7

«Who are you?» - The centaur's voice grew anxious, his eyebrows furrowed and his body ready for any attack that might come his way.

His gaze was fixed on the boy in front of him, whose presence he didn't feel at all. Even though the boy looked harmless and wore strange clothes, the Centaur could not lower his guard, choosing instead to trust his gut instinct, which screamed for him to run as far away as possible.

"I asked you a question, barbarian." - The boy's face did not change, it remained stoic.

"..." - The centaur chose not to answer his question, instead lunging at him, preparing to strike with his right hand.

***

'He's smart. Tz, I knew the villains in the manga were just idiots.' I thought as I looked at his fist coming fast towards my face.

I ducked to the right, preparing my fist with increased mana to hit him in the horse's stomach.

It would be better not to waste my strength blocking his fist, for that could be risky. My body can withstand a certain amount of enhanced power, but it still has its own limit, and if it is exceeded, my body will simply explode.

My fist was blocked by his left hand as he stared at me with his sharp eyes focused on me.

After pushing me away with just his left hand, he swung at me again, but much faster.

*Zhuuuuuuh*

Tilting my head to the right, he missed the blow near my face and I hit him right in the chest. Luckily, he was only a little taller than me, about 1.6 meters, while I was about 1.5 meters tall.

*Trash*

A cracking sound was heard, telling me that I had broken his ribcage.

*cough-cough-cough*

His breathing got heavier and his face filled with pain, fresh dark red blood flowing from the corners of his mouth.

«W-Who are you?» - The centaur asked, still keeping the pained expression on his face.

"Hmm, let me see... call me Aced. The future great mage is Ased." - I gave him a carefree smile as I analyzed our recent battle.

'The mana cost is low, but I have no martial arts. Only experience in street fights helped me, but still, it might be useless against the likes of him.'

"So, will you answer me? What have you done to the local dryad?" - I walked slowly towards him, keeping my smile on.

"You will die soon anyway, for now my mana is inside you, ready to rip your heart or just give you unbearable pain..." - At my words, the centaur's face took on a grim look, while his eyes still stared at me without a hint of emotion.

The Penetration Technique is a special technique I created during my wanderings, specially designed to kill thick-skinned beasts. When used, it sends a certain amount of mana to kill it from the inside, destroying its heart. This technique saves me a lot of mana and time. If I want, I can let that mana flow inside it, tearing its body from the inside out and causing pain. There's also a disadvantage. I can't inject my mana into a body that already has its own mana.

The centaur in front of me has no mana, which makes him more of a beast than the mystical race.

Who knows, maybe he's a wimp with no mana among his own kind, or maybe centaurs don't have mana at all.

What about Chiron? I mean, he has his own divinity, it's not even worth thinking about.

"You won't answer...?"

«W-wait! She's dead! We killed her!» - The centaur's face became panicked as he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I see." - To me, the Dryads are kind big sisters, ready to help when asked or when the situation calls for it. I have met more than a dozen of them, and they are all kind and understanding. But I cannot ignore Dryad's death. I don't care about the others, especially the River Nymphs.

"... Then die." - The smile slipped from my face as my bloodshot eyes stared at the centaur's body, which had split in half and fallen to the ground, some organs lying around and a huge amount of blood surrounding his body halves.

«Grrrrr» - I heard a low growl from behind me. Looking back, Atalanta's face was full of fear and horror at what I saw.

Even from the growl, I understood what she was experiencing.

An endless fear of repeating the fate of that centaur.

Ever since I was born, I could understand people's intentions by their voices, the emotions they felt, and a natural knowledge of the ancient Greek language, I could even write in it, although no one had taught me. I guess it's my golden finger instead of a system without logic.

Slowly, I approached the dirty girl, whose face was full of horror, but still kept her wild look.

'How sweet...but still, no use talking to her.'

I walked over to her and removed the log, watching her as she stood up, still looking at me with those same eyes.

With a wave of my hand, all the dirt and grime was washed away by the warm, wet, magically created wind. Somehow I don't want to see her so dirty, hiding her beautiful appearance.

Atalanta was stunned by my actions and even more cautious. Seeing this, I appeared behind her and put my hand on her head and stroked it a little.

'I hope that stroking her head can calm her down, because that's what happened in most novels and anime...'

'Eh?... Is she... purring? Is a pat on the head so powerful that it can banish all the negative emotions of all the loli? At least you're right about something...besides, how is she purring anyway?'

After stroking her fluffy head a little, I picked her up and put her on my shoulders.

«Rrrr?»

"Hahahaha, from now on you're going to be my little sister, baby girl!"

"This big brother is going to teach you everything he knows! So you must obey me! hahahahahaha."

"Such a cute girl deserves better, and this big brother will give you a happy childhood!" - After shouting I ran through the forest at a top speed of 280 kilometers per hour, not paying attention to the girl on my shoulders.

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I'm going to add another chapter later tonight to apologize for not posting anything yesterday :/