Chapter 28.

Adrian snorted at his foolish thoughts. Wasn't he the man who was asking them to kill monsters for him? To fight an apocalypse for him? Hadn't he raised them, named them with the expectation that they would be powerful enough to match Fitoria who was basically a God in her own right?

He looked at her eyes and made his decision.

"Thank you Isis" he said, kneeling and giving her a hug.

Blindsight let him know that she was smiling. He was glad to see that she had relaxed but realizing just how small she was just solidified his decision.

Adrian felt a small sense of satisfaction as his party members left the range of his Blindsight.He knew that Isis was still angry with him but she was willing to obey even if she didn't agree. He would have to make it up to the girl, she had only wanted to help him.

That satisfaction faded as he considered what he was about to do. Adrian was going to cripple, enslave, interrogate and then kill three people. No matter how he sugercoated it or justified it; that was a simple fact. It made him feel a little sick to realize just how far he was willing to go for the sake of his survival and that of the people he cared for but at the same time, the logical part of him couldn't help but conclude that this was inevitable. After all, in this world, he was a high profile entity he could not avoid taking decisions that would alter the lives of many. Hell, even his decision to focus on going home above all could very well get millions killed, in such a place in his situation being unwilling to kill would be a massive handicap. A weakness he could not afford.

In this case, if he didn't get rid of these spies then it would place him at an unbearable level of risk. The thoughts of getting his throat slit in the night when he was resting or leaving his party behind to train and return to find their corpses and a trap kept flashing in his mind, a grim reminder of why he had to kill these people.

So, Adrian prepared. He had made sure to keep the distortions moving after them, forcing them to expend stamina and then he had boosted the speed of his carrier leaving them in the dust before slowing it down later. He had taken to the skies, moving nearly five kilometres up in the air before going back down behind the distortions after he had slowed down the carrier ensuring that he had gotten to see their maximum speed. They didn't speak to each other nor did they stop but he could tell that they were getting slower. Still, they were determined to track him. It made his path forward quite clear. These people would not give up and given that they had not spoken a word to him, negotiations were unlikely to succeed.

For now all he could do was wait. He was nearly a kilometre in the air, using Glide and Dash to stay in position. His normal low-quality clothing replaced with the best of his Drop Items and he had his tactics and sword forms at the ready. Adrian had nearly twenty of each type of potion and medicine and was ready for anything from poison to fire blasts. He was as well preapred as he could be.

It did nothing to stop the rapid beating of his heart. The fear kept his mind sharp and constantly tempted him to simply blast these bastards into oblivion. If a mere Drakon could actually hurt them then he could kill them with ease, he knew that and yet he was feeling hesitant about this whole thing.

It was necessary but Adrian still felt a little sick while thinking about his plan. He hated the fact that if everything went right then at the end of it he would be a torturer, a killer and a slaver. It made his fury towards the scum in this world feel a little hollow if he was willing to go this far just because it was pragmatic.

Then they entered the range of his Blindsight, a flare of power, and he confirmed what he already knew about them. Another moment and he inhaled a deep breath, taking in the cold air of the sky around him. Once he exhaled he closed his eyes and let Blindsight track them until they were within optimum range.

Another breath and he pushed away his doubts. For better or for worse, this was his best option.

"Thousand Swords," he muttered, feeling the SP drain as he forced the creation of hundreds of ethereal blades, making them drop rapidly. Less than a tenth of their number started to move towards his targets. The rest simply scattered themselves uniformly around their projected location.

As Adrian used Dash to move from his position he pulled out an SP potion and drank it. It was a bit of overkill but he would prefer having 100% at his disposal.

To the credit of his hunters, they did their best to scatter and dodge the projectiles. It wasn't their fault that they were simply too slow to manage even that. The distortions managed to destroy three or four swords each but there were dozens targeting them and eventually, they were pinned down.

Well, two of them were pinned, the last had actually managed to set up a pink coloured barrier that looked like it was made out of fire. It had actually managed to destroy his attack. Though it had felt a little...off. Adrian had gotten a feeling like rather than blocking his sword it had instead attacked the construct instead. Tricky. It was a good solution to his high attack power. Adrian felt his respect for his enemies rise.

He discarded the idea of taking them all alive. One would do. They were more skilled than he had anticipated.

A thought from him and fifteen Sword Projections emerged from around him. Another moment and the closest swords embedded in the ground around the distortions began to change form. Adrian smiled as he whispered, " Change Sword. Explosive Sword. Lighting Sword. Wind burst Sword…."

Every single weapon that could be used as an elemental explosive slowly started to emerge and Adrian started to feel his confidence rise.

Then, he saw the people behind the distortion for the first time as they suddenly became visible to his eyes, though not to his skills, and felt shock pass through him as he realized that they were all rabbit beastmen.

Each of the three targets began to glow pale pink as if the flames were beginning to consume them, just as the explosions started. He could tell that only the man who had survived his first attack unscathed had managed to fully power up the defence. Which had to be why while he managed to block the entire series of explosions. The other two died instantly. The massive series of elemental explosions utterly ravaging their bodies.

He managed to see them via Blindsight and his other senses for the first time and it shocked him just how intact their body was. Their defences had failed to save their lives but Adrian knew just how powerful he was right now, the fact that their bodies weren't torn to shreds meant that either their defence stat or their ability could boost their defence to absurd levels.

Adrian completely dismissed any plans of keeping any of them alive at this point. Their demi-human nature, skills and equipment were unique enough that he was certain that they were not from any faction in Melromarc. Siltvelt felt like the most likely option but he would have to leave them be for now. Adrian had no intention of fighting people who likely had managed to replicate some of the functions of the Legendary Shield while holding back when he was this weak.

If they survived his attacks he would consider interrogation but he would not hold back intentionally anymore.

The demi-human who had survived was still a distortion to his Blindsight but Adrian could see him quite clearly with his eyes. The rabbit man was well built and very well armoured. It was a surprise to see such heavy armour on what he had assumed to be a spy, perhaps this one was meant to be the one who would take part in combat, maybe the visual blocker had failed because one of the others was the caster. Adrian focused his Blindsight on a smaller area, hoping to pick up even the smallest movements.

The rabbit man tried to move, but that just gave Adrian an opening as the man had dropped his pink aura to do so, Adrian didn't wait or hesitate. Five massive sword beams, each at near full power and fairly large diameter cut through the forest. It utterly annihilated a tree that had been in the way but when it slammed into the man it was like the beam was being...negated at the point of contact with the pink flame-like aura. The parts of the beam that didn't hit him went on to slam into the ground and cut through soil and the underlying bedrock with ease. Adrian kept up the attack for four seconds and while that was enough to dig a hole nearly a hundred meters deep behind the man, it didn't do a thing to him.

No, wait, Adrian could see that his armour was cracked. Not badly, nowhere near the damage it should have taken but enough to confirm that his attacks weren't being negated completely. Highly resistant but not invincible.

A potent combination of fear and determination flared within his body. This man was no assassin. He was a warrior. You don't send out solo warriors with such absurd skills out to spy on an enemy unless you want to kill him urgently and this is your only choice. Adrian couldn't imagine why a man with enough defence to actually tank his attack would come here without back up and it made him rather nervous. What if these three were only a Vanguard or a scouting force? Or if their invisibility and sensory resistance were particularlyproblematic?

Had he sent his party to their deaths? Or was he surrounded and wasn't even aware of it?

His thoughts vanished as he saw the rabbit man struggle to his feet and then stumble. Adrian felt his eyes narrowing. A trap? Or was it genuine? He forced the thought away and launched another attack. This time he used all of his projections, narrowed the beams and then Dashed away.

Adrian smiled as he saw the man buckle, his armour began to melt, as even the resisted attack managed to penetrate enough to start doing damage. Then he blinked as most of the man became visible in Blindsight. Adrian focused for a moment and then noted that every point except for where the beams were striking him was visible.

It was a little puzzling but he had his suspicions. So he changed his Sword form and prepared to use a massive fire blast. If his guess was right then the man had concentrated his defences to survive the attack, it seemed that it was these same defences that had blocked his perception skills.

Of course, this was when he caught sight of Trystan running onto the battlefield Isis on his back, chanting with a huge concentration of wind in her hands. Worse Raphtalia was there as well, holding on for dear life as Trystan ran as quickly as possible.

Adrian immediately unleashed his attack and then projected ten swords around him. When Adrian and Trystan were about five hundred meters from the fight he blasted the rabbit man who was immediately torn apart.

The firestorm was immense and he heard the rabbit scream. It was horrifying and the man must have been in agony. The beams that he had set up before and the new ones then worked together as the demi-humans focus slipped. Adrian winced when he realized that he had not left even a trace of his enemy.

It was almost shocking how easily his attacks had annihilated his enemy. Adrian frowned as he realized that the man's defences were pathetic.The only thing in his favour had been the pink barrier and once he had begun to crack that, Adrian's victory had been inevitable.

He sighed once he realized that he had badly overestimated his enemy. Then he turned towards the two filolials and felt an increasing amount of anger. These two idiots had interrupted a potentially dangerous situation. They could have gotten killed if the enemy was stronger.

"Isis, Trystan." he said, feeling an odd combination of fury and relief as he saw that they were okay, " What exactly are you two doing here?"

It was very satisfying to see the two filolials flinch.

"It was me!" said the only other living person in the clearing, " I wanted to come and help," she admitted, fear on her face but determination in her tone.

Adrian just stared at the three children who had chosen to risk battle for his sake and shook his head. He tried to ignore the feeling of warmth rising within him, that was foolish emotion, these three had been absolute idiots.

He sighed as he dismissed the various swords around the battlefield, feeling their presence slip from the back of his mind, though he kept Blindsightup.

" Let's keep moving." he said, trying to decide what he should tell these brats, and how much of the fault was his own, " but don't think that you've gotten out of this."