(Important Edit: In the prologue, I mentioned there were 4 roles. I'm removing one role, so there are only 3 roles: Swordsman, Mage, and Support. The role I removed is Martial Arts.)
It's not actually that difficult if you know its weak point. This Titan is like a zombie; you just have to destroy its brain, and its entire body will die. If you see someone struggling against this titan, it means they don't know its weak point yet. Yes, I'm talking about Rio. He was taught this at the academy by a Professor, but it seems he forgot, which is why he had a bit of a hard time fighting it. As a result, he ended up destroying all of its body parts.
Alex's Situation - Third-Person Point of View
Alex ran away from Althair, the Titan following him with quick steps. Alex turned to face the Titan once he reached a secluded spot. The Titan ran with its hammer raised.
"A very classic attack, you know?"
Alex was ready, his sword coated in sword aura and his body covered by a protective spell from an artifact. But the Titan didn't swing its hammer. Its right hand, holding the hammer, stopped in the air and didn't swing down.
Suddenly, a punch came from Alex's right side. The 12-meter Titan's fist slammed into Alex's right cheek, sending him flying 20 meters back.
CRASH
Alex's head was spinning, his vision blurry, like a 144p video. Imagine how bad that is.
The Titan immediately approached Alex and swung its hammer. But suddenly, from a distance, someone wreathed in lightning sped toward them. It was Rio. He was incredibly fast. He pulled a sword from his storage ring and coated it with lightning combined with sword aura.
Then, Rio leaped with the force of lightning and stabbed the Titan's head. He landed with the Titan's head impaled on his blade. The Titan's body, which had been standing before Alex, immediately collapsed.
"Pathetic," Rio said, pulling the Titan's head off his sword. "You're labeled an A+-rank monster just because of your regeneration. Without it, you Titans are just ants."
"Hey! You big idiot, wake up."
Alex recovered from his dizziness and focused his vision on the situation.
"Over here, you oaf."
Alex turned to his left and saw Rio with a sour expression.
"You owe me your life, HAHAHA," Rio said with an annoying expression.
Alex stood up and walked away, his destination being their original meeting point.
Damn it, Alex monologued. I shouldn't have been so careless. How embarrassing.
Rio followed behind him.
It was actually pretty easy, Rio monologued. I can't believe I was stupid enough to forget its weak point earlier.
Althair, Clara, and Alicia were already at the meeting point. They had finished faster than the other two.
"What took you so long?" Alicia asked irritably.
"We were late because this fatso walks so slowly," Rio answered, blaming Alex.
Alex wanted to insult Rio back, but he realized Rio had just saved him, so he just accepted the words.
Tap
Tap
Tap
Footsteps were heard. Alex, Althair, Rio, Alicia, and Clara turned toward the source of the sound. They reflexively summoned their weapons.
Looks like 16 people, Althair monologued.
It turned out to be 15 soldiers from the Stellaris Empire. Automatically, Althair and his friends lowered their weapons.
My guess was wrong, it's only 15 people. These soldiers... they're all at a higher level than us, Althair monologued.
"Young ones, thank you for your temporary assistance. Now, it's best if you return," the captain of the soldiers said. "Vares! Escort these young ones to a safe place."
"Yes, Captain."
One soldier stepped forward and said, "This way, I will guide you."
But Rio refused. "No, let us help."
Rio felt a hand on his shoulder. He reflexively looked to see who it was and saw Althair.
"Let the professionals handle it," Althair explained. "If an S-rank monster shows up, we'll be the ones getting eaten."
A few moments later - Althair's Point of View
We were shocked when we entered District 10—the Valaris district. The reason was that the buildings and shops were all in ruins. Smoke billowed from the destroyed structures. The night sky had become even darker, the air quality had worsened, and there was the fiery glow of burning buildings.
Suddenly, an B-rank monster appeared above us. It was like a bat but larger, about 6 meters in size. But what shocked us was what it was carrying. It was carrying an adult man, flying with the man clutched in its feet.
As the creature passed over us, blood from the man dripped down and hit my cheek.
"Soldier," I said.
Everyone stopped and turned to me.
"Let us fight. I can't stand by any longer while my people are suffering. The Empire is under attack, and it is my duty to protect it. I trained to protect the weak," I pleaded with the soldier.
The soldier didn't answer right away. He thought about it first, and then said, "It's too dangerous. I know you are a Duke's son, and your friends are also graduates of the best academy. But this isn't a fight like you imagine. This is war."
"But I won't forbid you. I will only ask, are you willing to sacrifice your life to defend the weak?"
"Yes," I and my friends answered.
Rio unleashed his lightning clone technique, and the clones immediately scattered. He used this to find any citizens left behind during the evacuation more quickly.
I went north, about 100 meters from where I had spoken with the soldier. I saw a burning building, but I didn't ignore it. I entered the house because I heard a voice from inside.
"H-help... m-me," a weak voice called from the second floor. I immediately went up, carefully, because as I entered, some of the house's wooden beams had collapsed.
When I reached the second floor, I heard the voice coming from a room. It seemed the person was locked inside. This house was on fire. The only reason I could withstand it was because of a magic shield.
I immediately shouted to calm the person down, "Hang on a little longer, I'm coming in!"
But as I was about to break down the door, I suddenly had a thought.
The Empire has been under attack for a while now. It's been an hour since I was in the park and saw that mysterious person. So why is this person here? How did he get locked inside? From his voice, he's not a child, he's an adult man. Could it be... Althair monologued.
I backed away from the door, staring at it in horror.
"Why are you moving away? I'm a victim, please help me," the man's voice said from inside.
My hands were trembling. No, my entire body was trembling hearing his voice.
This sounds terrifying. How could he know I moved away? I muffled my footsteps, Althair monologued with a look of horror and caution. Should I just blow up this house?
BOOM
BOOM
The sounds of fighting erupted. It seemed to be a battle outside. I didn't need to look to realize it was a high-class battle. A battle where I would be nothing but a toy. The question is, who was fighting?
As I was losing focus, a scaly hand suddenly slammed into my right cheek. I was sent flying into the house wall, but the wall also crumbled from the impact of my body, so I flew through it and fell outside, landing perfectly on the ground.
I looked up. Where the hole in the wall was now stood a man, half of his body covered in scales, with small horns sweeping back from his head and wings on his back.
A Dragin. A half-human, half-dragon, or in other words, the child of a union between a human and a dragon. Yes, such relationships exist, but Dragins are slaves to nobles or royalty. The way it works is they capture a dragon, then prepare a woman. The dragon is tortured and forced to take human form. (A pure dragon can change its form into a human. No one would know that the human is actually a dragon because the disguise is so perfect; no scales, no wings, no horns. Whereas a Dragin, in its human form, will always have scales on half of its body). Then the nobles give the dragon a drink containing an aphrodisiac. The dragon, having drunk the aphrodisiac, loses its mind and rapes the woman. And thus, a Dragin is created.
Back to the present.
But what shocked me the most was the tattoo on the back of his hand. It was in the shape of a roaring lion. That wasn't just any tattoo; it was the family crest of the noble Remelton family.
Clara... did you betray us? Was this attack planned all along? Althair monologued. What if the reason Clara got close to us was to gather information?
The Dragin rushed toward me, the house crumbling under the pressure of its feet. Dragins have average physical abilities compared to the other 3 roles. He didn't give me a moment to breathe, launching a barrage of punches. I managed to dodge them, but not all of them. Sometimes I was hit, but the blows landed on my magic circle shield.
It went on like this. I dodged his attacks. If I got hit, my shield would break. If it broke, I would cast another shield spell. This was dangerous. If I kept fighting like this, my mana would eventually run out, and I would be killed.
I cast a wind explosion spell. The Dragin was thrown back, and all objects around me were blasted away. This gave me a brief moment to breathe. The Dragin began to summon a sword in his right hand, then coated the blade with a gleaming red sword aura combined with a water affinity.
I did the same, creating a magic sword in each of my hands.
A slave given a storage ring? How special. Plus, he's a Tier 3 {Master} Swordsman, Althair monologued.
If you're wondering how I knew, it was because of the sword aura. A characteristic of Tier 3 Swordsmen is the ability to use sword aura.
As we stared at each other, he suddenly spoke first. "Brown hair—gray irises. I never thought the one before me would be the dark horse mage, Althair von Kaelvros, the future Duke of the North," he said with a flat expression.
I just listened, not interested in replying. I was getting serious now.
I moved toward him, and he moved toward me. We exchanged slashes, thrusts, and blocks. To be honest, this was not to my advantage, because I was fighting him with a sword while I am a mage. But does that mean I can't win? Not necessarily. This isn't about who has the higher tier or who is more skilled with a sword, but about who is cleverer with their techniques.
I swung a horizontal slash at him. He blocked my slash, but when my sword met his, he was pushed back. The reason was, when I slash and my sword hits an object, it creates a wind explosion.
As he was pushed back, I cast a wind spear spell. A spear formed from wind immediately appeared in front of me, and I shot it at the Dragin. The spear pierced its stomach. I thought I had won, but I was wrong. The Dragin's body turned into water. In other words, it was a clone.
My senses immediately warned me that the enemy must be behind me. When I turned around, the Dragin was already above me, swinging its sword down. I couldn't dodge. I was forced to block it.
"Waterfall Basin," the Dragin called out his technique.
I blocked the attack with one sword, which I turned horizontally.
Vertical vs. horizontal.
BOOM!
My hands went numb. I lost the clash.
I fell onto my back. The Dragin stood over me, preparing to stab my head with its sword.
"Any last words, young Duke?"
"Don't assume you've won," I said weakly, "before your opponent is dead."
A tornado immediately appeared, forming a constantly spinning vortex around me. In other words, a whirlwind, with me at its center. "Heaven's Whirlwind" is a magic spell that is both defensive and offensive. This whirlwind will deflect all attacks while crushing any enemy that approaches.
In other words, the Dragin was caught in the current of my magic, and its body was crushed.
In other words, I survived.
30 minutes later
Third-Person Point of View - The situation with Althair's friends
Alicia and the soldier, Zeral, were helping victims who had failed to evacuate: an old woman in a wheelchair, an injured man, and many others.
"How long will this go on?" Alicia asked as she lifted a victim onto her back, then placed them on a cloth-covered floor.
They were currently at an evacuation point in District 6, Silaris. This district was the safest place, followed by Districts 7 and 5. These three districts were filled with the weak and wounded soldiers.
Alex arrived, carrying an Sage-rank soldier to Alicia.
"Alicia," Alex called, carrying the Sage on his back.
"Put him down on your right, slowly," Alicia guided. "This person is a Sage?" Alicia asked, shocked. "Just how intense is the fighting on the front lines?"
"It's extremely intense, Alicia. I heard from another soldier that there are S and SS-rank monsters. Even now, Emperor Arthur is fighting them alone."
Hearing this, Alicia clenched her fists. "I thought I was strong enough. I was wrong. It turns out I'm just an ant."
"Yeah, you're right. Not just you, me too. Alright, let's focus. Where's Clara?" Alex asked.
"She's healing victims on the right side."
Alex looked and saw the healers there, but he couldn't find Clara.
"She's not there. Don't lie to me, Alicia. This is important, you idiot."
"What do you mean? Clara was right there..."
"Wait, where did she go? I swear I just saw her there."
"Alright, I'll look for her later."
"Why? What's the problem?"
"Emm... our Empire isn't just being attacked by monsters. It's also being attacked by four other kingdoms."
"What the fuck."
"That's the reason I'm looking for Clara."
"Because she's from the Moonstone Empire, right?"
Outside the treatment area
Althair grabbed Clara's hand harshly, dragging her away from the people.
"Slow down, Al! My hand hurts because of you," Clara pleaded. Her hand had been dragged so roughly that it was now swollen and blue.
Once they were in a secluded spot, Althair threw Clara forward. Clara fell, but it didn't end there. Althair also grabbed her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes.
"I just fought a Dragin. He had the crest of Marquis Remelton on the back of his hand."
Clara's eyes widened in shock, but Althair misunderstood this as her faking it.
"Don't act so confused, you bitch."
"I swear, I didn't know anything about this," Clara answered, tears welling in the corners of her eyes.
"Lies!"
Althair shoved Clara's chin back. He stood up and took an artifact from his storage ring. It was a black stone, but not just any stone; it was a Truth-Detecting Stone. If the stone turned red, it meant she was lying. If it turned blue, it meant she was telling the truth.
Althair bent one knee to be level with Clara on the ground.
"Did the Marquis give you a mission to spy on us?"
"Yes." The stone turned blue, indicating the truth.
A vein bulged on Althair's forehead.
"For what?"
"Because you are enemies of the Moonstone Empire." The stone turned blue.
Althair's jaw tightened at her words.
"Then what did the Marquis order you to do once you became our friend?"
"Kill them when their guard is down..."
Althair acted impulsively. He shoved Clara's head into the nearby wall, cutting off the rest of her sentence.
"There's no need for more discussion. I'll just kill you right here," Althair said in a cold tone, summoning a magic sword. "Many of my people have died, whether they were children, teenagers, the elderly, or soldiers." His grip on the sword hilt tightened.
"W-wait, I'm not involved in this attack. I didn't even know there was a plan like this," Clara said, forcing words through her dry throat.
The stone turned blue.
Clara said, "I was ordered to kill nobles from other kingdoms." Suddenly, her body began to tremble. "The method was to sell my own body to them." Tears streamed down her cheeks.
The stone turned blue.
"When they were satisfied, that's when their guard would be down, and I would kill them."
The stone turned blue.
"But I never did it."
"Do you know why, Al?" Clara asked, her red eyes meeting Althair's shocked ones.
Althair didn't answer; he just shook his head.
"It's because I have principles. I never accepted the missions my father gave me, because I didn't want to commit such crimes. As a result..."
Clara turned around, lifted her simple, dusty shirt, and...
Gasp
Clara's back was covered in whip marks. There were old, scarred wounds, but there were also wounds that seemed recent, meaning she had been whipped not long ago.
"Why?..."
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"If I had told you, what could you have done?"