Chap 21

'Claire, there's no need for all this, knock it off!' Rodak anxiously berated, but his words didn't seem to get to her.

In fact, something felt off about her. Her eyes were different and her demeanor changed. It was as if I were looking at another person.

The skeletons surrounded us as they moved our way, clearly us being their targets.

This is going out of hand. We are besieged from all sides.

Suddenly, the skeleton standing behind me flung its body onto me with the intention of latching on my back.

I slightly changed my posture and avoided it. The low intelligence skeleton fell at my feet.

At my will, lurkers merged into a foot shape and stomped down on the skeleton's skull.

*Crack

Its head broke apart into bone pieces, which marked the end of its life. Unfortunately, the elimination of mere summons didn't yield any Exp.

Frowning, I analyzed the situation.

Claire wanted us to kill her, but, I risked my life to save her once, hence killing her wouldn't sit well with me unless I had absolutely no way out.

I glanced at panicking Rodak, who was futilely trying to convince her. Without his greatsword, he would soon be drowned in the wave of skeletons.

As I was almost surrounded, I finally decided to take action. The bats inside the robes vigorously flapped their wings, while lurkers clung onto us. Our robes fluttered as we took off.

We were slowly approaching Claire.

'Fenir, what are you doing?!' Rodak shouted angrily, apparently misunderstanding my intentions.

'Don't worry, I have a plan. She might be saved.'

According to my options, I devised a simple plan. If it didn't work, I could always flee.

'Don't you dare!' Rodak roared in anger and jumped high up in the air.

*Crack!

The skull of the skeleton soldier, which was used as his foothold exploded as he flew up in the air.

Eh? Why's he getting so emotional?

'I'm not going to kill her, idiot. Calm the fuck down!' I said angrily.

'Bullshit! Why else would you be...no, I won't let you hurt her!' He loudly shouted and ran across the skeletons' heads.

...What the heck is wrong with him?! Ah, wait, could he have some feelings towards her, hence his overprotectiveness? But still, this much distrust is hurting my little heart~

'Ah' Rodak exclaimed as his leg was pulled down by skeletons.

Serves you right. Beat him up, guys! Wait, they won't hold back. Poor Rodak might get killed if I don't hurry. Despite his current attitude, I don't want him to get killed.

I hope this works.

'Haaah!' His throat exhaled booming roar, which rang like a clap of thunder. The invisible sound waves exploded, which swept the surrounding skeletons.

'Come back here, Fenir!' Rodak stomped and ran after me. His body grew as he was now covered in thick layer of earth, like a golem.

Shit, I underestimated him. This guy's bad news. I don't want to fight him.

'No! You are supposed to obey me!' Suddenly, the piercing shriek rang from Claire.

The skeletons froze like string-cut puppets.

She's acting as if possessed. I don't know what's happening, but this is an opportunity, as she appears vulnerable.

The blue flames materialized around me and started flickering according to my will. Despite them appearing docile, they flames backfired due to my lack of comprehension towards magic, but it was still affordable.

< -0.4

Ignoring the uncomfortable feeling, I focused to activate one of the abilities of the flame.

Purge - Has the ability to weaken evil, the description said.

I'm not exactly sure how it works...but I hope it does.

After all, I'm too lazy to fight this pointless battle, so I want it to end.

The flames began revolving and dancing around me, following which I guided it to converge itself into a small blue fireball, which I threw towards Claire.

I hope she's not killed...I truly hope purge lives up to its description, otherwise, I don't know how I'll look at Rodak in the eyes.

*Rumble

The earth shook. The ground around Claire rose up in a circle and completely covered her from all sides.

'Why are you doing this, Fenir...I thought you were different...why are you trying to kill her?' Rodak, who has now turned into an earth golem rose up from the mud, positioning himself in front of Claire, who was protected inside mud sphere.

Fuck!

This!

Shit!

Why is the everyone that I meet that ends up as a freak? Aren't there any normal people in this world? Where did this poor bloke of a villager get such cool magic spells? Is magic that common? Are freaks that common?

God, what power-hungry world.

Rodak Werne, Earth Warrior [Tyrant] Realm: 2nd Level: 8/10

HP: 119/119

He's also a tyrant!

It means he's a level above elite, which he was moments ago.

After acquiring elite title myself, I got interested in this subject. Fortunately, the system wasn't stingy and answered truthfully.

It appears, after 2nd realm, in order to advance, the level isn't enough. Only if one has acquired at least Elite title, can one advance and enter the 3rd realm, but the person will lose the elite title, which can be regained if your skill level becomes good enough for the same realm.

What does Elite mean? It means, that system acknowledges your power, that in the same realm you can beat most things.

Above Elite, there's a tyrant. If let's say, 2nd realm tyrant advances to the 3rd realm, his title will become grade lower, so he'll become 3rd realm elite.

Tyrants have a 20% damage boost and 20% damage reduction, mouthwatering properties, I must say.

However, the tyrant is merely the second level of ''advancement titles''.

I feel cheated. The system said, that people need a lot of time to polish their skills and get the elite title. Some talentless people might never even acquire it and remain in the same realm. That's the case for the majority of the people in the higher realms.

Only about 1 in every 1000 people might have a tyrant title. Bullshit! Screw your mother, system!

Then what's the chance of meeting 2 tyrants? Isn't it 1 in million? Oh, how lucky I am, haha, lady fortune smiles upon me...Ah, I'm so angry!

'Fuck off, Rodak! Don't you see I'm trying to save her?! These are sacred soul flames, which can purge evil out of her.' I swear this is my last attempt at reasoning with him. If he doesn't listen, I'm going to beat the shit out of him.

The golem's eyes gleamed with orange luster.

'Sacred flames...so you were also from the church...I was naive to believe in you...DIE! Earth spikes!'

My expression contorted as I fumed in anger.

You asked for it!

The giant pointy spikes rose from the ground and eliminated at least a dozen skeletons, even if they weren't the main target.

I flew up higher and easily avoided the spikes, which was followed by the swipe of the golem's giant hand, which I also dodged.

I retreated tens of meters in the air.

Should I just ditch them? No, I'll teach this guy a lesson.

Do you think you are so strong? Do you think I'm afraid of you just because you're a tyrant? How naive...you're alone, while I'm not.

Rodak in his golem form didn't chase after me. It's easy to guess why. His priority is to protect Claire...from me.

Oh, how I hate misunderstandings!

My kindness was slapped across my face. Fine, let's spice things up a little more. How about more misunderstandings? I don't even care anymore. I'm going to reveal my true form and also...my ultimate form. Hehehehe~

How I wanted to try this! Now I get the chance. Don't worry poor Rodak, I'm not going to kill you, as you're not my enemy, but for treating me like one, I'm going to slap you. I'm going to beat you where your forte is.

I don't need sneaky and deceptive tactics. I'll face you head on and crush you along with your confidence.

I hope you'll learn from this and hopefully grow more thirsty for power. After all, we have a common enemy. Even if we're not fated to be allies, at least we can involuntarily help each other as we go on our ways separately. Yup, that's a nice plan.

As for Claire, she's going to suffer because of you, as you're not letting me heal her. Poor girl. I'm going to attempt healing her after I defeat you.

Now it's time I showed you my final form!

...

Hahaha, I always wanted to do this, I'm so excited. I wonder if I'll look cool.

I'm not fighting to the death, besides my opponent isn't exactly an enemy too, which kind of kills the mood, but oh well, he's strong, which is enough for me to show off a bit.

Alright, time to get serious.

The buttons of my black robes split open. I finally decided to reveal myself.

The formless shadow lurkers merged into over half meter long bat. In the head position, my crimson eyes shone. The other bats were also aligned in different positions of the shadow bat.

Ignite!

Our new form was instantly engulfed in blazing blue flames, which didn't harm my allies in any way.

< -0.6

I received a small activation backlash though, which I didn't mind much.

'A monster? So this is who you really are?' The amplified deep voice rang from the golem.

The lurkers' stats and HP overlapped as they merged into a single entity. I and my bats were safe inside, as long as their amplified health pool didn't deplete, or the collision shockwave wasn't too overbearing.

And so, I had nothing to fear!

I dove down with shocking momentum.

Rodak lifted his giant golem hand to smash me into bits. Hehe, you're underestimating me too much.

*BANG

The shockwaves spread like a tide as the golem's fist and my flaming giant shadow bat body collided.

< -5.2!

I was shaken by the amount of damage mere shockwaves dealt me, despite being protected by a merged outer shell of lurkers.

As for lurkers, their combined HP pool was above 100, which fell by over 30 points.

You didn't kill me in one shot, so it's my win!

My flaming form melted through the giant's hand. The impact caused the golem to stumble, taking a step back.

'How did you...?!' Rodak's shaken voice rang from inside the golem. The trees tens of meters away were shaking like feeble leaves.

The skeletons were thrown away like helpless chickens.

How do you like that, huh?

Suddenly, as we were going neck to neck at each other, the cracking sound rang from the mud ball, where Claire was situated in.

Baleful aura spread across the air.

Oh no...was the treatment late?

'Look what you did.' I exclaimed, scolding Rodak.

*Crack!

The mud ball exploded, revealing white-haired Claire with crimson eyes. The skeletons once again rose, but this time, they were stronger.

A chill crept down my spine, as I appraised them. All of them had turned from 1st realm toddlers to 2nd realm elites.

Skeleton Warrior (Summon)[Elite) Realm: 2nd Level: 5/10

HP: 50/50

Skeleton Archer (Summon)[Elite) Realm: 2nd Level: 5/10

HP: 35/35

Skeleton Mage (Summon)[Elite) Realm: 2nd Level: 5/10

HP: 40/40

These things now truly possess a threat.

I was wondering why her HP was so low despite being a tyrant? I'm assuming that something still hadn't taken over her at that time, but now...she's truly a tyrant. Good job, Rodak. You successfully aided with your strong hands and tadah~

Now one-handed golem was viciously bombarded with arrows, spells, and attacks from all sides. Even I was frightened by the crazy mob.

The giant rock mud golem crumbled as its HP depleted literally in a few seconds.

The illusory purple hand shot out of crimson eyed Claire's back and pierced through the golem, retrieving the bleeding Rodak.

*Ahuhuhu~

Claire laughed creepily as she stared at helpless Rodak.

'Claire...don't you remember me? If you can hear me, please...Ahh~'

The purple illusory hand grip tightened on him, while Claire started laughing like a lunatic.

I have to stop her!

I sneakily flew behind her and threw purging fireballs at her. Again, I received a small backlash.

More purple hands grew from her back and blocked the fireballs.

...Does she have eyes on her back or something?

Claire turned her head behind and stared back at me with a devilish grin.

Naughty girl. Do you think I'm scared of you?

The flames blazed as I began flying irregularly around her while sending fireballs every once in a while.

The skeletons' spells and arrows were easily dodged as my perception and echolocation were as high as ever.

Claire had to constantly defend. In a few seconds, her expression contorted. I bet she's annoyed and overwhelmed. Good, I can't keep this up for long either.

*Bang, crackle

After several failed attempts, one fireball finally crashed into her, which soon blazed. Claire let out a piercing shriek.

Good.

I bombarded her with more fireballs and watched as she screamed while being consumed in blue flames.

'No!' Heavily wounded Rodak roared painfully, seeing her engulfed in flames.

Claire screamed gibberish for a while. In a few seconds, the fire died down, as she helplessly plopped down, unconscious.

...Did it work? At least she wasn't burned down.

The bone soldiers froze, then crumbled into bone pieces, following which they turned into bone dust and were scattered by the wind.

I located my robes and dove down to cover myself and my gang.

'She's alive, right?' I asked Rodak, who was kneeling and holding unconscious Claire in his hands.

He nodded and glanced at me with a complicated expression.

'Thank you...I misunderstood you, I'm sorry.'

'It's alright. Everything's good that ends well.' I generously waved my nonexistent hand.

'Fenir, I owe you my life. I decided to dedicate myself to destroying the holy church of light. If our purpose coincides...allow me to be your aid.' He knelt down, sounding all serious.

Eh? Well, how should I respond to that?

'Are you sure you want to do that? I'm a monster, you know?'

'It doesn't matter. as long as you do what's right, I won't betray you.'

'Well, alright then.'

Wow. We came to an agreement so easily...

'Count me in.' A soft voice sounded behind Rodak.

The two of us were surprised and immediately turned our heads.

'Now that she's weakened, I'm no longer strong, but I don't want to give up. I want to avenge my family. Will you accept me as your companion, lord Fenir?' Claire smiled delicately. Her feeble appearance and unwavering determination were contrasting. I'm sure even if we refuse, she'll foolishly go alone.'

'You two...fine, we're a team now. However, don't call me lord this, lord that, I'm Fenir, your average bat, carrying the will of the deceased, who wants me to kill certain high authority from the holy church. We'll part ways as soon as my mission is accomplished. I'm not going to destroy the whole church. That's crazy. You guys are crazy. They have insanely strong people in their ranks, so I'm not going to smash my foot into a rock. Any objections?'

The duo smiled as they looked at each other, and then at me.

'None.'

'Good. Let's go to the city. Rodak, you lead the way.'

'Alright.' Rodak acknowledged. His face once again turning serious.

'Are you feeling well? Do you want me to carry you?' He asked sickly pale Claire with consideration.

'If...if I'm not too much of a bother.' Claire blushed and meekly nodded her head.

'Hahaha, what are you saying, here...I'll carry you.'

I looked at the lovey-dovey duo. I wonder when will I have a partner too? I no longer feel attracted to female humans, but...I'm going to say this once...I'm not gonna fuck a bat, period!

'What are you guys dawdling for? The sun is setting. There will be wolves coming and eating your asses soon. Hurry, will you?'

'Eh, scary~'

'Don't worry Claire, I will protect you.'

'...'

I give up.