Garrett turned away from Ribbit’s desperate cries for help and faced Daisuke with gleaming eyes as the feli atop his shoulder. “Are you a summoner? Man, I ’t believe you mao learn magic!”

  “That’s so amazing!” excimed one of the other kids.

  “Incredible!” another one chimed in.

  “Are you really a summoner?” asked a third.

  “Well, I wouldn’t really say I’m a summoner,” Daisuke crified modestly. “I’m more of an all-rounder, but I still have a pretty long way to go.”

  “Wow~”

  The kids looked on in wonder, ging to ead every sylble that left his lips, all while Brek looked on with an indecipherable expression.

  After carefully opening the cage, a clever use of Daisuke’s Magic s ehe kids to escape without needing to drhly twenty feet into the freezing pool below.

  Simir to their days in Dusthaven, everyone hovered close to Daisuke and carefully adhered to his instrus, even more so now that he had demonstrated a portion of his abilities.

  As they all hid behind one of the many rge wooden crates in peared to be a ste room, one of the kids regarded the e and feline perched upon Daisuke’s shoulders.

  “So… do they have a name?” he asked. “The cat and wolf, I mean.”

  “Oh,” Daisuke paused his s of the dreary chamber to address the question. “This is Zephyr and Midnight,” he informed with a smile. “Midnight’s actually the member of the team.”

  Ribbit was covered in bruises—now, he was suffering from an additional type of pain. Surreptitiously, he stole a g the viohat had just bullied him. In the same beat, Zephyr’s head slowly swiveled around like a creaking door, fangs bare, his eyes fshing menagly.

  Ribbit bnched and immediately looked away.

  “By the way, Haxks,” Garrett began, “how did you mao find us? You couldn’t possibly have knoere captured?”

  “Yeah,” another boy added. “I would imagihese guys didn’t leave much of a trail behind.”

  “I went back to Dusthaven,” Daisuke informed didly. “That’s where I learned what had happeo you guys. I was also able to get some valuable information too. Ohio another and I ended up here.”

  “…How’s the vilge holding up?” Garrett asked while everyone listened with a trace of indifference.

  “Well… I think it’s on the verge of an incredible ge,” Daisuke said, noting as everyone’s expressions gradually shifted from disio surprise. “Turns out the lord isn’t as big of a jerk as we thought. He’s taken notice of the slum folk and has proactively been participating in the development of agriculture and improving the welfare of the people. The ime we visit, we holy may not be able the pce.”

  “N-No way!”

  “That’s great news!”

  “You’re kidding?! The lord was actually a good guy?!”

  “That means Rob and the others must be okay!”

  While the children celebrated in hushed voices, Brek huddled close to Daisuke and whispered, “So? What’s the game pn?”

  “…The pn’s to clobber the guy who imprisoned us here,” Daisuke responded, his eyes stirring with a gleam Brek had never seen before. “If we don’t teach him a lesson and figure out who he’s w for, they may e after us again iure.”

  “We’ve definitely e a long way from just running away.”

  Daisuke’s eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. “I’m done running.”

  ***

  Adrian sat crossed-legged in a vish chair that could easily pass as a throne. In his hands, he daintily held a small saucer and a teacup, his lips puckered as he took a small sip.

  The chamber surrounding him, much like the Mhaledictus' former mountain hideaway, was aravagant attempt to elevate a dark, damp cave into something regal. Mana mps bathed the spa a soft, eerie glow, highlighting rich tapestries, deep crimson carpets, and vish furnishings. His personal bodyguard stood beside him, unmoving, as though part of the room itself—an imposing, sileinel watg over his master.

  “You’ve just made a terrible mistake,” Adrian said desdingly, watg with displeasure as Daisuke and the childreered the chamber. “I was willing to spare the others if you agreed to ply, but now you leave us with no other choice but to get rid of them to teach you a lesson. And it would seem that you need a harsh lesson in obedieoo.”

  As if his words were the signal, a familiar tentacle suddenly shot out from a nearby pool with dark i.

  Without a word, Daisuke nimbly sidestepped the appendage and then severed it with the Lipanthyer’s Fang. In the same beat, he followed up by flig a Lightning Bead into the pool, fatally electrog the annoying fiend.

  “You,” Adrian hissed, his lovely face creasing. “How did you—”

  “This is the boss room,” Daisuke simply said, “I’d dump the mob with the mana debuff ability in here, too, to beef up security.”

  “You really are a nuisance as warned,” Adrian scoffed, noting as the corpse of the monster floated to the surface of the pool. “Well, the fact that you were able to defeat it so quickly expins how you mao get past the meraries.

  But no matter,” he said, resting his tea ware on a nearby table. Then he snapped his fingers authoritatively and crossed his legs, this time from left tht. “Crush him within an inch of his life, then kill his friends while he watches.”

  The man who stood as a motionless statue just moments ago finally started to move, an impressive give csped tightly within his hand, his bulging muscles atuated by pieces of armor.

  “Lekton wasn’t a cheap merary to e by,” Adrian admitted with an amused smile. “He hails from a promi warrior rad was the mightiest among his kin. He’s so skilled that he was even scouted to participate in The Bloe.”

  While everyone cowered ba fear, Daisuke arched one brown iion. “The Bloe?”

  Adrian palmed his fad chuckled mogly. “The fact that you’re clueless about The Bloe’s existence merely mirrors your inpetence as a warrior.

  The Bloe is a colosseum located in Valtaris—a city renowned for its brutal gdiatorial tests and savage warrior culture. And right now, you’re about to be put in your pce by a man who would’ve stood at the pinnacle of those savages should he fight in the arena.”

  Right on cue, Lekton eased into a battle stand flexed his give, his lips peeling back from his teeth to reveal a psychotic grin. Without missing a beat, he hurled his on forward like a projectile unched from a ballista.

  Time slowed.

  Daisuke lurched forward.

  GGGGG!

  The Lipanthyer’s Fang screeched against the give’s shaft, sparks flying as Daisuke deftly redirected the on’s path. Brek’s eyes widened in terror as the give whipped past his face, slig through the air and leaving a thin, stinging cut along his cheek.

  BOOOOOOM!

  The polearm smashed into the wall with a deafening explosion, embedding itself deep withione. Ribbit’s face drained of color, a series of panicked farts sputtering out like a defting balloon.

  Garrett, eyes wide in terror, staggered backward and nded on his rear. The rest of the kids huddled together, trembling. But Daisuke? He had disappeared into thin air.

  Before Lekton’s eyes could shift from his on and refocus, Daisuke materialized before him, a blur of motion. In the same heartbeat, he funneled all of his stats intth and delivered a bone-shattering blow.

  DING!

  [The active skill ?Meteor Smash? has been acquired.]

  [Meteor Smash]

  [Rank: Unique

  Cssification: Active Skill

  Lvl: 1

  Proficy: 0%

  Every ounce of your being els raw power, trating it into a singur, earth-shattering blow, crushing your target with the force of a fallieor.

  When activated, all your stats are reallocated tth, allowing you to deliver an attack of overwhelming force.

  Skill Effect:

  ?? Reallocates all Stat Points tth, increasing Attack Power by 300%.

  ?? Upon usage, Stat Points return to their inal distribution, and the Stat Reset skill is disabled for 6 hours.

  Mana Cost: 200

  Skill Cooldown: 24 Hours]

  With a single devastating punch, the so-called mighty warrior’s eyes bulged in shock. The impact rippled through his body, shattering his armor like brittle cy. He clutched his stomach, colpsing to his knees in disbelief before emptying the tents of his stomato the cavern floor.

  Adrian stood paralyzed, his once calm and collected demeanor shattered like fragile gss. His usually posed aiful faow twisted into a ghastly expression of shock, fists ched and trembling. The children were no less stuheir wide eyes refleg the disbelief that filled the room.

  Brek gnced over at Zephyr who wore a smog grin, and then at the mysterious felih its indifferent expression. It was clear both of them knew what Daisuke was capable of. But how had he mao bee so powerful so quickly? What had he gohrough ter su immense ge?

  Brek’s gaze dropped to his own palm, notig the absence of calluses. It was a gring remihat he wasn’t pushing himself hard enough. If Daisuke hadn’t stepped in earlier, the give would have split his head open like a ripe watermelon.

  “I o bee stronger,” he muttered, g his fist tightly as an image of his baby sister fshed in his mind. “If I ’t even protect myself, how am I supposed to proteyone else?”

  The dull thud of Daisuke kig the self-procimed warrior like a soccer ball snapped Brek’s attention back to the battlefield.

  Lekton hit the ground hard at his employer’s feet, still writhing in pain from the earlier blow. Adrian stood above him, seething with fury. He ched his jaw, the rigid lines e deepening across his face.

  But then, without warning, something ged—Adrian’s tensioed away. His ched fists rexed, and his hardened expression shifted. Tilting his head back, a strange giggle bubbled up from his throat. His palm slid over his face as the giggle darkened, evolving into an uling, maniacal ugh that echoed through the cavern.

  “I was only pnning th you up a bit,” he admitted darkly, pulling a small, marble-like medial pill from his pocket and f it into Lekton’s mouth. “But now it seems I’ll have to sughter your pathetic friends and break a few of your bones before you start taking this seriously.”

  Lekton’s eyes widened in horror as the pill slid down his throat, its bitter taste searing his senses. His body vulsed, muscles rippling unnaturally beh his skin. Veins bulged grotesquely, his breaths turning shallow and ragged as he clutched at his chest.

  A siing crack echoed through the cavern as his bones began to shift and . His limbs elongated, skin stretg taut over his altered form. His fihied into jagged cws, his once-humaures t into something primal. His mouth stretched wide, sharp fangs protruding as a low, guttural growl rumbled deep from his throat.

  Lekton’s eyes bzed with feral iy as they found their prey, pupils narrowing into menag slits. Now t over everyone, his body had swelled to twice its inal size, coarse fur bristling across his skin. No longer reizable as humaood as a monstrous homunculus, the effects of the strange pill c through him like wildfire.