"Only you can defeat him, and no one else!"
It was no longer a simple request — it was a desperate beg for life.
"But… why only me?" Shyam wanted to ask, but couldn't.
Before anyone could expect it, the city wall shattered into a thousand pieces and beasts began rumbling toward Vyomsetu, the city of joy.
"WE DON'T HAVE ANY MORE TIME! YOU'LL KNOW IT WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT!" Tithira yelled as he charged forward with his sword.
The entire army of over a thousand adventurers gathered from all across Vyomsetu and every village that fell under it.
Their footsteps thundered across the vast mountain as they drew their swords, spears, and spells — ready to give their all. For the first time ever, Shyam experienced what true war felt like.
The constant beating of his heart — unstoppable, deafening.
"Ravina!" Shyam yelled as he pulled his sword from his storage ring.
He trembled, but there was no room for hesitation. It had already begun. Now, the only choice was to fight… or be dead.
"On it!"
She replied, tightening her grip on her sword handle.
"Soul Capture! Summoning, Slime Boss, Blue Eagle!" A loud war cry tore through the air, followed by a blinding flash of light.
Shyam's Blue Eagle suddenly appeared beside him, followed by a huge slime.
He ran, faster than he ever had. The month of training had sharpened his speed and stretched his stamina far beyond what he thought possible.
Holding his sword tight — "Firedash!" he shouted, as a veil of fire engulfed him. Thin, but hot enough to sear through anything.
Ravina swung her blade sideways, preparing to strike.
"Love Technique: Wanna go on a friendly date today!"
Honestly, her techniques should be illegal!
★
"You don't have any feelings, do you?"
A river, a girl, and two boys.
All young, at the age where friendships are supposed to last a lifetime — yet they had no intention of being her friend.
"Yeah, you always reject us. You're such a coward," the other boy said, his tone sharp enough to shatter her heart.
'You are wrong,' she thought.
'I don't like you. Am I a coward for that?'
'You are wrong… all wrong!' No matter how much she screamed inside, not a single word left her lips.
Her face was dry like an autumn leaf. Her large eyes glimmered with tears, yet none would fall.
Hands gripped her shirt, teeth clenched together, her body ready to just—run…
What else was she supposed to do? She was a girl. She couldn't possibly fight back… could she?
Her small feet dug into the ground as a single tear finally slipped free, but she wasn't there to let them see it any longer.
"Faster!" I shouted as I ran toward the forest.
"Faster!" she screamed as she fled into the trees.
Her tiny legs couldn't carry her for long. Of course, they couldn't. Reaching her limit, she dropped beneath a faint tree. It carried the scent of old sorrow, its bark heavy with ancient stories untold.
"You run fast, little girl," suddenly, a faint voice reached her ear. Beside her sat a man who hadn't been there a moment ago.
He was young, maybe twenty, holding a book in his hands.
"Who are you!?" She ducked back, startled by how sudden it was. She hadn't expected anyone here, not at this hour.
But maybe there were plenty of people who needed to run away and hide from the world sometimes.
"Oh, don't worry. I'm not important. In fact, I'm curious… why were YOU running?"
He asked gently, his voice so soft it could melt even the hardest heart.
"From my feelings, I guess," she murmured.
"Why? Are you afraid to feel?"
The man set his book down.
"I just don't have any… feelings."
"Who says that?"
"Everyone has feelings. You, me, even that bird over there. You just have to try. Explore it!"
His words carried warmth without effort, as if he was born to say them.
"But they say I have no feelings. I don't understand theirs."
"Just because you don't understand others' feelings doesn't mean you don't feel!"
"Really?"
"Yes, and always remember that. You have every right to feel everything!"
"Now tell me… do you feel?"
★
"I have feelings too!" she shouted. Small pinkish energy particles swirled around her sword. For a moment, her blade seemed so sharp even stone would split before it.
Everything in her path was cut down like fruit before a blade.
Yet still! It wasn't enough. More and more beasts kept descending from the mountain.
Shyam, on the other hand, fought beside Tithira with his two shadow souls and the sword he had bought in Dhatuvan.
★
"I think that's it."
A quiet whisper drifted across the broken mountains as five people walked side by side through a ruined settlement. The houses were destroyed, grass had overgrown past fingertips.
The air was unnaturally clean, almost as if heaven itself had fallen to earth.
A faint chime lingered in the wind, like a sitar repeating the same note again and again — yet each pluck sounded new.
"What do we do now?"
Asked a woman, her skin brighter than the evening sun, lips glowing like her beauty itself.
Her black hair fell to her neck, her body wrapped in light armor where she didn't yet need protection.
"We still don't have any lead as to why the adventurers went missing here. We need to investigate further than they did,"
Another said, touching the ruined walls. They were fragile, barely held together by the veins of roots crawling through the stone.
"Yeah."
The one in front spoke, blinking twice — a bad omen stinging his eyes with dust.
★
"Not a single one of you helped!"
Suddenly, a shout shook every creature standing on the ground.
It was loud, yes — but more than that, it carried the same calm, cold feeling Shyam had felt when he first entered the Adventurers Guild of Vyomsetu.
It was truly awe-inspiring, so much that one could drown in it and still be happy to die.
Was this the power of a Tier Three, sub stage Two fighter?
"If his mere words are this powerful… how strong is he really?!" Shyam muttered as he sliced the neck of a low-level ogre.
Since the battle began, his greater senses had faltered. There were simply too many. Even his system couldn't calculate how many beasts stormed the city.
He was scared. He feared death was inevitable. But still, he moved his hands and legs, because…
"Self-doubt makes you weaker, Shyam! Wake up!"
---
Ch-49