Beginning of the end

"Huh? Against me?" I was confused why they would be against me. I mean maybe because I left without saying anything, so, that should be expected but for her to mention something so obvious, I think I'm wrong.

"The upside down world is enemy of humanity. Everyone believes you've betrayed humanity by defecting to upside down world. Liam is especially talking ill of you but he hasn't technically betrayed humanity or his classmates. You might not be welcomed by anyone. Rosaline, Leisha and Barbara have given up on you and absolutely despise you. They already had devoted their lives to the four gods. You gave them some information about the history and they think you tried to manipulate them and that you're somehow related to the seven dragons instead. Kristine has locked herself in and isn't communicating with anyone. With both your girlfriends absolutely hating you, people don't have very high opinion of you. A warrant is issued with kill on sight and a bounty is set on your head. How did things go here?"

"I tried to be more civil and was labelled an enemy here." I sighed.

She facepalmed.

"Sorry..." I said.

"Let's leave the kingdom for now and move somewhere more secluded." She teleported the two of us to a cave somewhere deep in jungle.

"Do you think I can clear misunderstandings?"

"With kingdom of Munioko, you can't clear up anything. They have an extremely binary point of view when it comes to the other side. Either you're friend or a foe who needs to be eliminated. With other side... I can't be too sure because the other side has extremely prejudiced opinions too. Talking might work but I can't be too sure."

"We also need to spy on the regulators. We two might be by ourselves for a while now." I said while thinking about our course of action.

"They somehow haven't taken an action yet but I think they would be happy with the war. For them the existence of this world itself is unacceptable. I'm yet to uncover the identity of their leader. It's just a hunch but he might on the level of gods. I can't seem to see his location and he somehow can conceal location of ascendants too." She informed me.

"Let's go back to other side and see what we can do there... I hope I can at least I can meet Ace."

"Any reason?"

"Well he is currently the only one who hasn't betrayed my expectations. Now that even my classmates have given up on me based on a few rumors... mere rumors... I thought Amina was sensible one but... that definitely was on me. Ace hasn't done anything unexpected. 'The bad guy acts consistently bad.' ugh... Bar is so low." I scowled.

"That's all on you." She said in a sarcastic tone.

"On me? I thought we were friends. We have been classmates for... such a long time. I should try to clear things up with NIGHTFALL but..."

"It can wait. You need to train now." She said and turned around. "We are currently in the middle of dead zone. This location has remnants of the great seven dragons. Some subordinates are still alive. Now go fight them. If you make out alive, you can go have a conversation with your classmates."

"You can't seem to read the room, do you?" I asked in utter disbelief.

"I was in that library for my entire life... ever since the primordial one split up so... you're correct. Now... go. I have to eat too, so, go get some ingredients." She said before disappearing.

"GREAT! JUST GREAT!" I scoffed before walking out of the cave. Just how strong they can be, right?

An animal that resembled tiger attacked me. It has long sharp canines sticking out of it's mouth.

I created a vortex under my feet and thrusted myself into the air.

"Die..." I murmured before charging towards it at my highest speed and crashing into it.

I checked the status and it's HP had gone down by half. The animal then tried pouncing onto me but I used wind magic to launch it into air and letting gravity do the work. I had learned how to use wind magic differently and I was preferring this over using swords or any other weapon. I wanted to be a full-on mage.

I dragged its dead body to the cave and tossed it into a corner. These animals seem to be around level 40-50 considering this one was level 47.

I went ahead and killed a few more enemies but I still hadn't gained a level. It was becoming frustrating and I could do nothing about the other side and my classmates for now because Layla would not let me go back. I don't even know where she is now and I'm becoming more and more anxious with every second passing. I kept on killing as many monsters as I could before I heard a feminine scream. I started running in the direction from where the scream came from and saw a hooded girl getting attacked by a bear that was almost 15 feet tall. It towered over everything in the surrounding. There were some knights too trying to protect the woman while some knights were on the sidelines wounded.

I took out Polaris and shot a vortex arrow at the bear but it barely scratched the skin. Shit. I checked the level of the bear and it was insane.

King of Dead Zone

Level: 77

HP: 104,276

Attack: 7,238

Def: 873

Abilities: Can transform into special elemental form.

Battle strategy: Run away is advised as a single attack is enough to kill even the most veteran adventurers. Elemental form reduces resistance to all other elements while greatly increasing attack.

So it is weak to all elements. I think I can win, I thought as I wiped sweat off my face.

"Who's there?" A knight shouted but not paying any attention to him, I jumped into the battle with my shield activated.

I have to weaken it enough to force the transformation. I used nature magic and wrapped the bear with vines before setting on fire. It will keep reducing it's HP while I charge a vortex arrow to create a pyro-nado. It worked as it slowly started chipping away the HP. The bear was struggling but then transformed into water form, extinguishing the pyro-nado in the process.

GREAT! I took out offering blade and dashed towards it with electro magic. I have to only touch it to cause electrocution but one thing I didn't take into consideration was its brute strength. As I was putting slits into its body using my electro offering blade, it slammed a paw into me breaking my shield instantly. But breaking the shield caused a knock-back. I was at least alive. I checked the HP and it hadn't regenerated at least but my attacks were not nearly enough to do anything. I had to hope that all my attacks land roughly a hundred times as I was reducing only 1K HP per hit.

I had barely reduced its HP by 20% so the fight was still not in my favor but then it jumped. JUMPED?! I quickly looked up and it was falling right onto my location. I quickly dashed out but then it jumped again. I almost got out of the second drop too but it crashing into ground caused a massive shockwave making me fly into a tree.

It was around 40 levels higher than me but what separated us was the fact that I was an intellectual being capable of making rational decisions. The bear was still affected by electro magic making it more and more volatile and impulsive. I just have to use nature magic and bind it in the location and set it on fire while electro magic keep stunning it and keeping it from moving.

I did as I had planned and set it on fire again but kept using electro magic to keep stunning it and keeping it from moving from its location. Slowly but surely, it died after a few minutes. I deem this a torture to be honest. It was slowly burned alive and electrocuted but survival sees no morality, now does it...

<Reached level 34!>

Finally... I sighed in relief. Oh right! I quickly performed healing magic on the knights.

"Thanks! You saved us." One of the knights said before the girl came forth.

"I'm Alissa De Focarilers. The third princess of the kingdom of Focarilers. I don't know where to start. The fact that you killed king of dead zone or how you used so many elemental attacks. But... I apologize I can't compensate in my current state." The girl said as she took off her hood revealing golden hair and pointy ears. ELF?!

She softly smiled at me before turning back to her knights.

"Not yet! We have to keep going!"

"If you don't mind, where are you going?" I asked.

"To the other side." One of the knights answered. "We are against the war, so, we hope we find people with similar mindset on the other side too."

"How are you planning on getting there?"

"There are rumors that in the center of dead zone is portal to other side." He informed.

"But why are you here?" Alissa asked.

"Training." I responded.

"T-TRAINING?! In dead zone?! No wonder since you can use all the elements. You remind me of the primordial one. It could also use all elements but more. Want to join our team?"

"Sure." I responded because I had to clear misunderstanding with my team too. I think no matter where I am, Layla would find me, so I'm not worried about accidently leaving her behind either.

...

That's how I ended up travelling with the team of about 54 knights and a leader. They were a great bunch. All optimistic and hopeful unlike me... me who was struggling to keep himself together.

I was almost wanted in both sides of this planet. One saw me as a traitor while other saw me as a threat to be eliminated. But that's now how it will end for me, I'm sure.