The red energy that was spinning like a razor expanded before it shot out.
Swoosh!!
The red beam flew straight towards Bryan.
Bryan turned his head when he heard Souta's and Fred's voice. He saw a red beam flying towards his direction.
He placed his hand in front of him and quickly casted a spell.
"Protect me, [Lightning Barrier] and [Burning Wall]!!"
A two-layer wall appeared in front of him. It was made of lightning and flame. These were just a Tier 1 Spells. He knew that this level of spell wasn't enough to stop the incoming attack.
Bryan raised both of his fists and launched a barrage of punches on the ground within a second.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He created a crater and jumped inside before he casted another defensive spell. He didn't stop by casting one spell, he casted several defensive spells at the same time to ensure his survival.
All this happened within a few seconds.
The adventurers around him were still looking at the beam. They didn't notice what Bryan did at all as their mind was going blank from the pressure they felt.
The red beam swallowed them before it exploded. The two spells that Bryan casted in the surface didn't even last a second from the beam.
Boom!!
The ground shook heavily as a mushroom of smoke and dust rose up in the sky.
The trees and the rocks in the area around the explosion disintegrated. Some of the rocks were thrown in the sky and fell down with a loud sound creating small craters in the area.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Souta used his hand to covered his eyes as a gust of wind was blowing strongly. He couldn't control his mana to protect him because of the best feram.
His [Mana Manipulation] skill was just level 2, so he couldn't do complicated things with his mana like creating a barrier. The least he could do was cast a low-level spell. He couldn't properly control his mana when there's a best feram suppressing the mana in the area around them.
"Argh! What a powerful attack!" Fred gritted his teeth and he focused on protecting himself.
He protected himself by using the defensive spell that he knew. A single low-level spell was enough to stop the powerful gust of wind.
Vince and Gredi, the leaders of the knights, went to their young master and protected them. Their priority this time was to protect their young master or else their lord would punish them. In the worse case, their lord would kill them for not having the strength to protect their young master.
...
Lumilia, Jusmin, Cl.u.s.ter, and Yuko was stared when they saw a huge explosion.
"What's happening?" Jusmin muttered as she hugged Cl.u.s.ter tightly to her chest.
"I don't know but even at this distance..." Lumilia said while looking at the explosion.
Their distance from the battlefield was quite far. But still... They could feel the aftershock of the battle from this distance.
The battle there must be quite intense.
Lumilia looked at that direction with concern in her eyes. She doesn't have any idea how Bryan and Souta could handle a fight like this.
"Don't worry, young miss. They will come back with the Mystical Light Cherry." Jusmin said to Lumilia when she saw her look.
"No, I'm not worried about the Mystical Light Cherry anymore." Lumilia shook her head and said. "I'm more worried about their well being."
"Fred is there and also they are your classmates." Jusmin while thinking about something. She added, "Young miss... Can I ask what they are usually in class?"
"Hmm...?" Lumilia was a little bit surprised at her question. She looked at her and asked, "Curious about them?"
"...yeah." Jusmin nodded at her.
"Hmm... Since I'm the class rep I know a little bit about my classmates. Bryan is always in the limelight. He's always active, lively, and friendly. If I'm to say it, I think most of our classmates are already his friend." Lumilia told her what she thinks about Bryan. She recalled something so she added, "He's also doing what he wants and never care about what others say about him. He sometimes sleeps in class, so as a class rep I have to reprimand him."
"Hmm... Then what about the other one." Jusmin nodded and asked about Souta.
"...I've got to say that he's always with Bryan and Alice. At first, I think that he's not an impressive individual. He's blank, always living in the shadows of Bryan. But..." Lumilia paused for a moment. She clearly had hesitation about what she's going to tell.
"But...?" Jusmin looked at Lumilia as she tilted her head.
Cl.u.s.ter was listening to their conversation silently in Jusmin's arms.
Lumilia looked down and started to tell Jusmin what she thought about Souta.
"Lately, in the mini-tournament in our class. Souta shown a terrifying side of him. He usually going along with Bryan but in the tournament... He defeated everyone with his overwhelming strength. Also, the way he killed those bandits before...
"I think that he is the opposite of Bryan. He doesn't show any remorse in taking lives. He's doing everything with rational thought and he could plan everything calmly even when there's an unknown powerful opponent waiting for him. He also wouldn't hesitate to use those who are close to him as a tool."
Lumilia recalled what happened in the tournament. She remembered what Souta said at Alice at that time. He instigated Alice to used strength to tire out Bryan so that in the upcoming fights he wouldn't have any problems. That's what also he did when Bryan fought Brando from Shield Class.
"What I don't understand is why is he helping us? I can understand it if it's Bryan but Souta... I don't think he's the type to help people without any benefits."
Jusmin looked at Lumilia and said, "Is it because we help him in clearing the dungeon?"
"Clearing the dungeon? No, Bryan and Souta can do that with their own power. They don't need our help to clear the dungeon." Lumilia said as she shook her head.
"The only thing I could think of is that he wants the favor of a noble like you, young miss..." Jusmin said.
"No, I don't think that he will care about that." Lumilia shook her head.
...
The whole area was covered in smoke and dust. This blocked everyone's vision in their surrounding. At most, they could only see ten meters in front of them. Beyond that was nothing but dust and smoke.
Cough! Cough!
Souta coughed as he patted his clothes. He wrinkled his eyebrows and waved his hand.
Swoosh!!
The smoke around him was blown away.
"Fred, are you there?" Souta said while looking around him with a wary expression.
"Yeah, I'm here."
A reply came behind Souta. Souta turned his head and looked at Fred. He opened his mouth and said, "Stay where you are. I'm just going to check something."
Souta was about to leave when a thunderous roar echoed in the whole area once again. The roar blew the smoke and dust in the whole area.
Souta and Fred saw a huge crater. It was thirty meters in diameter and ten meters in depth.
"What happened to Bryan?" Fred asked while looking at the crater.
"I don't know," Souta replied. He really doesn't know if Bryan survived that attack or not. Well, it all depends on Bryan.
At the very least, he would get the Mystical Light Cherry along with his corpse if Bryan didn't manage to survive the attack to complete his quest.
Suddenly, Souta felt something behind his head. He quickly crouched down and a blade passes over his head.
Swoosh!!
Souta grabbed his sword and turned around while swinging his sword at the same time.
Clang!
He saw the one who attacked him was the leader of the knights. He frowned and silently casted [Agility Boost] and [Strength Boost].
"You're the comrade of the man who stole the cherry, right?" Gredi, the leader of the knights, asked him.
Souta didn't answer him but he took a glanced at Fred and found that the other knight also attacked Fred. Luckily, Fred had some skills and managed to put up with the knight.
Souta kicked the ground and took a distance from the knight leader Gredi.
Gredi chased after him but Souta used [Stab] four times in a row.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Gredi swiftly parried all of Souta's attack. His sword then emitted a blue light and he waved it towards Souta.
A blue slash tore the air and it went straight to Souta.
Souta gritted his teeth as his Vajra Sword emitted a red light.
[Cross Moon]!!
The red slashed tore the blue slash easily. It didn't stop at all as it flew straight towards the knight leader Gredi.
[Cross Moon] was an equipment skill of a dark grade weapon. It wouldn't lose to a low-level skill like that.
Gredi was shocked when he saw his attack disintegrated. He quickly regained himself, so he raised his sword and attempted to block the red slash.
Boom!!
...
Fred was at a disadvantage fighting a knight leader like Vince. Their fight was one-sided. Vince was the one who's attacking while he was the one who's defending.
He was just a butler of the Asvares family that known some combat arts and spells.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
He could only focused on blocking all the attacks of Vince. He couldn't see any opening and Vince surely wouldn't let him do what he was thinking.
He wanted Souta to help him but he saw that Souta was also fighting a knight.
"I could only do this." He muttered when a voice sounded in the whole area.
"Ah! That was close! I thought I'm gonna die!"
The fight stopped when they heard a loud voice. They turned their heads only to found Bryan's bloody figure.
Vince and Gredi were shocked when they saw that Bryan was still alive. Both of them thought that he died from the [Bestrou] of the Earth Crawler Ape.
Bryan's body was full of wounds and he was covered in blood. At his hand, he was still holding the Mystical Light Cherry.
"Oh! Souta and Butler!" Bryan exclaimed when he saw Souta and Fred.
"Are you okay?" Fred asked.
"Yeah, fine." Bryan nodded.
"You should say no," Souta interjected.
Then, the Earth Crawler Ape saw the Mystical Light Cherry in Bryan's hand, so Bryan became the target once again.
"Bryan, get out of this forest as fast as you can!" Souta said as he ignored the knight leader and dashed towards the Earth Crawler Ape. He wanted to ask how did Bryan survive that attack but he knew that it's not a time for that.
[Cross Moon]!!
He used [Cross Moon] as he knew that this was one of the skills that could give the Earth Crawler Ape a damage.
Bang!!
The red slash hit the body of the Earth Crawler Ape.
Gredi and Vince saw this, so they were going to stop Souta and let the Earth Crawler Ape kill Bryan. But when they were about to move a strange voice sounded in the whole area.
Souta stopped moving and also the Earth Crawler Ape.
"Ufufu! What a fascinating scene this is? A bunch of people are trying to kill each other for a mere Mystical Light Cherry! Oh God! What happened to the people nowadays? Have they lost your guidance?"
"Ignore them. I don't want to waste any more of my time."
Souta opened his eyes widely and his jaw almost drops when he saw the two people that appeared. His mind was thinking of a plan to get out of this place as soon as possible.
Why? Why are they here in this sort of place?
The Commandments of the God's Will.