Chapter 10

A whip made of water slapped the creature back to the floor only for it to get up and try again.

Aroh leaped forward with it, dodging its attempt to bite him and smashing his foot into its neck area.

His eyes widened a bit as it snapped its head towards him to bite him again. He easily dodged into a jump, landing near Katara.

'That kick was strong enough to break a grown man's neck yet it shrugged it off.' He thought, rolling out of the way of its dash.

With a flick of his wrist, two knives shot through the air, stabbing into its hind limbs, causing it to howl in pain.

It tried to move through the wound only for the water whip to slap it back a few feet. It changed its target to Katara who stood her ground, swinging the whip at the creature again, sending it back.

Before it could attempt to shoot off towards her, two more throwing knives found their way into its front limbs. Not a second later, Aroh appeared beside it, kicking its neck with as much force as he could muster, a very audible crack sounding out as it fell lifelessly.

[*Ding!*]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

'For it to net me two levels…just what is this?' He thought, looking down at its corpse.

"I've never seen anything like it before." Katara commented as she walked up to stand beside him.

"Neither have I but I have a hunch it has something to do with spirits." He said as he prodded the corpse lightly with his foot.

"Spirits? Oh, we once encountered an angry spirit who abducted my brother." Katara recounted.

"Yeah, those kinds of spirits. Though, this one is a lot more violent than the one you saw. This is all just speculation so there's no telling whether I'm right or not." He responded as he stopped prodding the creature.

"So what do we do? We don't know if there are more like it around. There could be a whole pack of them." She said, making her worries known.

She wasn't wrong but they had no choice. If they didn't try and find their attacker, it was doubtful they'd survive the next few days without food.

"We'll keep going. At least now we're aware that there are dangerous things in here with us. As long as we stay alert, we should be fine." Aroh said.

He spun around, quickly snatching a projectile through the air.

"That's the same kind of arrow that blew up the barrels." Katara noted despite being surprised.

Aroh snapped the arrow in his grasp, turning in the direction it came from. "I was wondering when you'd make your move. You've been hiding for quite a while."

For a moment, there was no reply. Just as Aroh was about to simply go and smoke his attacker out, the trees around them rustled as a number of people came out of hiding from the leaves and branches in front of them.

His eyes flickered between each of them, searching for a specific person. His eyes landed on a straw hat wearing boy with a bow who was no doubt the one who shot the arrow.

He then looked to the one who stood beside him, immediately recognizing him. 'So I was right.'

"You're good, I'll give you that. I don't know how you were able to survive the explosion but you won't be lucky twice." Jet said as his group of 'Freedom Fighters' roared in approval of his words.

"Twenty against two. Are you so incompetent you have to rely on numbers to win?" Aroh mocked with a scoff.

"Oh I know who you are, 'demon blade'. I know what you're capable of." Jet said, Aroh resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the unwanted moniker he gained.

That begged the question. 'Only the name is known so how do they know my face? Are there already wanted posters?' He wondered as he observed the grown teens and few adults in front of them.

Jet then turned his attention to Katara. "Stay calm, it'll be alright. I'll save you."

Unlike Aroh who had the decency not to roll his eyes, Katara did not resist. 'Is he dumb?' The girl thought. "Um no thanks." She said with a deadpan.

Jet was momentarily stunned by her words before watching as she moved to stand beside Aroh, realization clicking in.

"I see. Don't worry, we'll take him down and set you free." He declared, brandishing his hook swords.

Katara gave the boy a dry look, wondering how he came to that conclusion in the first place. She looked to Aroh who didn't bat an eyelid at the other boy's accusations.

As a matter of fact, he didn't even look one bit threatened, still standing topless as he observed their attackers. A grin appeared on her face as an idea popped up in her head.

Seeing the look on her face, Aroh held in a sigh, knowing she was thinking something weird. He stood still as the girl walked in front of him, pulling him in for a deep kiss…in front of the HOSTILE AUDIENCE.

It was a few seconds before she pulled back before going back to standing beside him with an innocent look on her face. "What was that for?" He asked, mildly exasperated as he saw Jet's face crumble in anger for a moment.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Katara answered in faux innocence.

'This girl…' he thought with a small smile, knowing what she intentionally did.

Jet took in a deliberate breath, the others around him noting the change but chose to stay silent. "Attack!" He announced as he raised his swords.

Immediately, the freedom fighters with the exception of Jet and Longshot jumped off the trees, rushing forward to attack.

Aroh's mind was on his 80 and 50 points in Dex and Str respectively. He had compared his physical ability while growing up and the average soldier's stat was around 15 points.

'This won't be hard at all.' He thought as he easily ducked under a pole that sailed over his head.

His hand shot out, pulling the pole along with its wielder towards him. A girl stumbled forward, letting go of the pole only for said pole to smash into her neck, easily breaking it.

Her quick death seemed to make the others pause in shock for a moment as Aroh held the pole lightly, a cold glint in his eyes as he stared at them.

"Y-you killed her…" One sword wielding boy muttered before dashing forward in rage. "Die you bastard!"

He swung the weapon at Aroh, the other boy only tilting himself out of the way. He tried to swing again only for Aroh to quickly pluck the sword from his grip, spinning around the boy and plunging it through his back.

"You're the ones who tried to kill us. Don't get all righteous when it's your turn." Aroh said for them to hear, pulling out the weapon and allowing the bleeding body to lifelessly fall to the floor.

"Now then, who's next?" He asked, brandishing the bloody sword.