Chapter XLV - Resurgence (part 2)

I wiped my face from any signs of tears, but the swollen parts underneath my eyes can still give it away. Valey notices it, she looked at me confused and tried to push Cony, but Cony is stronger. She held onto the two a lot longer than I thought.

A few seconds later, she finally let go and sat on her two legs in front of the others. She wiped the tears using her already very wet hand sleeves.

Valey turned to me with a very confused face, as if asking what's going on. I replied by pointing at my chest.

She was confused at first, but then she looked down and realized that her clothes were torn open. And her smooth skin can be seen.

"Eep!"

She quickly hid it with both of her hands. Cony and Barett were confused. The two looked at Valey and understood.

"Don't look, Bar!"

The big guy quickly turned away after Valey barked. He looked down at his own chest, seeing the same long opening at his armour and clothes. He noticed the amount of blood that was soaked on his clothes underneath his sliced armor, and he looked at me with a shocked face.

"I see..."

He stood up while trying to keep his armour intact so that it wouldn't fall off. From the looks of it, he needs to go somewhere.

"Thank you, Rize. Once again, you saved us."

Barett lowers his head at me, but I simply lifted my palms at him.

"It's fine. It's all thanks to me that we are here, anyways."

He shrugs his head with his other arm, and then he excuses himself elsewhere to change his clothes.

Valey is also going to change. She took out her new clothes and changed on the spot while Cony made sure Barett was really gone. I simply landed my body on the grassy floor and looked upwards to the skies.

That was... very tiring. However, my body is perfectly fine. The tiresome feeling came from mental fatigue, and it's quite understandable considering how stressful our situation was just now.

My healing magic... came pretty clutch. However, I sensed that the healing magic wasn't the only one that returned.

I lifted my right hand and imagined conjuring a flame. And just like that, my hand was enveloped in flames. 

But, it's...

I squinted my eyes to see better. Maybe it's because of the sunlight, I'm seeing things.

I moved my body up into a sitting position to see better. I studied the flames above my palm, and I immediately realized that I wasn't crazy.

Somehow... the flame above my palm is no longer a normal flame. It looks redder now, more red than a normal fire. 

A normal flame had a red and yellow color. But, this is simply red, along with a few strings of darker orange.

I kept on looking at the flames that were floating on top of my right hand. The realization then hit me a few seconds later.

"Intermediate flame magic..."

"Huh?"

Cony and Valey turned to me when I mumbled that. Apparently I wasn't saying it as silently as I thought.

The two looked at the flame in my hand and turned amazed. They said they have only seen the intermediate tier flame magic only on a few adventurers. 

If the ones who own intermediate tier are already few, then just how rare is the White ranked flame king?

This is... mad. I tiered up my magic from just being sick?--

BLARRR!!!!

A loud explosion can be heard from inside the cave. Smokes can be seen flowing out from the entrance.

Barett came back running from the woods, wearing only a shirt. His hand muscles weren't exactly covered, and we can all see how big the muscles are. He is, however, no longer wearing any armor.

"What's going on?"

"I-It's the mantises!"

Cony shouted at Barett that just came back, and she pointed at the smoke in the cave.

"They must have destroyed the cover I made to block the tunnel."

I said while keeping an eye at the entrance. Hearing my words, everyone began to turn wary.

"What should we do?"

Valey asked while she kept an eye on the cave. And as if cued, the three mantises that were still alive walked out of the cave, searching for prey.

This time, the two smaller mantises had already grown bigger and had the red marks on their skins. The bigger mantis however, had blue marks on the skin instead.

They all have evolved. The younger mantises are for sure at the level of the blue mantis was at when I fought it at the came. However, the blue mantis is on a much further level.

The pressure of the blue mantis can be felt all the way from here. The strength of the red mantis is about Blue ranked to Yellow ranked, while the blue mantis is at least a higher Yellow.

These things evolved very quickly. And certainly, they are very powerful.

"Rize... What should we-"

"It's my time to shine."

Valey was getting uneasy from sensing the pressures of the mantises. She repeated her question, but the answer was already quite obvious.

I got my magic back. I have regained the strength that I lost. But, most importantly... I am very eager for a rematch.

Now that I can use magic again, I can feel the ability to enchant my body and weapons available once more. I enchanted my legs with a powerful force of magic energy, and the world around us began to shake powerfully.

The sands and stones near my legs are floating thanks to it. The tree leaves and branches began to shake, and everyone can feel the immense pressure that I am releasing.

I am holding back since my friends are near me. I don't want to kill them by overly releasing my strength. However, just this much already felt so satisfying.

"Ah... this feels so nostalgic..." 

I mumbled as I firmed my hold on the orcish sword on my right hand, feeling the returned power much clearer.

I turned to the others, and everyone looked very terrified at me. I am releasing a level of strength that is far beyond what they normally expected, so it made sense if they're on guard even towards me. And to ease their worries, I just wore a grin to calm them down.

"I'll take care of this. You guys can sit."

I said jokingly to them before turning my attention back to the mantises, who are now aware of my presence.

VWOOSSSHHH!!!!!!!!!

BAARRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With a single leap, I charged towards the blue mantis. The floor below my feet were plowed as if an explosion has occurred, and I arrived in front of the blue mantis in no time.

"SHRIEK!!!!"

VWOOOSSSSSHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

The blue mantis saw my leap and realized it's a very fast attack. It quickly lifted both of its sword-like arms to slice me. However, contact never came. Only the heavy gushing wind.

SHRESSHH!!!!!!

SHRESSSHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The blue mantis turned its head around, only to see the other two red mantises now sliced in pieces. I'm standing right behind the two red mantises that are now falling to the ground in pieces horrendously, and I turned my wide grin to the blue mantis. 

It hissed at me as it slowly faced its body correctly, and I just swung my swords downwards to remove the bug blood stain.

"Hey... you had so much fun bullying me earlier. Care to have another round?"

I said to the angered red-turned-blue mantis while forming a stance, and the blue mantis formed its own defensive stance. From the look of it, this thing is also highly intelligent in terms of combat IQ, which made me realize its level has to be a lot higher than it looks.

"SHRIEEEKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!"

The mantis shouted loudly at me, and I immediately got caught by the rageful aura.

Higher Yellow...? That's the bare minimum.

This thing is at the damn White rank. Lower or Higher... that's for me to find out.