THE BEGINNING

I brew a cup of hot tea and enjoy it while reading a book. While I was sitting casually in the living room, Rikka joined me to enjoy her hot tea too.

Not long after that, Mark and Axel also joined us. Because of this, the maid who worked in this Mansion even prepared a side dish for us. Two months have passed since we all lost Yoru, and since then I haven't done a Hero mission again.

I was so devastated by that fact that I even thought about leaving this Party. But it was opposed by all my friends and the higher ups of the Star Kingdom, they said this kingdom can't lose any more heroes. Finally I gave up my intention, but I asked to take a break from heroic activities.

Although I still can't accept his death, I have started training again with the Witches Zeris and Rikka. Rikka is also the one who always accompanies me to deal with this situation, so now I'm trying to start over.

Currently our group has no training schedule, which is why we can all relax on a morning like this. When I was about to drink tea, I could see the water in the cup moving. Not long after that, I could feel quite a strong vibration.

What is this...? Is this an earthquake?

Everyone in this room also felt the same way, so we all rushed out of the Mansion. I was very surprised when I was outside; somehow, I can see the barrier protecting this area is slowly disappearing.

Where is this...?!

I can sense extremely terrifying mana from the direction of the Palace entrance. Because of this, I was quite wondering… Is the Kingdom under attack or what?

"I don't know what's going on, but please stay alert..."

As usual, Mark immediately took on the role of leader.

We all prepared for the worst and prepared to attack if necessary. But suddenly all those thoughts disappeared when I saw someone emitting a very terrifying and beautiful mana while walking this way.

No! This is not possible...?! How could this happen...?

I could only think of one name when I saw that person, and that was my friend who had passed away. Although there are slight differences in his body like white hair, I'm sure he must be Yoru.

"Yo!... You guys miss me...?"

After hearing his voice, I became even more certain that it was Yoru.

When I was thinking about all that, suddenly he was already among all of us and immediately strangled Axel just like that. I felt a terrifying mana oozing out of his body and this made me not dare to move an inch.

What power is this? does Yoru have this kind of power...? but it's not important, I have to check it myself.

"Yoru! I know you must be alive…"

I immediately hugged the person from behind and he seemed quite surprised by this. But for some reason I even shed tears when doing this.

"Let me go!"

I was quite surprised by Yoru's yell, so I immediately let go of my hug to him.

"Yoru… is he the human you want to kill? He looks so annoying."

Yoru? So it's true that this person is Yoru. But who is the woman with him?

She has a very beautiful posture and has the same hair color as Yoru with a very beautiful face. But who exactly is this woman?

Suddenly various kinds of magic attacks started attacking us all. I immediately wanted to save myself, but in an instant a gigantic ice wall appeared and stopped all attacks aimed at us all.

I was even more surprised after seeing Yoru hugging the woman.

Huh!? What relationship do these two actually have?! Honestly, I'm a little jealous seeing this.

While thinking about all this, I could see Yoru was doing various attacks on Axel. So I rushed over to the two of them. After seeing Yoru pointing a sword at Axel, I rushed to stop the two of them.

"Stop! Yoru, why are you doing this…?"

I spread my arms in front of Yoru and block him when he wants to slash at Axel. It seems Yoru looks quite annoyed, judging from the look in his eyes at me.

"This has nothing to do with you, so get out of the way…"

"No! I won't leave…"

I still insist on blocking Yoru and he looks more and more annoyed with what I'm doing.

"Listen to me! Axel tried to kill me by dropping me to the bottom of the valley of darkness. I have to do my best to survive there, so get out of the way and don't get in my way!"

I was very surprised and didn't expect that Axel could do something like that. My tears are also flowing more profusely than before and right now I don't know how to react.

Yoru pushed me and he actually cut one of Axel's arms off. At that time I felt that the Yoru I knew was no longer the same.

I immediately cast healing magic on Axel's wound, but for some reason my chant only stopped the bleeding and closed the wound. Whereas usually I can regrow damaged body parts with [Full Recovery] skill.

What happened...? What happened to me, why can't I do this...?

I just realized that my hands can't stop shaking since earlier. For some reason I can't focus after hearing all of Yoru's explanations.

"Wait...!"

I tried to stop Yoru who looked like he wanted to leave.

"Why are you doing all this…? I know Yoru would never do this."

"Huh!? Since when did you know me…?"

Yoru's expression immediately turned to wonder and annoyance when he heard my words.

Honestly, I felt a part of my body disappear when I heard Yoru's own words. But looking back, I don't really know Yoru that closely.

What was I thinking... Why am I such a fool...

"We're just schoolmates, nothing more than that..."

I couldn't help but be silent when I saw Yoru just leave me.

"Agh... Lia..."

"Stop! I can't believe you could do that… I hate you so much!"

"I know I was wrong… but I have reasons to do that"

"What? What reason could make you do such a thing?"

"I like you! I did it all because I was jealous of him…"

I can only sit limp after hearing it all.

Why Axel could do that... I really can't believe it.

I don't know what else to do, I'm angry, sad, disappointed with everything that Axel has done to Yoru. And I feel I have to take responsibility for this.

When I was arguing with Axel, I suddenly felt a very intimidating aura. I can feel the power coming from the woman who came with Yoru.

What kind of power is this!?

My consciousness slowly started to fade and I ended up fainting after feeling the aura continuously.

**

"Hgmm..."

My head hurt so bad when I woke up, even to wake up I had a little trouble.

"Lia, you finally woke up…"

I was a little surprised when Rikka hugged me so suddenly. And somehow his arms are so tight right now that I'm having a little trouble breathing.

"Ri... Rikka..."

Rikka immediately let go of her arms and apologized to me. I just realized that I am currently lying in my own room.

Why am I in the room? Wasn't that...

"Where's Yoru? He just came back here right… Rikka?"

"Lia, come with me for a bit…"

Rikka immediately grabbed my hand and led me out of the room to go to the front door.

This is not possible...

I was very surprised when I saw the current state of the Kingdom, the Royal Palace had been destroyed without leaving anything behind and many buildings had caught fire. I could also see a large crowd of people in panic.

"What really happened...?"

"One of the soldiers said that all of this was caused by the Earth Dragon, and she left with Yoru after doing all of this."

"Yoru! What do you mean.... Wait! Don't tell me the woman who was with Yoru back then was an Earth Dragon...?"

Rikka just nodded when I asked this.

I was even more shocked after hearing that King Erick, Prince Nelson, Xorra, and the Witch Zeris were among the dead in this incident. When I was silent for a moment, suddenly one of the soldiers approached the two of us.

"Hero Julia… it's good that you're awake, we need you to heal some of the injured…"

Rikka and I immediately went to follow the soldiers.

The two of us finally arrived at one of the places of worship that was used as a refugee camp. When I entered the room, I saw many people who returned to grow their smiles.

The people there shouted my name when I entered the room. Because of this, I have to do my best to heal them all.

"Can you give me some magic potions…?"

I asked one of the soldiers guarding this room for this, and he immediately went to get me some magic potions. When the soldier returned, he brought me the magic potion I asked for and I immediately drank the potion to increase my magic power.

"O God, show us your power and give us all healing [Full Recovery]"

I immediately activated healing magic on a large scale on the injured people in this room. A white light began to envelop the people in this place and the wounds on their bodies began to slowly heal.

The people in this place started to lower their heads and pay their respects to me after successfully healing them all. And I also immediately went to another refuge to heal all the injured people.

Rikka left me and joined Mark to help the royal mages in extinguishing the fires that had engulfed almost the entire capital. As the Hero Party, we continue to do our best to control the chaos that is occurring in the Star Kingdom.

**

One month has passed since the chaos that swept this country, and now so much has changed in this Kingdom. The leadership of the Kingdom is now taken over by the King's own wife, Queen Frisca Star.

Construction in the capital has also begun, and this construction includes the new Royal Palace, government buildings, the Adventurer's Guild, as well as the houses of the residents that were destroyed in the fire.

Axel also decided to leave the Hero party and leave this kingdom. Mark and Rikka were very surprised when they heard that, but somehow I felt relieved when I heard Axel's decision.

Honestly, I can't see Axel like I used to anymore after knowing he did something so horrible to Yoru. The two of us have been friends since childhood, but somehow I don't see him as my friend anymore.

Even I couldn't say a word when he left this kingdom, even though at that time Axel said good-bye to me.

With all the chaos going on in this Kingdom, I'm finally back to actively carrying out my duties as part of the Hero Party. Together with Mark and Rikka, the three of us continue to do hero activities in this Star Kingdom.

"You two ready...?"

"Of course"

"Yes I'm ready..."

"Alright then, let's defeat this monster!"

Currently the three of us are in Mirach city, the adventurer's guild in this city is asking us for help in subjugating a group of Goblins who are afraid that it will disturb the town's settlement.

This conquest itself was led by the Guild Master of the city of Mirach, namely Vici who has a rank S. Together with 45 other adventurers, we hope to conquer this group of Goblins without causing any casualties.

According to the information we have received, these Goblins live in the middle of the forest. So now we are all entering the forest secretly. When we were walking quietly, suddenly Vici raised his hand, which means we have to stop moving.

Not long after that, an adventurer was seen jumping at Vici and giving him information. It seemed the adventurer was one of the scouts who went first into the forest.

BRAK!!

I was quite surprised when I saw Vici punch a nearby tree after receiving information from the reconnaissance team. And finally the reconnaissance team told all of us what they found.

The reconnaissance team had managed to confirm the number of Goblins in the forest. And they mentioned that there were 20 ordinary Goblins, 2 Hobgoblins, and 1 Goblin King leading them all.

No wonder Vici looks very upset, it turns out that this information really sucks.

"You all already know the situation, so are you going to continue this subjugation or not…?"

Vici discussed this with all the adventurers who participated in this subjugation. After waiting for a while, some of the adventurers chose to continue this conquest and we ended up doing this all.

"I really respect your decision, then we will continue this subjugation. But if this group has a chance of losing, we all have to withdraw no matter what!"

Everyone agreed with Vici's words and immediately continued on their way.

It seems that Guild Master Vici is really highly respected by the adventurers in this town, it can all be seen from the attitude of the adventurers towards him.

"Lia, are you okay with this…?"

I was quite surprised that Mark suddenly asked me this, but from the tone of his voice he seemed to be worried about me.

"I'm fine thank you..."

I was as calm as possible when answering this question so that Mark wouldn't have to worry about me and he could focus on this conquest.

"If there is something immediately, tell me and Rikka, Okay.."

"Yes thank you."

After entering the forest which took approximately two hours, we were finally able to see a group of sleeping Goblins. We all immediately took positions according to the directions given before entering this forest.

Vici has a plan to restrain their movement by trapping them in the flames, and Goblins who try to escape from the flames will be killed by the wielders of swords and other weapons.

Then me and the other healing magic users will be prepared in case anyone gets injured. It was this plan that Vici had in mind before entering the forest, and we all hoped that this plan would work.

Vici moved his hand to signal the start of the attack, the fire magic user who was already on the tree immediately set fire to the surroundings of the Goblin settlement and trapped them in the flames.

"GGRRAAAARRGHHH.....!!"

I could hear a terrible roar from within the flames. But the adventurers seemed unaffected by the sound and still kept an eye on the Goblins.

"EVERYONE READY!! THERE ARE SOME GOBLINS THAT SURVIVE THROUGH THE FIRE!"

The adventurer who wielded the weapon immediately got ready after hearing the shout.

Ordinary goblins who dared to pass through the flames were easily killed by the adventurers who were on alert. These goblins were easy to kill because they all had pretty severe burns.

"Hahaha... looks like it's going to be easy..."

"Don't let your guard down, we still haven't defeated the Goblin King..."

Vici rebuked the adventurers for underestimating the current situation.

"AAAAGGGGHHHH..."

BOOM!

We were all shocked when we heard the roar and suddenly the flames that were confining the Goblins were extinguished. It seemed that this was possible because the Goblin King threw his weapon on the ground and made a gust of wind so strong that it was able to extinguish the flames that isolated them.

The Goblins and Hobgoblins started running towards all of us with horrific looks. They attacked blindly and made the formation that we had set up a bit of a mess.

"Grrah....!"

One of the Hobgoblins seemed to have easily knocked out five people, but Mark immediately attacked the Goblin and kept it away from the others.

"Are you all right?"

"...yes, y-we're fine..."

The adventurers could only be stunned when they saw Mark slashing at the goblins with ease.

I immediately ran towards the injured adventurers and immediately healed their wounds. As usual, Rikka always stays by my side to protect me from every attack.

"All of you calm down, I will heal you..."

I immediately used my healing magic and the wounds suffered by the adventurers slowly disappeared.

"Thank you Hero Julia..."

"I will always help you, so don't let your guard down."

"Yeah, I won't let my guard down"

With sparkling eyes, the adventurer again attacked the Goblins.

"GRRAAAGGHHHHH...!!"

"Don't expect you to be able to do it, Ice Magic [Icy Thorn]"

Vici formed spikes with his ice magic and managed to stop the movement of the Goblin King.

A level S adventurer was indeed great… he could stop such a creature with just one magic.

"GRRAAAGGHHHHH...!!"

The Goblin King screamed in pain after the spikes created by Vici pierced through his body. On the other hand, I could also see that the other goblins had been defeated by the adventurers and the two Hobgoblins had been defeated by Mark.

"Let's end this… Advanced Fire Magic [Blaze Arrow]"

"Everyone stay away, Master Vici will use his strongest attack!"

We all quickly walked away after hearing an exclamation from one of the adventurers.

The enormous fire started to form an arrow and Vici immediately released it at the Goblin King. The fiery arrows released by Vici caused a huge explosion and made the Goblin King's body fall apart.

"Damn it! It turns out that there are people who have this kind of power…"

Mark looked so amazed by the last attack that Vici made, his eyes didn't even blink when he saw the magic.

"Mark, looks like we have to train even harder to become like him…"

"Lia's right, we need to get stronger."

With the Goblin King losing, it meant that this subjugation was complete. We collected the bodies of the dead Goblins, and burned them until nothing remained. Goblin carcasses can pollute the soil and trees, so we must destroy them by burning them.

We all finally returned after burning all the Goblin carcasses. As soon as we arrived at the Guild, we all immediately partied to celebrate the success of this subjugation. Many adventurers drank beer with great joy and the three of us also enjoyed the party very much.

The next morning the three of us decided to return to the Royal Capital and before we left, Guild Master Vici approached the three of us.

"Hero Party, I thank you again for helping us subdue the Goblins..."

"Ah… I guess the three of us aren't that helpful…"

"No, no, no! You guys really helped us, once again I thank you guys…"

"You're welcome, then we'll say goodbye first..."

Mark and Vici shook hands very kindly and after that the three of us left the city of Mirach. After two days of traveling, we finally arrived at the Capital of the Star Kingdom in the afternoon.

The three of us headed straight for the mansion as soon as we arrived in this Kingdom, and I was quite surprised to see the Queen waiting for us inside the Mansion.

"Welcome Hero Party..."

"Oh, th-thank you..."

The Queen greeted us with a very friendly smile, but Mark looked quite awkward when responding to the Queen's greeting. To be honest I also feel a little awkward with the Queen, maybe it's because I don't really know her.

The three of us sat with the Queen while enjoying the hot tea given by the maids who worked in this Mansion. I was quite amazed when I saw Queen Frisca drinking her tea so elegantly.

Woah... Queen Frisca looks really pretty.

"Honestly, I didn't come here just to greet all of you..."

Queen Frisca placed a scroll on the table while saying that.

"What's this...?"

"It was an invitation from the Sun Empire..."

"Eh…?!"

The Sun Empire! Why would they want to invite us...?

"The invitation mentioned that they wanted to talk about the Demon Race who seemed to be preparing for a move."

I read the invitation and the contents are exactly what Queen Frisca said. I was also quite surprised when I saw the implementation of this event, this invitation stated that this event would be held two weeks from now.

"How are you guys going to participate in this event…?"

"Our goal is to defeat the Demon race, so there is no reason to refuse this invitation."

"Okay, then we will follow the event."

The three of us and the Queen have already decided to head to the Sun Empire the day after tomorrow; And to be honest, I'm quite nervous when I think about this encounter. I was getting nervous after knowing that this meeting would also bring leaders from other countries.

Finally we and the Queen and some of the related nobles set off for the Sun Empire. With five chariots consisting of three nobles' chariots and two escort carriages, we hope to get there safely without any disturbance.

****

"Thanks to Julia! I didn't kill you because she still cared about you..."

I suddenly woke up in my sleep from having this nightmare. Even my body sweat profusely.

Damn it! Why does this appear in my dreams again...

Because of this, I decided to get out of my room to get some fresh air.

I'm currently staying in an inn in the Moon Kingdom's territory. I've been staying in this place for about a week. I decided to leave the Hero Party and leave my friends behind.

I'm doing this because I honestly want to repay Yoru for what he did to me. Because of him, I lost my left hand as well as all the magic power I had. And because of that, I had to start all over again.

As soon as I arrived in this city, I immediately registered as an adventurer. I also always do the requests given by the Guild according to my rank this week.

Even though the tasks assigned to me were trivial; like killing Slime monsters and looking for plants, I still do this to make money. The Star Kingdom did give me some money when I decided to leave, but I'm sure it's not enough to survive in a world like this.

Sigh.... the air here is very comfortable.

After a while of being here, I finally went back into my room and continued to sleep.

The next morning I woke up from my sleep and immediately prepared to go to the Adventurer's Guild. This inn is quite close to the Guild, so it only took me about 5 minutes to get there.

As soon as I got there, I immediately headed for the wall that contained many requests. I was quite surprised that I couldn't find a request that matched my rank after a while of searching for it.

I don't think there's anything I can do here...

Finally I left the Guild and chose to go into the forest. I intend to study magic there, because magic is very important in this world. After arriving in the forest, I immediately opened a book containing ways to use magic.

I bought this book when I arrived in this city. Even though that person had taken my magic power, I didn't lose the magic potential in my body. So I can still use magic.

This book explains; if I want to use body strengthening magic, I just need to coat my body with the natural mana around me. And the way to coat the body with natural mana is to feel and unite what is in the body with what is around.

Okay... let's try this one magic...

I concentrated as best I could to fuse the mana around. After a moment of concentration, I could feel the mana around me starting to move and blend into my body.

Woah...is this what it feels like to coat the body with mana...?

I could feel a strange sensation all over my body and I could also see that my body was surrounded by a blue aura.

I just have to give it a try to see if this magic really works.

I immediately punched the big tree in front of me, and I was very, very surprised by the result.

The big tree fell down as soon as I hit it. Because of that, the trees behind him were crushed by the tree and made it collapse as well.

What!? How come it's like this...?

I continued to practice the various magic contained in the book, until I didn't notice that the sun had already set.

**

It's now been two months since I became an adventurer in this city. Over the past two months I've done a lot of pretty terrible adventurer work, and now I'm a rank C adventurer.

I'm currently eating lunch at the Guild with my party mates. Now I have a party of 4 people. We have a very skilled swordsman named Luck, Deuce who serves as a Tank, Yuri who has healing magic abilities, and I who is assigned as a melee fighter.

"Yo... the one-handed."

"Hey..."

"The one hand." That's the nickname people gave me. Ever since I got a C rank, people in this place have started calling me by that nickname. At first I was quite annoyed by this, but over time I let it go.

"So how about it, are we really going to the Beast Kingdom…?"

"Of course! We'll get there as soon as we can."

We got rumors that in the Beast Kingdom there is currently a very powerful monster. So many adventurers went to the Kingdom to try to conquer it.

That's why our Party also wants to go to the Kingdom.

"Okay then, we'll go there tomorrow morning."

The next day, the four of us immediately headed for the Animal Kingdom in the early hours of the morning. We boarded a horse-drawn carriage driven by Deuce, and we finally got there in the afternoon after two days of traveling.

After putting all our belongings in the inn, the four of us immediately went to the Adventurer's Guild in this town. And sure enough, everyone here was preparing for a full-blown subjugation once we arrived.

Our group immediately signed up to participate in this massive conquest, because that was the main purpose of our coming to this place. Of course this Guild immediately accepted our group's request.

After our group joined, the Guild immediately gave an explanation of this subjugation. He mentioned that there were currently 200 C to F ranked adventurers who would be participating in the subjugation this time.

The Guild also explained that the 200 adventurers would be divided into 5 groups, and each group would be led by one B-ranked person. Then we all had only one goal, which was to defeat one Beastman who had the nickname "White Fang."

Honestly, I was quite surprised to find out that the one we were going to conquer was actually a Beastmen. I wonder what kind of power he has that the Guild wants to conquer him.

My three comrades also looked quite surprised when they heard the explanation about the enemy we were about to face.

"Okay guys, we have to believe that we all will definitely win."

As always, Luck is always encouraging us all.

Because of that, my worries lessened a bit.

This subjugation will take place tomorrow, so we all head to the inn to prepare. We rented two rooms at this inn, Luck was rooming with Yuri and I was rooming with Deuce.

Of course I couldn't sleep thinking about the things that could happen tomorrow.

"Hey… you can't sleep either…?"

"Looks like you can't either..."

We both woke up again and chatted.

"Hey, I wonder why you became an adventurer?"

"Uh! Why are you suddenly asking that...?

"I guess I just wanted to get to know you inside, that's all..."

I was quite surprised when Deuce asked me this, but I guess it's fine to tell him.

"The reason is… you could say I just ran away from my life and chose to become an adventurer.

"Ran away?"

"Yeah, I hurt the feelings of the woman I like. Because of that, I don't dare to show my face again in front of her."

I really meant it when I told this to Deuce.

After Lia found out what I did to Yoru, her gaze on me had completely changed. I feel like Lia doesn't see me as an acquaintance, she doesn't even make any comments when I'm about to leave the hero party.

This is all due to Yoru's actions, so I have to get stronger to repay what he did.

"I didn't expect you to have such a dark reason to be an adventurer..."

"Then what about you, I also want to know..?"

"Ah... where should I start? Me, Luck, and Yuri are from the same town, our town was destroyed by a monster when we were 10 years old. From then on, the three of us had to become adventurers in order to survive."

Uhh... I didn't expect the three of them to have such a dark story. I think my story really sucks when compared to hers.

"Why are you silent...?"

"Ah… no, I just can't imagine your story"

Finally the two of us continued to talk until late at night.

The next morning the four of us immediately went to the Adventurer's Guild to prepare with the other adventurers. When all the adventurers were ready, we all immediately headed for Tiger Mountain.

It took about three hours to arrive at this mountain, we all immediately divided into groups and entered the mountain gradually. The four of us belonged to the 5th group, so our group got the last turn to enter the mountain.

"Listen to me, we all won't necessarily come back alive from here. But if you only think about death, it's better to get out of here right now. Because we all must have succeeded in subjugating White Fang."

The words of the group leader started to slightly raise the morale of some of the adventurers who looked doubtful. And I also convinced myself to be prepared for any situation that would happen in the future.

Finally our group started to enter the mountain. We haven't found any sign of White Fang's presence after 20 minutes of entering this territory. We continued our journey, until suddenly a thunderous roar startled us all.

Shit! Why is the sound of thunder so terrible?

"Everyone, get into standby!"

Suddenly the group leader gave a signal to be alert. Although many of us looked confused, we still followed his orders.

Sword and other weapon users as well as melee fighters took up the front stance, magic users in the middle, and support magic users in rear formation. I prepared myself with all the possibilities that happened after forming this formation.

BOOM....!!!

I could hear the sound of explosions and rumblings coming from the other side of the mountain. My confidence started to crumble a little after hearing those various voices. And apparently it wasn't just me, I could see the worried faces of every adventurer that was here.

Damn, damn, damn! Why do I feel so scared...?

I slapped my face a few times to try to shake off the fear and anxiety I was feeling.

"RRAAAAGGHHH...."

I heard a terrifying roar approaching towards this group, and suddenly someone from above the sky landed in front of us all.

A large body with many wounds, very messy white hair, animal ears and eyes that look like a cat, and terrible canines. We all immediately recognized who this person was just by looking at his appearance.

No more mistakes! This person must be the so-called White Fang!!

"Everything att...."

White Fang immediately launched a punch that knocked the group leader's head off his body. Upon seeing that, the group's formation fell apart and many adventurers tried to escape.

But from the few adventurers who tried to escape, there were also adventurers who dared to confront White Fang. Me and my three comrades were among the adventurers who dared to face him.

We all immediately prepared various kinds of strongest attacks at our disposal to attack him. I prepare body strengthening magic and fire blow to attack White Fang.

We attacked him simultaneously, but he managed to withstand all the attacks using only his body.

How could this happen...? Why did all of our attacks have no effect on him?

I was quite frustrated after seeing him still able to survive the attacks we launched. And while we were all still silent, suddenly White Fang appeared in front of me.

White Fang launched a punch covered in lightning magic at me. The punch hit me in the chest before I could dodge.

RAAGH.... SHIT!

I was blown several meters away from it, and I could feel excruciating pain all over my body. I leaned under a tree because I couldn't stand up, I could see a lot of blood coming out of my chest.

Shh... huft... huft... hang on! I have to endure...

I tried my best to maintain my senses, but I always felt like closing my eyes. The longer I tried to hold on, the faster my consciousness disappeared.

Endure! Endure. Endure...

.......

(does it only end here...?)

( are you going to give up now...? )

Who's that? Who's talking...?

(I am you!)

Huh!? myself...? How could it be...?

(Listen to me, am I going to give up..? Are you going to let yourself die and end up here...?)

Of course not! I still want all of this to continue, I still have a lot to do.

(Is that so...?)

Yes! I still want Julia to acknowledge me... and of course to repay Yoru!

(You are weak! Are you sure you can do all that...?)

I know that I am very weak! I'm so jealous of him, I've done anything to surpass him. But still, everything I did was still failing...

(Do you still want to do it...?)

Of course! I will try my best to do that...

(Good! That's the kind of answer I need. Now get up, defeat the enemy that is in front of you right now... )

Yes!

AARRGGHHH.... wake up! I know you're not this weak, so hurry up Axel...

[ INDIVIDUAL NAMED AXEL HAS SUCCESSFULLY PASSED THROUGH THE PHASE OF DEATH ]

[ EVOLUTION OF AN INDIVIDUAL NAMED AXEL ]

[ INDIVIDUAL NAMED AXEL HAS SUCCESSFULLY DONE THE EVOLUTION FROM HUMAN TO HIGH HUMAN ]

[ RECOMMENDING AXEL'S INDIVIDUAL BODY ]

[ INDIVIDUAL AXEL SUCCEEDS TO GET THE ULTIMATE SKILL ENVY ]

[ INDIVIDUAL AXEL GETS 100,000 MANA ]

[ INDIVIDUAL AXEL GETS "ITEM BOX" ]

What happened? Why is there a different voice in my head...? What does Envy mean? I really don't understand..?

[ I AM THE ULTIMATE SKILL "ENVY" ONE OF THE 7 SKILL SIN SERIES ]

One of them? That means there are still others..?

[ YES, WE ALL TOTAL 7. INCLUDING ME ]

Then why are you in my body...?

[ ULTIMATE SKILL SERIES SIN IS A LITTLE SPECIAL SKILL, WE HAVE AWARENESS AND THINKING ABILITY LIKE OTHER CREATURES. AND WE ALSO ALWAYS CHOOSE APPROPRIATE CREATS TO USE OUR POWERS]

That means you chose me...?

[ YES! OF COURSE ]

Alright then, I'll use your power to the best of my ability.

I still don't really understand, but all the wounds on my body are healed as usual. I felt like everything in my body was regenerating, even my hands that had clearly been severed regrow.

I tried to move my left hand a few times.

I really can't believe it... my hands can come back

Hey Envy, all the wounds on my body can heal just like that...?

[ IT WAS CAUSED BECAUSE YOU HAVE EVOLVED INTO A HIGH HUMAN ]

I see, I understand now...

After checking all the conditions of my body, I immediately returned to the location of my friends. As soon as I got there, I could see that everyone had already lost their lives from being slaughtered by the White Fang.

This sighting was so terrible, I could see human bodies that were not intact and human blood scattered everywhere. I also saw Luck, Deuce, and Yuri who had already lost their lives.

Damn it! I'm late... I'm sorry...

"Huh!? Why is anyone still alive...?"

White Fang looked quite surprised when he saw that I was still standing.

"Maybe I live to beat you."

After I said that, White Fang looked quite annoyed and immediately prepared his attack.

Alright Envy, what can you do...?

[ I HAVE AN ABILITY NAMED "ANTI SKILL" ]

[ THIS SKILL HAS THE ABILITY TO REMOVE THE EFFECT OF MAGIC TO THE USER. AND MAGIC RECEIVED USER CAN BE ACCUMULATED AS ENERGY]

You mean... I can't take magic attacks...?

[ YES, MORE LIKE THAT ]

All right, let's beat him.

White Fang ran towards me very fast and immediately attacked me with a punch that was enveloped in lightning magic. Even though he was running very fast, for some reason my eyes could still catch his movement. So I can dodge the attack.

Wow... why this? Why can I see his movements so easily...?

[ THE RESULT OF THE EVOLUTION INTO HIGH HUMAN ]

Oh... so because of that. Okay, I understand.

After successfully dodging his attack, I immediately activated body strengthening magic on myself and immediately attacked him with a punch. But with White Fang's extremely high reflexes, he managed to withstand my attack and was only pushed back a few centimeters.

Damn it! He's too strong...

"Human, I never thought you could attack me…"

I was quite surprised that White Fang actually seemed impressed after I managed to launch an attack on him.

"Is that so..."

White Fang launched several punches at once, and naturally those blows were covered in lightning magic. Seeing that, I again used body strengthening magic to block the attack.

BUG...BUUUG...BOOM...BUG....!!!!

I kept trying my best to withstand his attacks. I also used [Anti Skill] to absorb all the magic attacks that White Fang aimed at me.

"You know, you are the only human who managed to withstand my attacks to this extent. And I am very amused by this, but I must end it now!"

[ ENERGY ACCUMULATED DONE ]

[ NOW YOU CAN USE THE COLLECTED ENERGY ]

Finally....

"You said you wanted to end it? Even though it's only just begun…"

I hit White Fang with an uppercut, sending him flying up into the sky.

Wtf!? Was my punch that hard...?

White Fang fell to the ground after I managed to hit him. He looked very angry and emitted a very terrible killing aura.

"Human, I will take you seriously now!"

White Fang released a large amount of mana from within his body and his body began to undergo a slight change. His muscles began to enlarge and white hair began to come out of every part of his body.

Now the upper body of the White Fang had completely turned into a lion.

Unlucky! Is this what Zeris meant by the beastmen's fighting mode...?

The mage Zeris once explained to me that beastmen have three types of changes namely, human mode, half beast/fight mode, and fully beast mode. And this is the specialty of the human beast race.

I immediately got ready when I saw the changes White Fang had made. I activated all the defensive skills I had learned such as body strengthening, body armor, and anti skills. Anyway I did whatever it took to defend against the attacks White Fang was about to inflict on me.

White Fang was moving very fast towards me and this time my eyes couldn't keep up with its speed. All of a sudden his punch hit my left cheek, then my right cheek, then my stomach, all of this kept repeating like I was being attacked from all directions at once.

God damn it! How can I get out of this situation...?

I kept thinking of various ways to get out of this disadvantageous position. I jumped to try to get out of this situation, but one of my legs grabbed him and immediately slammed into the ground.

I continued to withstand all the blows that were aimed at me, even though I didn't know how long I could hold on.

Eergh.... Envy, don't you have anything to get me out of this situation...?

[ TRY TO DESTROY THE LAND ON THE FOUNDATION ]

Oh! That's a great idea...

I immediately punched the ground with full force until the ground fell apart. And sure enough, White Fang immediately jumped away after I crushed the ground around me.

Succeed! he managed to get away, you are great Envy...

[ OF COURSE ]

I immediately counterattacked on White Fang, the two of us continued to launch attacks on each other. We kept hitting each other until we didn't realize it was getting late, I didn't even realize the two of us had already destroyed most of the mountain.

"huft.. huft.. huft... to think you can still stand human..."

"huft… yep… huft… huft… I can't believe it either…"

If it wasn't for [Anti Skill] I'm sure I wouldn't be able to move.

Brukk....

I felt an intense weakness all over my body and suddenly I fell down in front of White Fang. Right now I can't move my body at all.

"Huft… I'll end it right now…"

Shit! Shit! Shit! I will definitely die... what should I do? Damn it! Come on, move my body...

I kept trying to move my body, but still I couldn't. So I closed my eyes as the final attack from White Fang was about to hit me.

Shit.....!

I kept my eyes closed for a while, but the White Fang's attack didn't hit me. So I opened my eyes again, I was very surprised when I saw White Fang didn't attack me and instead stretched out his hand to me.

"Wake up human, I have recognized you as my best friend."

Eh!? What's this? why did he suddenly dissipate his killing aura just like that… I really don't understand.

"Are you not going to kill me...?"

"You gave me a very pleasant fight, so I have no intention of killing you again. Get up and tell me your name...?"

After hearing that coming out of his own mouth, I ventured to grab his hand. With his help, I finally managed to get back on my feet.

"My name is Axel..."

"Axel huh… then you can call me Raizar."

White Fang and I decided not to continue this fight and we are currently having some sort of truce. He asked me to go to his house, I agreed because I didn't know what to do now.

We arrived at a large cave that is around the top of the mountain, White Fang helped heal the various wounds that I suffered. And I ended up spending some time in this place recovering my wounds.