Sweat dripped from Lewis as he eyed the suddenly hostile gazes of the people in the room, all of them seeming ready to pounce and tear him apart the moment he made a wrong move.
"Alright, alright, calm down. Christ, I came here to escort those two guys to safety, not be accused of spying or being a demon spawn or whatever. What do you want me to do, then? The skill only works when I'm hitting something." Lewis exclaimed, looking around for some sort of possible target to demonstrate his ability on.
But before he could locate a suitable target, the golden armored man spoke up, shocking everyone with his words, including Lewis.
"You may strike me with this mysterious skill of yours. If it really is as formidable as you made it out to be, then it will surely at least scratch me." He said, gesturing Lewis forward with his hand, the entire room seeming to shift at his words.
"Sir knight, you cannot!"
"He's a demon spawn, he must have been tasked with assassinating you. You cannot give him this opportunity."
"Silence, we don't yet know if he is corrupted, and until we do, he is simply another possible ally. Strike me with the power you used to dispatch three powerful orcs and prove your guilt or innocence." He exclaimed, his voice booming through the room and silencing the advisers as his gaze drilled into Lewis, his posture poised, making Lewis's mind scream at him to run, but he knew doing so would only signify his end. His only chance was to do as the man said and use unravelling strike on him to prove he wasn't using some sort of demonic powers or whatever these people were screaming about.
"Okay, I'll do it. But be careful, this skill destroys peoples insides and I really don't think its a good idea using it on a person. Even the orcs couldn't withstand it and I don't know how to control it." He said, but Laurence didn't seemed fazed by his warning.
"Ha, if your skill is powerful enough to kill me, then I have no right to call myself a royal knight and deserve whatever happens. But don't overestimate yourself so much. Even with borrowed powers, you will still be no match for me. And the moment you show sign of your corruption, I will test my own power against you." He said, gesturing Lewis forward a final time, his gaze telling him that this was his last chance.
Lewis let out a long breath, his mind made up. He didn't particularly want to hurt these people, but nor did he plan to hold back as his fist moved into position.
He had warned them about his skills destructive ability and the golden armored knight hadn't listened, so why should he care if he accidentally kills him. They already turned on him for no reason after he had saved two of their people and he refused to bow down to a bunch of bullies, especially not now that he actually has some power of his own.
His fist shot forward, aimed straight at Laurence's gut, the man making no move to dodge as he braced, Lewis's fist colliding with the man, an almost metallic sound resonating from the impact as his fist was stopped dead, as if striking a wall. But the moment it made contact with the man's stomach, [Unraveling strike] activated, the full blast of destructive power shooting into the golden knight faster than he could react, a pained and shocked expression on his face as the energy inside him went rampant.
Lewis had been curious about the man's strange body and had kept a close eye on the interaction between his skill and the man's mana-filled body, which was what allowed him to spot the sudden turbulence within the man as the destructive energies hit. Just like his anti-mana, the power released by his unravelling strike only appeared as a black cloud to his senses, but the moment it entered Laurence, it seemed to cause the mana bound tightly within every cell of his body to instantly become alert, rushing towards the intrusive energy to fight it off, reminiscent of white blood cells at work.
As a result, the power of his destructive energy was rapidly worn down before it could do much damage, the attack failing to reach as deep into the knight as it had with the bear and orcs, remaining mostly just beneath the surface of his skin where it mainly seemed to erode away the man's mana, leaving his organs mostly untouched. But despite the skill being pushed back slightly, it still inflicted some real damage, Laurence stumbling back as he coughed up blood, the man's eyes going wide as he stared at Lewis before his leg buckled and he collapsed to one knee.
Lewis watched as the man's energies seemed to be in turmoil for a few moments, power accumulating within his stomach, but the destructive energy of his skill had already dissipated, worn down by the dense mana in his body and partially pushed back due to its compact nature. Still, the man appeared shocked as he grabbed his stomach, shouts and cries of alarm rising from behind him as the other people in the room rushed to his side, blades pointed out towards Lewis as he settled into a fighting stance, ready to take on anyone that attacked him.
"Wait," Laurence called, wiping the blood from his mouth as he got back up, rubbing his stomach for a moment before unexpectedly chuckling, everyone in the room standing still, waiting for his next move.
"Well, that was something. I must admit I underestimated you, but you are decidedly no demon spawn. If those vampires had such abilities, they would have wiped us all out long ago." He said, smiling at Lewis as the others hesitantly lowered their weapons.
So it was the vampires they thought I was working for?
"You're pretty tough yourself. It's like you're made of metal." Lewis replied, rubbing his sore knuckles as he attempted to see the man's internal mana.
It was no easy feat, since the knight didn't simply exude mana from his presence like the others but seemed to be made of it, every part of his body merged with the magical energy, reinforcing his every cell, making him glow to his senses, but not allowing him to peer deeper into him like he could with the cores of the stone spiders. Unlike them, he appeared like a complete wall to his senses; he didn't even seem to be leaking mana like other people, if anything, the mana was attracted to him, being sucked into his body like a sponge. Not even the spot he had struck appeared any different, the mana density having returned to its normal level despite Lewis having clearly destroyed some of it with his attack.
He had expected his unique mana-destroying skills to be able to destroy this man, but it seemed his skills have their own limitations. His arcane nullfield had failed to destroy the mana within his body despite him having been touching his shoulder, his hand fully enveloped in the field, but to no effect. It seemed that there was a massive difference between mana inside the body and outside of it, even his unravelling strike struggling when before it had destroyed all without issue.
"Ha, yes, the body of a royal knight is not so easy to injure. But that strange power of yours is truly terrifying. Not even the true vampires would be able to affect a knight's body in such a way. We have been specifically trained to deny and expel all external forces inside of us, yet you somehow managed to partially break through my defenses. It's no wonder you level so fast." He said, now grinning as he moved towards him, patting his shoulder like the two of them were old friends.
Lewis refrained from mentioning that he had only recently gained this skill, not wanting them to turn on him again as he smiled at the man as if he hadn't just attacked him with the expectation that the man would be dead right now.
"Come, welcome to our little war room. You can call me Laurence, by the way. A strong warrior like yourself that has earned his strength will be a huge boon to our budding camp." He said, dragging Lewis over to the table, hand-drawn maps and papers scattered all about as the others also finally seemed to calm down.
Lewis honestly just wanted to leave at this point, but he figured he would see what they had to say, as they clearly knew a lot more about things like orcs and vampires than he did.
"Yeah, my name is Lewis."
"Right then, Lewis, let us get you up to date real quick. We are still doing headcounts of people, but the last count was four hundred people present, many of whom are from all over the various lands and kingdoms, even from this Earth place like yourself. Most haven't leveled up at all and have no desire to, mostly searching for their friends and family, but since there doesn't seem to be any logic behind where we were all taken from, that is a rather fruitless task. What we do know is that there are many hunters and soldiers with few women and practically no kids. That, at least, is probably a good thing, since when we first arrived, beasts were everywhere, and we even ran into a few vampires.
Pooling our points to buy the fortress was an expensive but ultimately necessary endeavor, as if it our only chance of surviving out in the wilds. Especially with the disappearances and attacks going on. We have been sending out groups of people to level up and bring back food, as well as mapping the area, which we have drawn here." He explained, pointing at the various small papers that appeared to possess crude drawings, then to the large map at the center of the table that looked to be an amalgamation of all the small maps into a single large map of the area, with waterways, forests and mountains all indicated.
"We've got several active parties out right now, but most that have gone missing are near the southern goblin nest, with orc attacks and kidnappings showing up primarily along that area, but they seem to be moving closer and closer to the fortress with each subsequent attack." he said, pointing to the region in question as he tapped his fingers in a drumming motion.
"Okay, but why are these orcs kidnapping people anyway? Why not just kill them?" Lewis wondered.
"Good question. We don't know. I've never heard of an orc before now, so I have no clue what they might want with prisoners. Perhaps some sort of slave labor?" Laurence said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Oh, so Orcs aren't from your world?"
"Our people had to contend with the vampires and lycan, but no orcs. They are a complete unknown, which makes them rather unnerving to have as an enemy." Laurence admitted.
"What about the elves? Have any of them shown up here?"
Laurence looked around at the others, who all shook their heads. It was Morris who spoke up.
"I didn't think elves were a thing. I knew vampires turned out to be real and all, but who ever said anything about elves?" He asked, giving Lewis a doubtful expression.
"Well, for one, we can get a list of all the different races sharing the tutorial from the system shop, and secondly, I encountered a few of them out in the forest. Although they didn't seem too happy to see me even after I saved them from a pack of steel-fang wolves. They even threw stuff at me and called me a demon, sort of like you lot." Lewis replied, giving the room the stink eye.
Laurence seemed a little embarrassed as he forced a smile.
"Ah, don't be like that Lewis. We're all very sorry for doubting you, but we had to be sure you weren't the servant to those evil blood suckers sent to infiltrate our ranks. It's the reason most of the people are still outside despite us now possessing a fortress. If we don't vet everyone first, then we will likely have in infestation on our hands." He explained, Lewis not quite understanding what he was saying, but he got the feeling that vampires were a real issue for them on their world.
"Did you really encounter real elves. What did they look like? Did they have blond hair and white skin?" Morris asked, suddenly seeming completely different, his calm and indifferent face was twisted into a shocked expression as he stared at Lewis with an intense gaze.
"Eh, yeah, but they all seemed pretty heartbroken after two of them had died to the wolves, so I left them be when they started screaming at me to leave." Lewis replied, a little taken aback by the man's sudden intensity. Morris seemed to realize himself a moment later as he backed away, coughing into his fist as his expression returned to a neutral state, except for the slight reddening of his cheeks.
"Anyway..." Laurence continued, glancing at Morris before returning his attention back to Lewis. "What do you say to helping save some more people? We know the orcs have kidnapped at least twenty people and are most active south from here. Your help would be invaluable in rescuing them and crushing the orcs."
Lewis was confused as he looked at the man. He, of course, wouldn't mind having some payback on the orcs, a little justice for one of their number having broken his arm, with the added bonus of rescuing some more people, but he felt he was hardly the most suited for the job.
"Me? But I just got here, not to mention I doubt people need you to sit here and do paperwork. Wouldn't you be a lot better at this than me?" He asked the strongest person he had met in the tutorial up until now. The man capable of withstanding his strongest attack and getting back up like nothing had happened.
But Laurence only smiled sadly, raising his hand up as he pointed at Lewis's own hand. On it, was a tattoo of an I inside a circle, identical to Lewis's own.
"I can't. If I kill anything else, then my level will increase, and I will be forcibly sent to the second floor of the tutorial, leaving all these good people behind. My EXP is at 98% after I killed several powerful beasts and five vampires when I first arrived. If I kill a single other creature, I might level up, so you must do this. Outside of me, you are clearly the strongest person here, and you have already proven your methods effective against the orcs." He said, his face serious as he looked Lewis in the eyes.
Lewis gulped under the intensity of his gaze. The man still gave him a sense of danger, so he found himself stiffly nodding.
"Aright, I'll go see if I can't help rescue some more people and kill these orcs." Lewis agreed, Laurence excitedly patting him on the back, making him feel like his bones might break from the force.
"Excellent, come, let me introduce you to your new group for this mission." The golden knight exclaimed.
Wait, group? I thought I was going alone. Group fights aren't exactly my thing. Lewis grumbled to himself as he turned around to follow the man.