Starx Rimkass

"A space ring filled with enough monster cores to allow him to become a level 3 and a level 4 bodyguard. For someone who didn't want to take him as a disciple, you sure have given that kid a lot of gifts," Lilia cast a sidelong glance at her husband sitting next to her.

Since Cedrix was still weak, it was decided that the old man would remain in the carriage while Alex took his place in the coachman's box to keep his wife company.

Raising his head from his book, Alex lingered for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, I judged that I should at least give him something to increase his strength if I want him to succeed."

"Are you sure it's not because the kid resembles you?" Lilia teased.

"No, and he doesn't resemble me. Stop saying that!"

"Yeah, sure," as she giggled, Lilia's gaze got drawn toward the book in Alex's hand. "What is it about?"

"About the Virax race," Alex replied.

Lilia hummed in acknowledgment. "Well, I'll leave you to it," she said after a moment.

Alex nodded and opened his book, but his mind was still on Starx. 'I hope the kid won't get himself killed,' he thought, shaking his head. He then concentrated on the book, erasing anything related to Starx or their stop from his mind.

****

On the ground, Starx kept waving his hands until the carriage had completely disappeared from the horizon. He lowered his gaze to observe the ring in his hand, then sent his mind into it. 'Whoa, so many cores!' he exclaimed in his mind in surprise. Even when he traveled with bandits that raided villages and killed plenty of monsters, Starx has never seen so many cores. 'Master is such a good person!' he thought, overjoyed that his master cared so much about him.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Bogre while placing his mask on.

"First of all..." Starx lowered himself and took his sword. Without uttering anything further, Starx approached the creature.

As he drew near, the creature kept growling ferociously at the young man, but there was no fear in the eyes of the latter.

Standing defiantly before the monster, Starx gripped his sword tightly. The gleam in his eyes no longer reflected the admiration he showed when looking at Alex; instead, they burned with a fiery mixture of hatred and rage.

The intensity of his glare was so intimidating that the creature's mad growl ceased, its eyes that once looked at Starx as if he was prey now looking at him like he was the predator instead.

Starx raised his sword, and by instinct, the creature closed its eyes, feeling that its life was about to end. However, the next instant, it felt its legs that were constrained by the vines touch the ground.

Slice Slice Slice

"What the f*ck are you doing?!" Shouted Bogre, an incredulous expression on his face while watching Starx cut down the vines wrapped around the creature's body.

"Are you insane!? Why are you releasing it?"

Although the bones in both of the creature's arms were shattered and its body was battered, the difference between the creature's physical attributes and Starx's was as vast as a chasm.

'This kid is going to get himself killed!' thought Bogre, readying to intervene and save Starx since the death of the latter would cause his own death.

Meanwhile, the creature's eyes opened wide the instant they opened, clearly surprised that it was still alive.

However, its surprise was only for a moment, the instant it realized that it was free, its serpentine tail shot toward Starx.

The tail's speed was so fast that the only thing Starx could perceive was a black blur coming towards him, but he didn't panic, he has already anticipated that the creature would act like that, so he lowered his body before the tail moved, successfully evading an attack that would have surely killed him.

Knowing that he couldn't remain in this position for more than a second, Starx stepped to his right, just in time to evade another attack.

His eyes quickly scanned the creature's body, looking for spots in which its scales were broken or missing, and he quickly found them.

Due to Alex's heavy blows to the creature, there were many of its scales missing and even more of them broken. The parts devoid of scales were mostly the creature's arms, chest, and belly, so Starx targeted those spots.

Starx thrust his sword, intending to pierce the creature's chest, but the latter quickly managed to step back.

However, since the creature's body was pretty battered with broken arms, its speed was considerably low compared to before, so although it managed to evade Starx's sword, it still pierced it a little.

The wound caused by Starx enraged the creature, and with a furious growl, its tail lunged at Starx.

Despite the fact that his eyes couldn't track the tail because of its speed, Starx anticipated its direction and moved accordingly.

Starx knew that just a blow from the creature was enough to kill him, so he heightened his concentration to the peak, erasing anything that wasn't related to this fight from his head.

The world seemed to slow down and shift, filtering and erasing everything that wasn't related to this fight. In this world, there was only him and his enemy, nothing else.

Starx leapt backward to dodge an attack aimed at his head, then lunged at the creature, his sword slashing at its chest.

Unfortunately, this time again, he only barely managed to cause it a tiny wound, but it didn't discourage Starx.

He retreated back to evade the creature's kick, sidestepped to dodge the tail, and lunged again, this time causing just a little wound.

Under the incredulous gaze of Bogre, who thought that Starx would die after one exchange, Starx kept evading the creature's attacks, wounding it, retreating, then lunging again to inflict another wound.

Little by little, exchange after exchange, the wounds on the creature's body increased. On the other hand, after each exchange, Starx gained momentum, his slashes, cuts, and pierces sinking deeper and deeper into the creature, his dodges becoming more refined.

With each wound he inflicted on the creature, he became even more adept at using his sword, and with each dodge, his eyes became sharper.

As the wounds increased on its already battered body, the creature's speed became slower and slower until its attacks became visible for Starx. Following that, the fight became pretty much one-sided, with Starx unleashing his hatred and rage on the creature.

Before long, the creature's legs buckled, and it fell on its knees, blood seeping out of its countless wounds.

"Pant, pant, pant...."

Starx panted as he finally came to a stop, witnessing that his opponent couldn't continue anymore. His breath was ragged, his clothes clung to his body, completely wet from his sweat. Despite that, there wasn't a single wound on Starx's body.

Fearing that his enemy might recover if he left him enough time, Starx held his sword with both arms and walked towards his enemy.

The creature, on its knees, weakly raised its head and stared at Starx, eyes full of fear and a hint of recognition. It seemed like the human buried in it was resurging now that it was on the verge of death.

Starx noticed this, but he didn't really care. Whether it be in this form or its human form, Starx loathed with all his heart the creature, the man before him, so even if he was about to revert back to human, then what? It wasn't that that's going to stop him from exacting his vengeance.

Starx's lips parted, and he muttered, "Try not to be an asshole in your next life. Although, I doubt a bastard like you will have a next life."

Starx raised his sword, then slashed down with all the remaining strength in his body exactly at the spot where Alex's leg had landed on the creature's head.

The sword encountered no resistance and effortlessly cleaved the creature's head in two.

The dead creature's body slumped down, and a second later, Starx followed, falling on his butt.

He was sweating, his whole body ached due to the strain this fight put on him. Despite that, a huge smile was plastered on his face. He finally got his revenge on the man who had tormented him and had sold his family.

"And now? What do we do?" asked Bogre, standing above the young man.

Starx didn't respond and remained on the ground for what felt like ten minutes, then stood up with shaky legs.

"Will we go search for your family?" Bogre wondered.

"No," answered Starx while dusting off his pants.

"No? Then what are you planning to do now?"

Starx retrieved his sword and placed it in his newly acquired space ring. "I will go search for my family later. For now, I need to establish a footing in the underworld!"

With that, Starx, followed by Bogre, walked back toward the village the bandits were residing in.

This day was the beginning of the adventures of Starx Rimkass, the man who flipped the whole underworld on its head!