild...all strong...and all monsters.

'In the end I am normal'

That thought came up in both their minds....though one of them had six different mastery skills at a fair level while the other could increase his magic strength beyond what a normal mage could do, none of them were at any rate 'normal'.

“Anyway we should try to map out this place since there seems to be more than one Blue Tiger to face...and at least one strong one” said Sain moving ahead collecting the loot from the battle.

xXx

“Hey...did you see how Sain looked happy to stab that enemy to death like that?”

“It was like he was in a trance.”

“You think he noticed?”

“Doubt it. You don't notice the change in yourself.”

xXx

A bit later, the group progressed quite well into the temple. It seems that it had an underground layer into the mountain and was actually quite spacious in size. There was this large courthouse style space at the centre of the place which was located inside of this giant structure.

There was a second layer to it which they could have used to spy on things but they found that they would be spotted immediately anyway so they didn't use it.

However instead they sent in Shadow to scout out a bit.

“Well this is bad” he said bluntly coming back.

“What is it? What did you see?” asked Miriel frowning. Shadow would usually never lie about these kinds of things, at least he never lied about it yet.

“Well...there were a around 10 of those normal Blue Tigers” he answered.

“Normal?” asked Lyndis before saying, “There's a special one in there then?”

Shadow nodded and then said, “There is one that is larger than the other and has some sort of metal armour on as well. It's probably the pack leader.”

“Which means it's the boss monster of this place and the one that we need to kill” said Sain with a sigh.

Taking on that boss monster alone was one thing but to deal with the other 10 Blue Tigers at the same time? It would be quite difficult at the very least.

In that case...

“Shadow, I have a job for you” he said.

Shadow blinked and nodded and asked, “What kind of job.”

As such Sain gave him a bright smile since he had agreed without thinking about it and said, “Be bait.”

That smile that resembled Alena's own made Shadow shiver from fright.

“What do you want me to do...exactly?” Shadow cautiously asked this time. He would be dead if Sain gives him a more difficult task than he could handle.

Hearing this, Sain also thought of which task would give him the best chance of victory.

“So...” Sain decided it was best to use that method, “Tell me Shadow. Are you more likely to survive facing 10 Blue Tigers alone or that Boss Blue Tiger?”

“....”

Shadow thought Sain was kidding. Both of them were death sentences. However Shadow knew that Sain did not joke about these kinds of things...he could see the same light as when Sain was in 'Commander Mode' again...

Shadow cursed under his breath and said, “I think I can hold out against the Boss Blue Tiger...probably. You better get rid of the others quickly as well! I don't I can survive more than a minute against that thing.”

“I see...” Sain continued to smile and said, “In that case, let us make the preparations.”

xXx

Sometime later, Shadow was all alone on that second level on the edge of this open courthouse style opening. He was right now hiding as the rest of the group came at the front entrance.

The plan was simple. The rest of the group would come in and draw out the 10 Blue Tigers and Shadow will appear to stop the large Boss Blue Tiger that was most likely harder to handle then those 10 Blue Tigers.

The plan would start when...

Bang...BANG!

Black Magic Arrows, Blue Ice Bolts and Red Flame Strikes flew to hit several of the Blue Tigers head on causing some damage to them, no they were all seriously damaged now. Sain, Miriel and Lyndis were not holding back at all and were using 'Boost' right now to increase their damage.

“ROOOOOOOOOOOARRRRR!!!” That Boss Blue Tiger let out that roar which probably meant to deal with the enemy. The other seven Blue Tigers ahead of the other three injured Blue Tigers went out to attack.

Soon after the Boss Blue Tiger went up and was about to head out as well.

“Just this is my time to shine...” Shadow sighed dropping down from the second level and in front of that Boss Blue Tiger.

In his left hand was a dagger and his right was a short sword, he stood in front of the Boss Blue Tiger fearlessly.

He smirked and said, “Those guys better hurry up. I really can't keep this up for long” seeing the immense pressure the Blue Tiger was giving off.

This monster was probably over level 200 and it was a boss monster as well which means double the fun and trouble for Shadow who has to deal with it. After a second this Boss Blue Tiger recognised Shadow as an enemy and fired off flames from it's body to attack him.

“Burst Speed!” He leaped up straight at the Boss Blue Tiger dodging the flames and as he flew in the air hovering above the Boss Blue Tiger he said, “Assassinate!” dropping down and stabbing both weapons into it.

“ROOOOARRRR!!!!”

“Ah, shit!”

When his weapons dug into the Boss Blue Tiger it started letting out more flames from it's body. Shadow leaped away immediately but he took some damage from the burns. He lost a third of his health in an instant thanks to that as well.

“Haha, this thing is the worse for me who has literally no defence right now.”

His current equipment in terms of defence was a suit that literally gave only 3 defence but also boosted his other skills. It was the perfect equipment for his play-style...but right now he was doing the polar opposite to that.

Soloing monsters alone was difficult for him if he had to face to head on. However if there was a distraction like Raven or Lyndis to use, his ability would shine. But he had none of this right now, against 10 Blue Tigers, the others would need every last person to clear them out even a little bit quicker.

Which was why he was here alone.

“Woah!”

The Boss Blue Tiger made a sweep using it's claws that was as large as him. Looking at it now, wasn't it too large? The other Blue Tigers were only around the same size as a person while this thing's claw as the same size.

Or rather, it did just grow in size?

Shadow thought this was bad...

“Shadow Step! Shadow Play!” he used those two skills at once. One shifted the presences to another direction and the other created an illusion in another direction. Combine the two and you have the perfect clone to use. But doing so cost 310 mana with 'Shadow Step' costing 10 mana while 'Shadow Play' costing 300 mana.

Shadow made that clone charge at the Boss Blue Tiger as he retreated a bit.

Slash!

And in an instant the clone he made was ripped into pieces...though it was an illusion Shadow was sure that if that was him, the results was the same. The only slightly large Boss Blue Tiger was now several times larger and from the looks of things several times stronger as well.

It's body took up a tenth of the space around them now as well and the flames only made it seem bigger.

“Damnit...you guys better get here really soon...” he muttered activating 'Boost'. If he didn't go all out then he was dead either way.

xXx

On the other side of things, right now the five of them were running a fair distance away from where Shadow was battling. This was not due to them abandoning him but rather to get to the ideal space to battle these 10 Blue Tigers.

Facing 10 of them at once was foolish so what if they battled them one by one. Compared to a 5 v 10 situation it was better to have a 5 v 1 situation 10 times.

As such all of them ran into a small alleyways in between buildings that could only fit one Blue Tiger at once.

The moment they got in and with the effects of 'Boost' still on...

“Astral Bind!” Sain chanted wrapping ropes around the first Blue Tiger. The strength of the spell allowed it to be stopped immediately.

“Ice Bolts!” “Flame Strike!” “Leaf Slicer!”

All three of the girls used their spells onto that first Blue Tiger and within seconds it was killed. The same happened a second and third time until the Blue Tigers refused to go in to die like that.

“Well I guess that is it with our advantage....Raven you are up” said Sain moving onto the next plan.

In the situation where the first place stopped, like when the Blue Tigers refused to attack them, the second plan would be to draw them out to one person while everyone else killed the other Blue Tigers one by one quickly.

Right now the remaining seven Blue Tigers circled around the only place they could exit.

Raven stepped out running with his shield raised. One of the Blue Tigers responded and tried to block him or rather claw at him.

“Ram!” he said slamming his body into a Blue Tiger forcing it back a bit. However the force of the blow was not enough to allow him out of this alleyway and proceed to the next plan.

As such, Lyndis charged in as well shouting, “Dragon Dance Art: First Slash!” slamming her blade onto that same Blue Tiger this time sending it flying away.

BANG!

In that moment Raven ran through and shouted, “Anchor Howl!”

The shout echoed all over the place and forcefully drew the eyes of every Blue Tiger onto Raven without fail. Sain, Miriel and Serena at that point also ran out of the alleyway as well.

“Astral Bind! Mind Shock! Hypno Sleep!” Sain chanted those three spells at once at different Blue Tigers each. It costed 900 mana in total but it was better than allowing all seven Blue Tigers attack Raven.

At this moment, another three Blue Tigers were out of the battle for now. The remaining four started to attack Raven as well.

“Roooooooooooooooarrr!!!” The pitiful roar of the Blue Tiger made him think that it was like a cute puppy for a second.

“Target the one Lyndis attacks and being it down quickly. Serena, heal Raven when it comes to it” Sain said looking at everything with a calm eye.

“Right!” Lyndis grinned at the thought slicing up the enemy and shouted while charging, “Dragon Dance Art: Second Slash!” letting out a rapid series of attacks on one of the Blue Tigers that were still focused on Raven.

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

Due to the effects of 'Anchor Howl' the ability of that Blue Tiger to respond was quite bad and so Lyndis got a good number of hits on it before the next wave of attacks on the Blue Tiger happened.

“Magic Arrows!” “Ice Bolts!” “Leaf Slicers!”

Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang...!

Sain, Miriel and Serena finished that Blue Tiger off with those spells as Lyndis moved onto the next one. It looked like with the healing from Serena which was quite high in power in his opinion, Raven could survive several minutes like this.

He was dodging more than taking hits right now.

They waited for the cool downs on the spells to finish as well.

Noticing that the three Blue Tigers that he had removed from the battle was recovering quickly Sain said, “Lyndis! Target the ones not attacking Raven for now. Miriel, allow Raven an opportunity” shifting his target onto them as well.

“Mana Bolts!” he chanted attacking the Blue Tiger that was bound by ropes from his 'Astral Bind'. The attack made it bleed quite badly due to the numerous hits on it.

A few seconds later Lyndis was up cutting into that same Blue Tiger and Miriel chanted, “Shriek!”

Shrieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkk!!!

That spell stunned every last Blue Tiger in the area, even the one that was woken up by the spell. Seeing these several seconds of opportunity, Raven shouted, “Meteor Stream Art: Cross Slash!” attacking the remaining three Blue Tigers around him at once.

BANG!

The impact of the attack was mainly due to the Halberd but at the same time, with double damage due to stun, and the high damage of the Halberd in the first place, the Blue Tigers around him all died.

Moving onto the last three Blue Tigers, some which were still under the effects of his spell, the group finished off them quite quickly.

“Right...” Sain said to the rest of the group, “We better get back to Shadow then.”

The others nodded and they all ran back to where Shadow was battling that Boss Blue Tiger at once.

xXx

Bang! Boom! Boom! Bang!

The sounds of conflict were near as the rest of the group ran to where Shadow was kinda hoping that there was not to be a heroic sacrifice or something like. Though in a nutshell they really didn't care of he died since he will come back either way with some complaining.

Heck in some cases it would be better for him to die to shut his mouth up.

In the end, when they came back to Shadow the whole place was covered in dust. One would wonder how such a thing happened.

“Damn you guys took so long to get here” said Shadow who was bleeding all over. His equipment were in tatters as well.

Sain looked at his health and he was barely alive right now. And it was at that moment that that Boss Blue Tiger moved to kill Shadow. Shadow by some cursed fate or luck fainted at that same moment as well.

It was likely he used 'Final Assassination' and it failed.

“Astral Bind!” chanted Sain however the target was much much larger than he expected so the spell snapped immediately as it was casted.

“Shit!” Lyndis leaped in the way and gazing the ground, got Shadow out of harm's way grabbing hold of him before she threw him back at Sain to catch.

“Wait wait wait!” Sain panicked as he caught Shadow in his arms. He was actually really light...

Sain dropped Shadow on the ground and prepared to fight going up next Lyndis acting as a vanguard along with Lyndis and Raven. Right now Serena was healing Shadow as well and Miriel applied some new buffs on them all.

Rumble

Sain felt a chill climb up his spine.

“Sain, shut up for now about Shadow and tell us what to do!” shouted Lyndis shivering a bit looking into the dust. He didn't even say anything about Shadow...not that he cared that much since he did his job.

Sain took a look at the dust cloud that seemed to spiral around like a storm before disappearing.

And in front of them was that very same Boss Blue Tiger...but it was huge! Before it was only around 3 metres tall and now it was 12 metres tall! It grew to a size that was four times larger than before.

Furthermore that was this Divine like golden aura around it like it was some sort of God-like creature...from what Sain could tell using his 'All Knowing Eyes'.

“What the hell happened for this to occur?” Sain wondered while smiling awkwardly since this was the only thing he could do right now. By his estimates, this thing was much stronger than a level 200 boss monster right now...from the feeling it gave.

Could be level 300 then in pure strength or even higher? Perhaps even level 400?

Due to Sain's 'All Knowing Eyes' he was able to calculate the level of this Boss Blue Tiger easily...but the value was only still increasing!

Right now even while using 'Boost' and his 'Compressed Magic Mastery Release', Sain felt like he was being overwhelmed here. Such a creature would be near impossible for them to beat. Even though they were level 180, with 'Boost' applied they were at least level 230 in pure strength wise.

Facing something with this endless difference in strength was impossible.

However this thing was probably stronger than even that and furthermore was a boss monster so it's strength, speed and vitality is so much higher than normal as well.

As such...

“RUN!” he shouted while at the same time picking up Shadow and throwing him over his shoulder before sprinting away with the others.

“ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!”

The Giant Boss Blue Tiger let out that roar that was louder than anything they heard and caused an earthquake to happen. Tripping over due to the imbalanced land all of a sudden, the group was forced to a stop.

Then as Sain turned, he found that a great amount of blue flames were being gathered in a ball...

“Barrier Queen Art: Transcendent Triple Barrier!” Miriel shouted creating that barrier around Sain. Seeing this, Sain immediately dropped Shadow and stood in front of the rest of the group.

Transcendent Triple Barrier active (Can block any attack for 20 seconds, heals 20% of health of anyone inside and gives bonus to attack, defence and speed as well.

He would be completely invulnerable in the next 20 seconds.

The Boss Blue Tiger fired off the giant fireball that was the size of a building. Seeing this and knowing the explosive power of an attack like that, it would still kill the others even if Sain blocked it for them.

In the next second, Sain's body decided before his mind and he leaped at the Boss Blue Tiger.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

The blue flames exploded around him causing his vision to flare up due to all the light.

BANG!

Sain was blown back further away from the Boss Blue Tiger can the rest of the group. However due to Miriel's ultimate barrier, he was not harmed at all...though there were only 15 seconds left...

Struggling to get up due to the shock of the blast, even if he took no damage, his mind was not completely fine, he watched the others fight for their lives before him. Right now the distance between him and the others were more than 50 metres!

He could not even run to save them even though he wanted to.

Shadow was knocked out so he was worthless right now, Serena was shivering more than he ever saw her while Miriel tried to calm her down since all her mana was consumed casting that barrier. Raven and Lyndis were next to each other waiting to defend the others from any attacks.

However with a simple sweep both Raven and Lyndis were blown away. They could not even react.

BANG! BANG!

Party Member: Lyndis has died

Party Member: Raven has died

“Lyndis! Raven!” he shouted, he started to get up and run to them now. There was still another 10 seconds of invulnerability on him...if he could get to the others and escape...

But fate-no reality was too cruel as the Boss Blue Tiger did not spare Sain any feelings at all. It probably only saw them as toys.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Like a cat playing with it's prey, the Boss Blue Tiger spat out small blue fireballs at the Miriel, Serena and the now awake Shadow.

“What the hell is going on?!” Shadow immediately shouted seeing that he was being attacked by blue fireballs after almost being killed already.

“Shut up and get Serena out of here!” Miriel shouted back pulling Serena who was in shock from the ground and into Shadow's arms.

“Run!” she commanded but before either of them could do anything the Boss Blue Tiger did a tail sweep attack which barely missed her since she stumbled on the ground a bit.

But Shadow who dropped Serena at that same moment wasn't so lucky.

BANG!

Shadow was blown away to a wall on the side.

Party Member: Shadow has died

Sain could only watch him die as well.

“Damn!” Miriel cursed, she grabbed onto Serena and started running as well. By now, Sain only had another 5 seconds before the effects of the barrier wore off. Right now he was only 20 metres away from Miriel and Serena.

He would protect them no matter what!

More seconds passed...and the distance between them shortened.

17 metres...

The Boss Blue Tiger noticed Sain and started it's attack again.

15 metres...

12 metres...

9 metres...

Sain could see that blue flames were being gathered rapidly again.

6 metres...

3 metres...

The giant blue fireball attack was formed and was about to be fired at them all.

1 metres...

There was only 1 or 2 seconds left of the barrier's effects on him.

He reached for Miriel who did the same and...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

And then were all consumed by flames.

BANG!

Sain was once again blown away but once again...but thanks to the effects of Miriel's barrier, he continued to live. Once again he found himself tens of metres away from that Boss Blue Tiger that was larger than any foe he had seen.

But most of all...

Party Member: Miriel has died

Party Member: Serena has died

He failed.

He failed to protect anyone.

He was useless.

“Ha...haha....” he let out that sad laugh seeing his powerlessness. Even now he was unable to protect anything. He wept as tears poured out of his limp body that refused to move.

Then what was the point of this strength he continued to polish bit by bit?

What the point of working for Eden in all of those tasks that made him sick to the core?

What was the point?

As he had these thoughts, he looked at the Boss Blue Tiger that was more surprised than ever to see that he was alive. He let out another laugh.

He will pour all of his emotions into killing this Boss Blue Tiger.

Yes, that way he could endure it. At the very least it was better than lying here doing nothing but feel sorry for himself. But how could he gain more strength quickly? How could he gained enough strength to destroy this monster that was more than double his level at least?

He looked at his right hand that was covered by the glove...

What was he prepared to sacrificed for the power?

It was simple.

“I would give anything for it right now.”

He made his decision and took off the glove that was holding back the forbidden power Eden gave him.

xXx

“Ho?”

Eden felt a reaction...it was faint but it was indeed an reaction. And it was not coming from Gen, Jenny, Mel, Park, Anna or Ron. Which meant...

“One of those kids is doing something very stupid?” he wondered.

He expanded his senses into the skill that would allow him to see anything he wanted at any location.

'Divine Sight'!

There he located a giant blue tiger that was covered in blue flames and had this golden armour on it. He frowned immediately seeing this.

“This is...that is impossible right?” he said a bit shocked.

But then he saw no one else there so he searched for a bit and found Sain and immediately understood what was happening.

He smiled and then said to Sain even though he could not hear him, “If you really want power that much, take it. However the cost will be very high you know~”

He grinned as he waited to see this entertainment.

Sain was becoming a better source of fun than he initially thought.

xXx

The words.

The words to a chant appeared in his mind and so he said them. These words filled with power as the 'Mark' expanded to every place all over his body and flowed a deep red.

“Let it fall, Let it fall, Let the countless flames fall and become stars.”

“Let it shine, Let it shine, Shine brighter than anything else in the sky.”

“Let it rage, Let it rage, Like the roar of the Heaven Shattering Beast.”

“Let the forbidden fruit which lies in the false paradise be plucked and consumed.”

“And let this small flower bloom once and for all.”

“Mankai.”

Then that power exploded.

Mankai has been activated

- All health, mana and stamina limits have been lifted

- All health, mana and stamina will be recovered to max value

- All health, mana and stamina regeneration will increased to max value

- Level has been temporary increased to 1000

- Stats will be scaled up to that level based on current stat placement

- All limitations on skills has been lifted.

- All skills in this state will be ranked up to max value

- Attack, Defence and Speed will increased exponentially

- Awakening of special class has been unlocked in this state

- Body will be transformed into new race during the effects of Mankai

- All race abilities will be unlocked in the state of Mankai as well

- The permanent sacrifice will be taken after the effects wears off

Power of the [email protected]&r has been activated

Sain ignored those windows that seemed to annoyed him over and over again. He felt his body rip apart over and over again as his muscles ripped themselves only to reform rapidly. Even the veins in his body burst forth and reform at that same rate as well.

Furthermore Sain felt that it was not only that. His skin ripped open to show seep crimson scales. Though he did not know how....he felt that his iris turned a even deeper shade of golden and the whites in his eyes turned black.

Then...from the back of his body a long tail emerged as well!

“This is...” he looked to see that the Boss Blue Tiger was stunned at Sain and his appearance and even more of the power that was overflowing from his body.

But Sain ignored the Boss Blue Tiger for a second. The 'Mark' from his right hand grew to the rest of his body and was sending off dangerous sparks all over the place from every part of his body.

He knew he only had a few minutes or even moments at best at using this power...

“So....”

He looked at the Boss Blue Tiger that seemed so small now. He could just move and crush it...

But...

“You will have to suffer for killing them at least right?” he asked the Boss Blue Tiger as he took a step to it.

Though it was a natural step to Sain at this point, he instantly appeared in front of the Boss Blue Tiger with that one step. Rather than a step it was more like a leap! But with his increased speed that nearly caused a sonic boom, this was nothing at all!

“Then...”

He grabbed the claw of which killed Raven and Lyndis and ripped it off.

“ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAARRRR!!!”

The Boss Blue Tiger roared in pain as one of it's limbs was so easily ripped off. Furthermore it was not regenerating at all!

For a creature this large and strong it was natural that it's regenerative powers were powerful at the very least! But there seemed to be no reaction from it's body to even try to heal. The Boss Blue Tiger was afraid right now.

More afraid than anything else right now. What kind of monster was in front of it.

Thus it decided to run away.

It turned it's body and ran from Sain.

“Oi...who said you could run away?”

Sain moved at speeds that he thought was impossible for a human...no living thing and casually grabbed the tail which killed Shadow with a sweep and pulled it off.

Ignoring the pain, the Boss Blue Tiger jumped on the building and continued to run away from Sain even abandoning it's tail!

It had lost all shame at this point and focused on only surviving right now. And so Sain leaped as well in the air and flew at speeds that were so fast to follow.

And while falling from the air...

“Don't you dare run from me!” he shouted sending a full power punch directed in front of where the Boss Blue Tiger would run at.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The force of the punch that was more power than even Sain thought sent the area in front of the Boss Blue Tiger, away to such a size that the distance of the destruction caused by the punch was over a hundred metres long!

It was only then that the Boss Blue Tiger stopped and completely submitted to death...

“Good Good...” Sain smiled coming close to the Boss Blue Tiger and petted it. If not for the fact that Sain could destroy not only it but this entire temple immediately, the Boss Blue Tiger would never allow anything to do this to it.

Even if it was a Dragon that did so.

“This is the mouth that breathed that fireball that killed Serena and...Miriel” Sain cold voice made the Boss Blue Tiger stiffen in fear completely stunned and paralysed due to the immense sinister aura that Sain was producing.

If everyone was a bright flame that shone brightly, then Sain was a deep dark flame that was bottomless in all ways.

He held his Pure Magitite Crystal Spear which scaled to his current level. It was probably one of the strongest, if not strongest weapon in the game right now. He wondered how powerful it would be even with a simple stab...

“Disappear” Sain said his farewells to this Boss Blue Tiger and did a simple stab at it.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!

In an instant nothing was left of that Boss Blue Tiger. That stab completely annihilated it, the temple and went through the side of the mountain as well!

“Hahahaha!” Sain was laughing like a maniac seeing this destructive power. A level 1000 could do this?

They say Weed is approaching level 900 and he was the strongest player! He could not be able to do this even if he wanted to.

A simple difference of 100 levels between this and that was this much?!

It was laughable at the amount of time needed to get from where the strongest player was at to this point Sain was standing at even if it was temporary.

However now Sain knew time was up...

The power was disappearing from his body rapidly...no, it was his body breaking down from using all of that power at once.

It was like a balloon being filled with water and continued being filled and filled until it...bursted.

But before that, he collected the loot from the Boss Blue Tiger that was dropped since Miriel would complain. He didn't even bother to see what he gained.

“Ow!”

There was a sharp pain in his right eye at that same moment as well. He knew what was going on but didn't like that...

The Sacrifice has been taken

The next moment when he opened his right eye, he saw nothing through it...

And then he felt his consciousness fade away but not before one other message from the game.

You have died

xXx

“How interesting...that creature was one of the better experimental beings with the power of fake divinity and yet it was destroyed like that.”

There was a man hidden away watching everything that happened. From the group dying one by one to Sain awakening a strange and powerful power and killing it before dying himself.

“How interesting, how interesting! From what we know, even if a peek level person tried to kill one of Divine nature, it was be near impossible with the amount that Blue Tiger had. It was more like a God than anything else, even if it was a minor one.”

That man disappeared from sight seeing there was nothing else to do here.

xXx

“How nice for Sain to give this to me for that power” said Eden holding a transparent 'thing' in his hand.

A sacrifice was needed to use that power. Even if it was only a while, that power went to the limits on what a mortal can do in the mortal realm. The fact is that there is virtually nothing that can stop you when using this power.

“Even if it is me...in my state, even that Sain could kill me in that state” he laughed at the thought. He who was over level 1000 and went beyond the limits of mortals and yet restrained to a mere level 800 or so in the end.

“Well I guess he will learn of the sacrifice he needed to make for that power that time...though with those eyes of his I bet he knows already!” Eden started laughing again.

Seeing Sain act out like this was really too fun. To be kind, to be cruel, there needed a balance in order for them to be forged the way he wanted.

Anything than that and they could turn out useless like most of the others he took in.

As such Eden was more than happy that Sain jumped to this step even though he will only suffer due to it later on.

“As for this...” he looked at the 'thing' which represented the 'sight' from Sain's right eye in his hands.

“I guess I can keep it until he decides to bring me something of even costs to it to get it back.”

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 7400~

- This chapter took a lot less time than anything else to write. Lots of battle scenes and motivation does that.

- As for stuff I did not plan to happen in this chapter. First was that this battle would last for the entire chapter, it was only meant for two thirds, second was the boss monster being that strong...kinda happened and third was the use of Mankai, that was suppose to be fully introduced several volumes later.