[Zero]

There existed stronger monsters..... in [Second World Of Aerith],

Yet...

"I....huff... didn't know...." Keith muttered under his laboured breath, gazing at a 12 foot tall, branch horned, three eyed goat, glaring at him, screeching.

MHNREEEIIIIII-!!!

Keith's terrain had dried up, tall, towering trees all-over, with crunchy, dried up leaves and grass blanketing the ground, and moist, poisonous fog dyeing everything his eyes could meet.

[Grade-9]

[Azazel]

[Exp-78]

Was displayed on top of its head.

'I didn't know a [Graded] monster would appear in a mere tutorial....' Keith thought, gasping for air, though it seemed like he was struggling to put up an actual fight, his handsome face was marred by an ominous grin, that seemed like he was delighted with the situation.

"Finally, a.....gulp....stronger monster...." Keith muttered with a grin on his face.

His body relaxed subtly, as he leaned forward with his axe held hands hanging down while his legs were rooted straight on the ground. He slowly, feeling euphoria, raised his head as he glared back at the monster [Azazel], which flinched in fear at the dangerous glint in Keith's gaze.

THUNK-!

Keith's hands dropped on the ground with the axe head facing [Azazel], with the support of his palms he stepped his left leg back and lunged at [Azazel], without taking his eyes off of the "prey" in front of him even for a moment, ignoring his tired body's yells and his dried up throat that was gulping down air, hard.

His grin never left his face just like his glare that didn't flatter from the moist atmosphere nor wander off of his prey.

A mere [Grade-9] could never possibly pose a threat to him, he was once a strongest "human" in existence! With such arrogance clouding his mind, he forgot that the once "strongest human in existence" was also once a weak human before.

By the time Keith reached [Azazel], it had snapped out of its startled state as it focused on the being in front of him in disdain, it momentarily felt a threat emitting from the "pest" in front of it, but now that it had been washed off of it, it was enraged.

MHNREEEIIIIII-!!

With another loud screech, the [Grade-9] monster lunged towards the pest, who was doing the same. Keith tightened the grip around his axe and swung it diagonally upward upon noticing the graded monster in his range, which smoothly dodged by side jumping and head-butted the pest, hoping to make him explode upon receiving its power packed head-butt.

BOOM-!

It quickly jumped back, on guard, even though its head-butt connected properly. Its gaze wandered above ground, approximately at a normal human's shoulder level, and soon found what it was looking for. The pest had its dominant, right, arm dislocated while blood trickled from its mouth due to the hard impact on its abdomen, which had passed through its guard.

CIK....

Graded monster's gaze inevitably landed on its side when a hint of rustle sounded, and it jumped back again, instinctively, when it noticed its subtle chunk of hair on the ground.

The peat had managed to cut off a, albeit minor, chunk of its hair in a split second before the collision.

"Heh, huff, as expected.....of a [Graded], its smart...." Keith muttered with a snigger.

THUD-!

He dropped his axe, and reached out somewhere with his left hand as his palm disappeared into the pixels that materialised out of nowhere.

He took out a set of vials which were green and red respectively, held between his index and ring fingers. These vials taken out ,were approximately 4 inches, which were hexagonal ended prisms.

Knocking off the crystal lids of the vials with his thumb, Keith poured both of them into his mouth, but by the looks of it, it seemed like the liquid itself was translucent like water, hence were differentiated by coloured vials.

Red coloured vial was a [Minor Healing Potion], while the green coloured one was a [Minor Poison Resistance Potion], which were brought from the [Player Shop], just like that axe of his. He had taken a poison resistance potion before leaving the [Dome], but its effects were soon wearing off.

Of course, Keith was familiar with these vials, so he wasn't even surprised, but soon, that changed.

"!!" Keith's eyes widened in surprise when a wave of strong pain enveloped him. His right arm and ribs, which were broken, was healing at am alarming rate, making him feel excruciating pain, more than what he felt when he was actually hurt.

Though he was surprised, he didn't let out a groan.

".... Wow." Keith muttered, huffing. He leaned forward and picked up his axe with his, just healed, right arm, feeling the pain wash over his arm again, he gritted his teeth, but continued, bearing the weight of his axe, that felt heavier then his first time.

WHOM-!

With a crunchy stomp, Keith lunged towards [Azazel] again, which responded with the same action. Something strange happened when it reached a few steps distance,

"?" Keith's eyes narrowed in suspicion, as he gazed at [Azazel] drifting forward with his forelegs, as its hind legs were seen lifted off of the ground,

BOOM-!

"!!!!" Keith's eyes shot wide open in surprise when [Azazel] kicked the air and appeared in front of him, in an instant.

'Fuck....' He cursed inwardly when he understood that he couldn't dodge, as he recognised the [Skill] [Azazel] had just used.

[Gale Stomp] a [Skill] that allowed a double jump, it a significant [Skill] that could be used to surprise your enemy with a for-sure kill attacks, if used properly, just like [Azazel] had just now, which left Keith with merely two options , which was to either dodge or to die.

Dying is unacceptable!

And,

Dodging seemed impossible at his current speed, it would have been different if he was a few steps behind, though....

"!"

"[Rewind]" Keith muttered.

ZUP-!

Everything stopped at that moment, Keith couldn't tell why and what had happened,

PING-!

[Penalty for [Rewind] is being recorded!]

[1 second of user's [Time] will be purloined!]

[[Returnee] title has intervened with the penalty!]

[Intervention has been Acknowledged!]

[Anguish of the user's [Time] being purloined shall be felt indifferently]

He quickly understood the series of notifications, because the title [Returnee] meant that he was already a partial God, with talent, which would bloom buoyantly when he overcomes the sufferings his [Fate] had in store for him, hence, something as meaningless as "limited" [Time] didn't exist for him, unlike that of humans, so the penalty would naturally be precluded, so the other penalty was only way to keep the balance of the unbalanced.

If it was merely pain, then he would go through it, time and time again, without hesitation.

Or so he claimed inwardly, but reality was often face slapping.

"Arrrgh!!!!" Keith groaned in anguish!

A groan certainly did escape his mouth, which wounded his pride extremely.

But, even then, he could do nothing, currently!

★

A flash of a second, that seemingly extended out to an eternity, ended.

Keith, who had returned to a second back to the past, felt nothing as if everything that happened till now was a lie, instead of pondering in it, realizing the plight he had [Rewinded] to, Keith jumped to his left with a violent flinch.

Quickly regaining his composter like a veteran, which he was, at least mentally, Keith gripped his axe and slashed down at its neck, knowing his attack wouldn't be enough to deal with a [Graded] monster, Keith emptied his feeble power or MP, [Magic Points], in his reservoir.

WHOOOM-!

With an abrupt burst of power, the swing grew stronger and faster, making [Azazel] feel its cue for death, by the time its resistance exploded out in desperation, Keith's axe had already passed through its neck.

[You have obtained 76.72 experience points!]

THUD-!

With a feeble tremor, everything ended.

Or so it was supposed to.

[Azazel] had [Exp-78], and he gained 76.72 of it, which meant it still retained 1.28 exp, which was enough for a "final push." Keith's axe had only passed through half of its neck, which meant it was still alive, though in its final moments. Unfortunately for Keith, his MP had depleted entirely and he was fallen into a state of [Poiesis Drain] as his body slumped on the ground, as his consciousness drifted off with [Azazel] approaching him to finish him off and again his exp instead.

'F.....' Before his thoughts completed, with blurry vision ,he gazed at an extremely elegant figure descend upon the [Azazel]'s head, which dealt exactly 2 damage, stealing whatever experience points remained.

[Azazel] [Dead]

[Exp-0]

The [Grade-9] above the dead monster had disappeared, meaning it was dead, curious about the identity of the elegant figure, Keith's blurry vision shifted and his consciousness drifted soon, with subtly shocking words and title above the being's head, entering his almost numbed mind.

[Zero]

"Disgusting."