Caleb

The corrupted clutched its head, roaring in fury. Its remaining eye shined with a deep purple color and saliva dripped down its chin.

"Puny human. How dare you mock the great Cloneeye."

"Great?" Dunn burst into laughter. "I seriously hope your name isn't Cloneeye? If you are referring to yourself, then you are dumber than I thought."

Cloneeye roared, losing complete control over itself, and leaped at Dunn.

While it had retained some measure of control, it could offset the loss of vision in one eye by focusing a part of its strength on defense. After becoming a slave to its instincts, the attacks were all over the place, allowing Dunn to dodge them with ease.

The runes on its body lit up, casting the lightning bolt. The previous spell cast paled in comparison to the current one, but it turned out to be useless as the lightning missed Dunn and hit the tree beside him.

He stared at the burning tree with a raised eyebrow. The bolt's power was nothing to scoff at. If it hit him, the consequences would longer be as light as a simple paralysis.

Dunn could make out voices coming from the surroundings. The soldiers surrounded the place, cutting off the escape routes. For some reason, they watched the fight without interfering in it.

Dunn examined his opponent. It was breathing hard and bleeding from both the eye and ear. Blood splatters covered the entire area.

"Looks like it's time to wrap things up."

Holding the daggers in a reverse grip, he sped towards Cloneeye. It snarled and threw a punch with every inch of its power.

The fist slowed down when it got closer to Dunn. Dodging the attack, he closed in on the exposed back and stabbed his blades into either side of its neck. Before it could so much as twitch, he twisted them, nearly decapitating it.

Cloneeye put its palms around the wound, trying to stem the flow of blood. The red liquid pooled out of the gaps between the fingers, drenching it. Falling to the ground, it choked on its blood.

Dunn bent down, cleaning his blades on the corrupted's clothes.

The soldiers came out of the surrounding trees after the fight ended. They kept their eyes off the bleeding corrupted.

Dunn held back a smile. Dealing with amateurs was easy.

They did not approach him, opting to stay at a distance. Tightly clenching their weapons, they warily eyed his bloodied hands.

The soldiers who appeared in front of him were all quite young, only a few years older than him. Some of them threw disgusted glances at him. Their reactions confused Dunn till he remembered he was still dirty.

Sheathing his weapons, he raised his hands, showing them he was unarmed. Giving them the illusion of safety went a long way in creating a friendly atmosphere.

Three soldiers approached him while the others maintained their distance.

"You aren't too bad," the leader smiled. "From what I noticed, you've refined your skill with the blade."

"But," he said walking up to Dunn and patting his shoulder. "You made a few mistakes in the fight. The corrupted was weak, so they went unnoticed, but don't depend on them if you want to get stronger."

"I would have finished it a single move. One bullet one enemy. That is my motto," He made a shooting motion with his fingers.

Dunn had a hard time holding back a sneer. From the baseless boasts, he knew the captain understood nothing about the nuances of the fight. Also, the conversation started on a hilarious note. Instead of asking him to surrender his weapons, the captain started boasting.

His current priority was to get their help, so he played along. "Really? Maybe you can find some time to teach me."

"Sure thing. By the way, I am Caleb. You are?"

"I'm Dunn." At that point, he was expecting a handshake.

"I heard you came out of the Rift," Caleb curiously asked. "What is it like in there? Everyone talks about it as if it's some kind of big deal. If it's possible, I want to go in and see what it's like."

Dunn felt his anger rise. Caleb was talking about the Rift as if it was a place he could take a tour and leave whenever he wanted to.

He bit into his lips, trying to get his emotions under control.

As he was pondering how to answer Caleb's question without coming out as rude, a presence made him jump.

He leaped away from Cloneeye's body. The action alerted the soldiers, making them train their weapons on Dunn.

"What are you doing?" One of the girls asked. "Stop moving, or we will attack you."

Paying no attention to them, Dunn peered into the shadows.

Clapping sounds emerged from behind a tree, startling everyone.

The soldiers turned towards the new threat.

Another humanoid corrupted appeared from behind the tree. Dunn knew a fight was useless the moment he saw it. The number of runes present on the arms and face was unreal. He shuddered to think about the runes it may be hiding under its clothes.

The corrupted pointed at Cloneeye's body. "If you can allow me to take it and go, there is no need to fight."

Caleb disregarded its words. "Formation!"

The commander assigned him with the safest mission, keeping him well away from danger. He was thirsting for battle and the corrupted provided him with the perfect excuse for a fight.

Out of the three people who arrived near Dunn, one of them removed a shield, standing in front of Caleb while the other grabbed his spear and rushed towards the corrupted.

Dunn saw Caleb removing a strange pistol. When he noticed the runes etched into the surface, he knew it was an enchanted weapon.

Before they could take any further actions, the runes on the corrupted's body glowed, freezing everyone. No matter how hard they tried, none of them could move.

It picked up Cloneeye's body and examined Dunn.

"So young, yet so perceptive."

Saying that it walked away.

During the small clash, Dunn never looked at the corrupted standing in front of it. Instead, he was staring into the depths of the forest.

**********

A black shadow was sitting on a tree, looking at the scenes happening in front of it.

"That kid is impressive. He noticed me while your soldiers remain blissfully ignorant." It seemed to be talking to itself as there was no one around it.

"What did you expect from someone who survived in the Rift." A pretty female voice answered it. Surprisingly, Alisha's aide Nora was sitting in front of the shadow.

"When Caleb found mistakes in that kid's fight, I thought someone talented finally appeared in the Brofort family. I didn't know they started teaching their kids boasting skills."

The words left Nora speechless. Objectively speaking, Caleb wasn't too bad. The problem was the over-the-top understanding of his strength and his senseless boasts at every opportunity.

She grit her teeth, vowing to teach him a lesson he would never forget. Not wanting to dwell on it any longer, she changed the topic.

"You know, I am curious about what you will do if Alisha disregarded everything and attacked you."

The shadow laughed. "I don't think Alisha is that kind of person."

"Really?" Nora curiously asked. "Why do you think so?"

"If that was the case, her focus would be inside the Theocracy. There is no way she would have accepted an assignment to this location.

"Anyway, I hope you are here to sightsee."

Nora sighed. "I would have loved that, but now that you are here, I have to stop you."

The shadow laughed. "It's impressive how cocky you are. Do you think you are my equal?"

Nora laughed along with the shadow. "Of course not. My ego has not bloated enough to think I am your equal. I don't have to be as strong as you. This is no longer a place in which you can act with impunity."

"We shall see." The shadow left after uttering the statement.

"Yeah, we definitely shall," Nora said to the empty space in front of her.