First Disadvantage

"Damn! I still can't use my mana!", Renny desperately shouted, being backed into a corner by a strange creation, flapping his arms around frantically.

"Damn", Milo grit his teeth, slicing through a creature before sprinting to Renny's aid, driving his fist through the back of the other creature.

Milo slumped onto the floor panting, he let his mana fade from existence before swinging his head back, "Any idea what those were?".

He looked down at his clothing, he felt like he was drenched in blood and sweat by how heavy his clothing had become, but to his surprise not only was he completely clean, but there also wasn't any traces of the creatures corpses around.

After having gotten out of the carriage, the first thing Milo did was scour the surrounding area. He simply couldn't believe that the people that inhabited this small town could just … well, vanish.

After sprinting through the town, Milo, Renny and Marco spit up and each began kicking down house doors in an attempt to find someone. However, this attempt was also met with abrupt failure.

It became an irrefutable fact that only they remained … well, them and these creatures that constantly attacked them.

"They're called ghouls, weird seeing them out in daylight though", Marcos said, leaving one of the houses nearby with a load of bread in hand … again.

These ghouls were eery to say the least and not something Milo had seen even in his previous life. Their sickly green skin appeared as if it had been devoid of sunlight for millennia, and their lack of mass made them extremely easy to move off of you. Yet despite that the sheer strength of their blows was enough to shatter walls and buildings.

'They can't be more than 40KG each, they are literally skin and bones. So how …'.

Milo looked around him at the countless buildings that were now littered with holes in the walls, and roads that had been torn by each step the ghouls took.

'Could they possibly cause this much damage?'.

A sudden growl drew Milo's attention as a ghoul peered it's bright red eyes around a corner, chipping away yet another piece of a house. It opened it's terrifying maw, displaying it's 5 rows of teeth on both the top and bottom of it's mouth, as well as the disgusting, stringy saliva that was dripping as it locked eyes with Milo.

"Now Milo, kill it", Marcos shouted, tearing a piece of bread and stuffing it into his mouth.

Arguably the worst part about this entire experience was that the only one who seemed to be able to wield their mana, was Milo. For whatever reason, as soon as they stepped out of the carriage both Renny and Maros' mana signatures became incredibly faint, almost non-existent, and despite their best efforts they couldn't conjure any at all.

'Great, let the child do all the work'.

It had taken them less than 10 minutes to completely abandon trying to solve the problem in favour of just letting Milo run wild and hack ghoul after ghoul down.

It was working, it was just taking longer.

Another ghoul slid off of Milo's claws, "Right then, we go into there?", he said pointing towards a golden gate blocking the Earl's residence.

Even though the number of ghouls seemed to increase the closer they got to the residence, for some reason Milo felt that they were trying to usher them away, rather than push them closer. He had originally suspected that this was a challenge of some sort from the Earl to test his abilities. But after the attack they experienced, he wasn't willing to take any chances and refused to underestimate this.

What made it especially confusing was that the ghouls appeared to be made from mana.

Each time Milo killed one, it's body would just evaporate into the air, leaving behind a trail of mana, although faint. It became clear that somebody was controlling them somehow, but what was more terrifying than this was the sheer scale of it.

His mind began to roll back to the first moment he stepped out of the carriage and the disappearance of the citizens, the forcefield surrounding the town, and the guards standing watch. If all of those were created by the same person for the sole purpose of this …

'Our opponent must be at least Emperor realm'.

Milo looked back at Renny and Marcos, who appeared as if they were taking a leisurely stroll through the countryside. It seemed that those two were yet to figure out the gravity of the situation.

'Although it could be the opposite, if they aren't worried surely it's not going to end badly for us …'.

*Thud*

"Wha …".

*Thud*

"M-Milo …", Renny pointed nervously to the gate.

*Thud*

"Haha … seriously", Marcos chuckled nervously watching a shadow loom over the small hill they were stood on.

*Thud*

"Shit get ba … ack!", Milo was sent hurtling back by a 10-foot-wide fist slamming him straight in the stomach.

He tumbled backward, crashing through stalls, buildings and knocking down countless ghouls until he was left bleeding from the corner of his mouth, hunched over at the bottom of the hill.

Milo flooded his entire body with mana to stop any internal bleeding he suffered, immediately shattered ribs and a fractured arm became noticeable to him.

"Test my ass, is someone seriously trying to kill us …", he choked out, laughing to himself.

He looked back up towards the gate, noticing the same shadow slowly taking over the bottom of the hill. A giant figure at least 60 foot tall was slowly bundling it's way down the hill, knocking countless ghouls out of its way with each stride, killing them without even trying.

On it's oval shaped face, two eyes were misshapen, one slightly high on the left side towards it's forehead, shaped as a triangle and dripping with puss. The other slanted towards it's jaw on the right side, shaped like a rectangle and continuing to bounce around the socket as if it was trying to escape.

It's dull grey skin blocked out any sunlight, and through the glow on it's back, it's body became eerily translucent revealing it's countless organs, 3 hearts, 12 lungs, 4 livers, no intestines. The most shocking thing was the fact that this monster was not only huge and had primal strength that even if Milo trained for thousands of years in this new body he wouldn't match, but the fact it also possessed 19 cores, all of which were at the Ascent stage.

"I take it back, someone is definitely trying to kill us", Milo grumbled under his breath, allowing the mana to trickle down his arms and form his usual battle suit.

His eyes narrowed whilst he scanned the monster.

'Actually, is it even possible for me to win'.

It wasn't a thought he had imagined he would be having so soon in this new world. So far, his past experiences and techniques had allowed him to overcome any opposition he faced, whether that be bandits or monsters. But this was only down to the fact he was on a level playing field and stronger than them in one attribute, his experience.

This was the first time since arriving in this world he found himself against an opponent that experience alone wouldn't be able to overcome.

Milo learnt early on during his time as the Azure dragon that when fighting, the winner was almost always determined by certain categories.

Power level, whether that be mana or essence. Physical strength and condition, meaning things like height, weight and sheer physical strength. Experience Intelligence Technique

In the vast majority of cases, the fight would be won by the person who had the upper hand in these categories, and that went double for people who were much weaker. But an advantage those with weaker standing had, was that if they were monstrous in one of these categories, they could easily overpower an opponent. This was how Milo was able to seamlessly kill bandits and monsters.

Now the roles were reversed, his technique, experience and knowledge were all completely meaningless in the face of this monsters sheer power. A single swipe from his hand had somehow managed to shatter Milo's ribs and fracture his arm, injuries which would have been potentially fatal if his body wasn't already coated in mana.

The monster slammed it's hand down, but thanks to it's slow speed, Milo was able to bypass it easy.

'I can't see it!'.

He grumbled internally. His eyes darting all over the monster.

'I can't find a weak point at all!'.

This was his new problem. Milo, since arriving to this world had only engaged in combat with humans or monsters, each of whom possessed distinct weak points that he was able to exploit. In the odd case he couldn't find a weakness, the heart was always his last resort.

What was he supposed to do against a monster with 3 hearts? Even his last resort was sealed off.

Instead of mulling it over more and falling deeper into the hole of thinking there was no way to win. He released another surge of mana from his core to reinforce his armour and allowed his instincts to take over. He fully relaxed each muscle and allowed his arms to droop by his side, his eyelids began to slowly encroach over his eyes and his nostrils flared.

*Bang*

The monster hand slammed directly where Milo was stood. Despite it's clear lack of intelligence, a victorious grin was plastered on it's disfigured face, as if it was celebrating the completion of it's mission. What it didn't expect however, was that the same bug who it seamlessly crushed, to be darting up the side of its forearm.

Milo's eyes were glossed over as his mana became potent towards the soles of his shoes. He glided over the grey skin, each step creating a divot as if he was walking in fat. After a few more strides, he reached the shoulder and leapt towards the ear, he cocked his claw back and scratched down at the ear lobe, tearing it.

Before jumping back down, he clung on as the monster swung, attempting to shake him off. Again, he cocked back his claws and turned into a flurry of slashes, constantly tearing away at the skin slightly inside of the ear.

The monster let out a wail of pain as it brought it's hand up to cover its ear. Milo jumped away, clinging onto the fingers and swinging himself towards the nose. He began the same, turning into a flurry of slashes, chipping away painstakingly slowly at the inside of the nostril.

Blood slowly started to trickle out as if it had a nosebleed. The monster moved its other hand to cup its bleeding nose.

'It's like a child'.

Milo thought to himself whilst he dashed towards the eyes. This was it, the final blow if he could land it. He had gotten himself a few moments of time by causing slight damage to the other senses, now all he needed to do was target one of the weakest parts of the body, the eyes.

He leapt up, coating his fist in mana he was ready to strike the finishing blow.

*Crash*

A pain shot through his right side as he was sent flying away from the monster.

Milo's breathing became frantic as he hit the floor, he reached down towards his side noticing a dagger protruding, spilling blood all over his clothes and the floor. Beneath him, a pool of bright crimson began to form as he struggled to stem the bleeding, to make maters worse it was on the same side as his shattered ribs, sending brutal, sharp pains throughout his torso.

He mustered the last amount of strength he had, peering up at the figure who had knocked him away. Perched on the monsters shoulder, a person dressed in a khaki green jacket peered back down at him, their face visibly furious despite the vast distant between them.

Milo's eyes slowly closed as his consciousness faded.

"Is he alright?", Marcos asked, climbing aboard the monster.

"He's fine, just unconscious", Number 4 responded, her eyes fixated on Milo, watching Renny check his breathing before slinging Milo's unconscious body over his shoulder and taking him towards the Earl's residence.

"Although it's hard to believe a child was more than capable of harming this guy", Number 4 patted the side of the monsters head, "AINT THAT RIGHT BIG FELLA!".

"Yes, and how many times have I told you to stop calling me big fella", it responded.

"Holy fuck, you can talk!?", Marcos said surprised.

"What? Of course I can", the monster responded as if it was an everyday occurrence.