Unlimited Power: The Arcane Path

After the brief introductions, those two returned to their houses. Leon could look at them in amazement in how those guys become powerful. After fighting for weeks alongside Paul and his underlings, he understood that B rank soldiers had the same power of someone like Ren, who was the captain and responsible for protecting a small town. Those guys weren't exactly weaklings, but rank A soldiers must be at least three or four times stronger. However, Leon had no idea how those guys reached that weak with such an attitude.

"Well, that is it for introductions," Tom said. "Things around here aren't that complicated, so you will have an easy time learning the things you have to do. After defeating the skeletons, we must collect the dust that was once their bones. So, you should always have a broom and a shovel to get that."

"Okay…" Leon frowned.

"We only fight during mornings," Tom added. "After that, every single one of us stays on guard duty. If a skeleton appears, you smash it. If a monster appears, you alert the others."

Leon nodded, even though he didn't see many monsters after leaving New York, it was only because he didn't pass any urban zones or at least what was left of those zones. It looked like monsters tend to gather in those zones because the number of places that make for good hideouts was pretty decent.

"With you here, we will be able to decrease the amount of time everyone will watch the dungeon," Tom explained. "Unfortunately, you will have to work on the worst turn since you a newcomer."

"The final hours of the night… I don't mind." Leon said.

"Ah… eventually, you will mind." Tom said. "We usually also take turns in working in that turn… well, you will understand why."

Leon couldn't understand the meaning behind Tom's words, but since he eventually would see why, he decided not to ask for explanations. Anyway, since Tom had nothing more to say to him, he returned to his temporary home.

"Welcome back, master," Gisela said. "Did something happen?"

"No, I'm just curious about something. "You can continue your training."

Gisela asked that because Leon entered but didn't close the door, he decided to observe his new teammates in case something happens. Tom was a soldier who focused on brute strength, Leon didn't see him using any skills, but with the brute strength alone, he could smash skeletons with a single strike of his hammer.

"I guess he trained and trains like a madman to obtain that much power… He looks to be a decent guy, but if something happens and I ended up fighting him, maybe I will have trouble if I don't finish him off fast."

The other two were also powerful. However, their strength came from the skills that they obtained from tomes. The man could swing his sword and then shot an energy beam to destroy the skeletons. As for the woman, she could increase her strength and speed using a support spell, and with a rain of attacks, she would decimate her opponents using a purple spear.

"No wonder those two are so lazy, they didn't work hard to obtain that power. They are not stronger than an ordinary B rank soldier, but their skills are so powerful that they were selected to become rank A members in this organization."

It looked like their weapons had some extra effects as well, so Leon could easily imagine that their growth ended ages ago, and they would never grow stronger than that.

Leon's turn would begin at 01:00 AM, and he would work until 06:00 AM, which was the usual time where the soldiers would enter the dungeon, but surprisingly, the guy who stayed on guard duty before he knocked on his door at 11:00 PM.

"Hey, newbie, it is your turn now."

Before Leon could answer the door, he left, and as if it was a matter of fact, he entered his own home. Leon sighed, those guys were uncooperative beyond reason. Regardless, he couldn't pick a fight on his first day, but he already knew how he would solve that problem.

"Let me accompany you, master," Gisela said. "I will pick the dust."

Leon didn't refuse Gisela's help, and even though he would rather spend his night alone, it would be better if he gives her some pointers while she is practicing Water Manipulation. There was a campfire in front of the entrance of the dungeon, so they headed there... before Leon and Gisela could sit, they heard moans and low screams of pain, and then Tom's words suddenly started to make sense.

Leon frowned at first, but soon he understood what was going on. The man and the woman were having 'parties at their own houses. Although the space wasn't that large, it looked like at least four people were inside each house. Leon heard sounds of whips and sounds of some objects being hit against human flesh; after that, he heard moans of absolute ecstasy.

"Holy crap... a dominatrix and a sadist. Wait a minute... a dominatrix can also be considered a sadist... half of my teammates are sadists..."

Leon didn't like the sound of that, but it wasn't his problem unless those two try to mess with him. Leon didn't felt the need to help those maids and butlers, and by the look of things, he concluded that they didn't want to be helped; they wanted more... or perhaps they have been trained by those two, and now they like. Either way, Leon didn't want to be involved.

At least Leon didn't hear any sound coming from Tom's house, it looked like he was an ordinary guy, but considering that half of the teammates were weirdoes, Leon decided to be wary of him.

The noises coming from those the houses eventually stopped after two hours. Although Leon tried to concentrate on his task of watching the dungeon, he felt quite bothered by it, since he had a problem with his libido. Meanwhile, Gisela gathered the skeletons' dust and played with Water Manipulation as much as possible. She suffered so much that something like that was considered normal by her...

"Master, you got promoted, right?" Gisela suddenly asked. "Why didn't you accept other maids?"

"I don't really want to hear anyone calling me master," Leon answered. "I also don't need maids; I can do pretty much everything by myself."

"But isn't it boring?" Gisela asked.

"What is boring?" Leon frowned.

"To relieve your sexual tension with your hands?" Gisela asked.

"The hell are you talking about..."Leon said.

"Maids are trained to help their masters in that regard," Gisela said.

"Are you still considering doing that for anyone?" Leon asked. "What would your parents think if they hear this?"

"They would be very disappointed..." Gisela lowered her head. "But if it is with you master, I think it is okay..."

"AH! Don't say that! Don't say that... my scumbag instincts are returning to surface!" Leon covered his ears. "Ah... they are not coming. The holy sword is not standing yet. Anyway, don't think about that again, all right? Just focus on obtaining the power to go to your home."

"... Is it because I'm deformed, master?" Gisela hesitated.

"Ugh... my head hurts." Leon sighed. "You are going to make me say this, aren't you... to think I would embarrass myself to this extent... When I was on that island, I worked single-mindedly to reach my goal, and I used all my energy to reach my goal. That means I didn't do anything to relieve my sexual tension... why I'm saying this in such a roundabout way? Anyway... after four years without unsheathing the holy sword, the blade lost its sharpness. It will take a while before the holy sword can be used again... I'm getting depressed while saying this... Believe me, you are still pretty, but you are my friend, and I cannot see you in that kind of light."

"Thank you, master." Gisela showed a pure smile. "It warms my heart to hear that master consider me a friend... still, as a friend, I can do something to help you to solve that problem."

"... What can you do?" Leon hesitated.

"I heard that a lot of men could get erections when their butthole are stimulated, so..." Gisela said.

"There is no way in hell you will touch that!" Leon declared. "Since playing with water isn't enough for you anymore, you will train to learn your first spell."

"Yes, Master!" Gisela said.

The dungeon wasn't that close to the houses, so Leon was sure that no one would be able to see Gisela's training. After several hours, he taught her how to make a water bullet. Gisela mastered the shape of the projectile quite fast, but she would need to train how to strengthen and how to create water first. Instead of learning how to do that with four elements, it would be more convenient if Gisela focuses on one.

When morning came, Gisela returned to the house when Tom and the other two appeared. Aside from Tom, those two looked exhausted; the reason was so obvious that Leon couldn't help but sigh. His teammates were the type of people who didn't get serious while working. Leon hoped to see Tom scolding them, but nothing happened.

"Leonard, don't you have any equipment?" Tom asked. "I know that magic staffs are rare, but a mage like should have found one at some point in New York."

"Yeah, I found a few, but I don't like to rely on equipment too much," Leon said. "I will become more eager to train if I notice the growth of my skills without relying on external help."

"Is that so?" Tom frowned. "Well, you managed to defeat dozen of skeletons the whole night without asking for help, so I think that is fine."

By the look of things, it didn't look like Leon had been observed while he watched the dungeon. However, that could be an act so that Leon couldn't drop his guard.

"That being said, the monsters inside the dungeon are more difficult," Tom said. "So, I think you should buy a magic staff the next time you return to New York."

"Yes, sir." Leon nodded. "But how can they be more difficult?"

"No need to be so respectful," Tom chuckled. "You already know that the more time they spent in our world, the stronger they get, right? The more time they spent on earth, the more they absorb mana to create their weapons and gear. If we let them run wild, in one day, an ordinary skeleton can become a skeleton knight. After ten days, the beast can become a skeleton rider, and after one month, those monsters become death knights."

"I see... so they can create their own gear," Leon said.

"That is right," Tom nodded. "Of course, skeletons can become skeleton archers and wizards as well. However, inside the dungeon, there are only skeletons knights, archers, and wizards. So, to avoid problems down the road, we have to kill them before they can get too powerful."

Leon nodded, the skeletons were troublesome enemies because they had a lot of potential. Leon never fought a death knight, but he couldn't imagine it being stronger than a three-headed earth dragon. Rather than that, Leon was more interested in their ability to absorb mana from the surroundings. Maybe those creatures would be the key that would lead Leon to discover how to absorb mana from objects and eventually from his surroundings.

"Leonard, your job will be to kill the skeletons archers and wizards as soon as possible," Tom said. "Their numbers are small, but they are very troublesome to melee fighters like us. You will conserve your mana, and whenever they appear, you will attack them with all your might. Got it?"

"Ok." Leon nodded.

Although Leon was thankful for not having to put himself at risk, the last memory of him trying to trust the frontline wasn't a pleasant one. In a world where monsters could fly and jump dozens of meters upward, the formation didn't have much utility, but he accepted his function in any case. Before entering the dungeon, Tom made Leon push a cart where the skeleton's dust would be stored. Since Leon didn't have to use his hands, he could push that without a problem.

As soon as they entered the dungeon, they were welcomed by three skeleton knights. Their equipment didn't look all that impressive; it didn't have any magic effects. However, it seemed pretty sturdy. The skeletons had a one-handed sword on their right side and a buckler on their left side. Their helmets had a spike on the top, and they also had breastplates.

"How in the hell did those monsters manage to create all that?"

The monsters charged, and their bodies blurred due to the speed, the fact that they were only bones increased their speed. However, charging forward without strategy wasn't a good idea. Before the skeleton could touch him, Tom smashed it in a single strike. The man shot an energy beam and destroyed the second one. In three hits, the woman also destroyed the skeleton. Rather, it looked like the spear made the bones disintegrate… it was a quite nasty way of attacking.

"They are strong… Tom is unexpected the most powerful of them. The brute strength capable of smashing bones and steel like that can't be laughed at."

"Miller, Kelly, don't spend your energy so soon," Tom warned. "We will fight until noon; if you two run out of energy again, we won't retreat. Did you hear me?

Miller and Kelly looked away, and since that scene repeated itself many times, Leon ended up memorizing their names and faces. All in all, they seemed pretty average. Both of them had light-brow hair, and their eyes were of the same color… the only thing that stood in them was the perverted smiles that they showed each other. It looked they wanted to play together at night, but since both of them liked to dominate and not to be dominated, that never happened before.

"Oh, boy… to think those guys would think of that in the middle of a dungeon… they will die young."

It didn't take long for Leon to find his targets. The skeletons wizard was wearing a robe and had a wand. As for the archer, it only had a green bow. It was evident that wizards could use magic, but he frowned when he saw a skeleton creating a thunder arrow. That wasn't good, Leon transferred his mana to earth and formed two blocks of earth, before the monsters could attack, he smashed them into pieces. He exaggerated, Leon noticed that when he saw Tom, Miller, and Kelly looking at him with their eyes wide open.

"Ah… I used too much mana…" Leon tried to fake his nervousness, and it looked like he fooled those three.

"...You surprised me, for a second I thought you hold back against me before." Tom said. "But it looks like the more mana you put into your attacks, the stronger and faster they get."

"Yeah..." Leon forced a smile.

Leon had planned sooner or later to scare Miller and Kelly in order to make them not to mess with him again. He didn't mind staying up while watching the dungeon for a little longer, but not when those guys were fooling around.

Anyway, Leon thought they would explore the whole dungeon in order to kill all the skeletons before they could grow stronger. Although they only transformed after a certain period of time, they became stronger by the day. However, they only explored the left side of the dungeon, and after three hours, they were back to the entrance.

"Phew... thanks to you, Leonard, things were very easy." Tom smiled. "To think that a single mage could decrease our time working by the half... anyway, my time watching the dungeon will increase, but that is not a problem. You guys can go and rest.

Leon and the others killed almost two hundred skeletons, it wasn't that difficult, but Leon could imagine why Tom and the other two had to spend six hours hunting to finish one section of the dungeon. It was because they had to stop and rest several times due to the laziness of Miller and Kelly. Their skills and weapons consumed their mana and stamina, and since their strength was of an ordinary B rank soldier, they used skills to kill the monsters. They had the speed to block the monster's attacks, but it was too painful for them... even though they could heal in a few minutes.

"Geez... they looked like spoiled kids."

The dungeon didn't look that hard to clear, that much was obvious if only three people were capable of surviving inside of it six hours, but that was strange since Leon had no idea why that dungeon hadn't been cleared yet. Something was off, so Leon made a mental note to investigate that later. First, he had to check if something happened while he was away to Gisela and also check his progress since she was already trying to learn Water Transformation.

"Welcome back, master," Gisela said, showing a complicated expression. "I'm sorry, but it looks like this will take a while..."

Gisela spent the last hours trying to freeze the water of a bucket, but there was no sign of ice. However, Leon noticed that the water got colder.

"You are on the right path, keep practicing," Leon said. "There is no need to feel embarrassed; I only learned that after training my magic for months."

Leon patted Gisela's head, and then she nodded. While he was training on the island, Leon noticed that it was easy to freeze water if he just inserts his mana in a small portion of water. Freezing the water of a bucket would be even easier since he didn't have to control it. After giving a few more pointers, Leon left the house and headed to the entrance of the dungeon where Tom was. Since he was focused on watching the surroundings, he quickly noticed Leon's approach.

"Is something wrong, Leon?" Tom asked. "You spent the night awake and killed a lot of skeletons this morning; you should rest while you can."

"I just came to ask a few questions," Leon said.

"What is it?" tom asked.

"You guys already found the crystal of the dungeon, right?" Leon showed a puzzled expression. "By what I saw today, ordinary skeletons don't stand a chance against you guys. So, why didn't you clear the dungeon yet?"

"You are right," Tom nodded. "It is obvious, but it is due to the boss. That thing... it is very dangerous. Have you heard of ghosts' dungeon? Japan has one, but we don't have one here. The boss of this dungeon is similar to the boss of that dungeon; we call it Grim Reaper 2.0. However, it can summon skeletons almost infinitely. Not only that, but it also can suck our souls quite fast... we lost one member on the first time we fought against the boss."

"It sounds very scary..." Leon said.

"As if that wasn't enough, we can only damage with spells and attacks that are strengthened by mana," Tom explained. "We don't have enough mana, and we also tried to fight while using potions, but we didn't last long."

"Why didn't you ask the directors to send a few archers or mages?" Leon asked.

"We tried that before, but it is useless," Tom answered. "Unless we have a mage or archer deal a lot of damage, we can't stop the Grim Reaper from summoning more skeletons. The beast apparently has infinite mana, and even if we destroy all skeletons with a single strike, eventually we will run out of gas. That is why the directors sent you here; I believe that think you have the potential to stop the grim reaper. Your attacks are powerful, but not enough."

"Well, I guess I need to train until then," Leon said and then started to walk away.

"That would help me a lot if you become powerful enough to stop that thing." Tom smiled. "Although I'm thankful for your enthusiasm, you should rest properly. This isn't a sprint; it is a marathon."

"May I ask you why I would end up helping you? You are the captain of the team, but you don't have to stay here every single day, right?" Leon asked.

"Well, with the payment of this job and the coins we may obtain from the boss," Tom said. "I think I will be able to take a few weeks off. You are right, I can take a few days off, but it would complicate things. I'm married, my wife and I opened an orphanage in New York, and to keep it running, we need coins."

"I see... you are a lucky guy," Leon said.

"No, I just married her recently," Tom explained. "You can laugh if you want, but she was originally my maid. Although it may not sound so convincing considering that she had to obey all my orders, we married because we had many things in common, we were orphans and lived on the streets for a long time. So, we had this dream to build a place where others like us wouldn't be mistreated or be shunned by society."

"I would never laugh at you... to be honest, I'm quite impressed," Leon said while showing his amazement.

"Ah, don't say that." Tom laughed. "It makes my back feel itchy."

Leon was indeed impressed, until that moment, he only thought of doing things that would benefit himself. Sure, he was working for Makoto to avoid a war, but he was worried about how a possible war would affect his sister's lifestyle rather than the number of casualties.

After solving that situation between the two nations, Leon would spend his life in Las Vegas near his sister and niece to protect them from the danger and maybe protect Hector too since he didn't want to see them crying.

"I guess at some point I stopped caring about many things... Although I worked hard to escape from that place by myself, I waited to be rescued for the whole time. Since no one helped me, deep down, I don't feel the need to help those who I don't love or care about. I became a selfish person..."

It couldn't be helped; deep down, Leon was aware that he couldn't rely on anyone but family with the world in that state. Still, was that enough? Would he protect his family and see everyone else, dying? Did he want to live in that kind of world? Leon didn't have the answers to those questions, but he didn't want to see Amanda and Maya living in a world of death and destruction. It was time for Leon to stop being so narrow-minded…

After talking to Tom and noticing that he wasn't doing nearly his best for the planet, Leon barely slept. He started to think of what he should after solving the situation between the Allied Forces of the North-America and Japan. To make matters worse, Leon didn't discover a single thing of what he should do to absorb mana from objects and the environment. If Leon couldn't sleep and discover anything about the things he wanted to learn, the only thing he could was to meditate, and so he did.

Unlike the previous day, Miller didn't try to make Leon begin his turn of watching the dungeon and the camp two hours earlier. So, after midnight, Gisela and Leon sat in front of the dungeon. While she was trying to freeze the water of a bucket, Leon observed the skeletons and crushed them before they could cause him any harm. Still, he didn't learn anything just by observing the monster.

"There is no flesh, and there is no sign of any magic element in those creatures' bodies… so, they must have mana in their bones. They are undead creatures, but they still have mana. Without bones, muscles, blood, and a brain to control their bodies, only something like mana could grant them the power to move…"

However, Leon was aware that something was off. Why the skeletons had their equipment inside the dungeon but had to wait for a day before they could evolve into skeleton archers, wizards, and knights? It was probably due to the fact that the dungeon was a portal that leads to another world because that world had a lot of mana, and the dungeon was part of that world… to some extent. But that didn't give Leon any clue either.

"When mana is involved, I usually fail because I don't understand the theory of what I'm trying to do… there is a reason why I'm failing at absorbing mana; if those undead creatures can, I definitely can, too."

"Master, is that a spell, too?" Gisela asked.

"No, I'm just manipulating earth," Leon answered. "A person can't control a spell for so long."

"But isn't that way of attacking more efficient than some spells?" Gisela asked.

"It probably is since I compressed the earth and made it move fast," Leon explained. "However, I have to use more mana to be able to control it. Using a spell is more convenient because I don't have to worry about giving shape to the projectile or increasing its speed. Besides, if you master a powerful attack and turn into a spell, you can shot that same spell over and over again to cause massive damage as long as you have mana."

"It isn't just better to create and control powerful magic projectiles and attack using them?" Gisela asked.

"It is not easy to control, and like I said, I can't control for long; to obtain control over something you create, you will have to touch it," Leon answered. "And sometimes, that is not possible."

"Can you only control something you created?" Gisela asked.

"That is right… I think." Leon frowned.

Leon started to wonder that perhaps that way of thinking was wrong. If someone could control something that a person created, then telekinesis shouldn't exist. The logic was a bit flawed, but if he could face grim reapers, then telekinesis must exist. At least that was what Leon wished.

"Let's see... Ah, I didn't create the four elements, but I can still control them... Telekinesis definitely exists, but putting that aside... the four elements are definitely simple. Still, objects are more complex since they don't have a single substance... why am I thinking about this? I certainly want to learn telekinesis, but first, I want to learn how to absorb mana."

Regardless, thanks to Gisela's question Leon found a clue. Using his mana, he could control the things he creates and the four elements with relative ease. Without mana, he couldn't do that without a few tricks. The key to not relying on tricks was to adapt himself; one excellent example of that was the fact that humans need food and water to live. However, just holding food and water isn't enough, they have to drink and eat it.

"I really don't want to eat a slime's core..."

It was mainly a stone, so that wouldn't be good for Leon. So, he had to find another way to adapt the stone to his needs. Leon needed to eat it... eat the mana, he had to eat something which he couldn't see. To eat something he couldn't know, he decided to use something he couldn't see, and that was his mana in the purest form. Leon enveloped the slime's core with his mana, he thought he would have to try that a few times before enveloping the entire core, but much to his surprise...

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Mana-Eater.

You obtained 01 status points.

Mana: 20

"Mana-eater? I wanted to absorb not to eat... ah, I didn't learn how to absorb, I forced my mana to absorb the core's mana. To absorb, I have to stimulate the mana inside the core and transform it to become mine... probably."

Leon had no idea if that was the case, but he confirmed his first theory when he checked his mana. It wasn't full; he used more mana than he had eaten. When Leon analyzed the core, he became even more sure of it.

Slime's core

It grants the user the power to use Fire Ball Lv 10, Water Blade Lv 10, Wind Lance Lv 10, and Stone Arrow Lv 10.

Mana: 1418/ 1440

"Mmm... I spent twenty points of mana to absorb two. The efficiency of this skill is terrible, but it has a lot of potential."

Leon grinned and then used that skill again and again until the slime's core became dust. For the time being, it was useless, but it was a start. Eventually, he would be able to absorb mana without spending... Leon was sure of it.

Although Leon only had a single slime's core, he had several golems' cores, and those belonged to bosses. However, he hid them outside New York. They could be sold for a high price, but Leon would use them without any hesitation to strengthen his new card, but since he didn't have them, he couldn't use it.

"Maybe, I can use the skeletons' dust..."

Leon tried to absorb that, but he ended up absorbing only the particles he touched. The amount of mana recovered was low, but he was doing that to train his skill anyway. However, he decided to stop when the particles of bones became lifeless like sand.

"... What did you do, master?" Gisela asked, showing a surprised expression.

"Just a little experiment... don't worry about it; it is not something the current you can replicate," Leon answered.

Leon has been playing with mana for the past four years, so it didn't surprise that he learned Mana-Eater so fast. It was impossible for Gisela to learn it anytime soon. Anyway, Leon now had a new way to obtain mana, he needed to train a little more, but it wasn't something he needed right now.

"Let's see... Mana-Eater is probably a low-tier version of the skill to absorb mana, I want to learn that, but I think I should try to learn some support spells."

After spending the entire night trying to use mana to strengthen his muscles, brain, and legs, Leon didn't make any progress. On the other hand, Gisela managed to freeze the entire bucket of water. That was hard to accept, seeing others progressing while himself didn't was hard to accept, but considering the Gisela had to use all his mana and he learned Mana-Eater, he decided to forget about it. Much sooner than Leon thought, it was time to teach Gisela how to create water, but first, he had to work.

"Tch... I will have to repeat that some bothersome process of faking my progress."

It was annoying beyond reason, but it couldn't be helped. Leon decided to play it safe during the next weeks while trying to find a way to use support magic, training Mana-Eater, and teaching Gisela. Although she learned Water Manipulation and Water Transformation relatively fast, it took her two weeks to learn Water Creation.

"Now, you will try to learn how to use a real spell," Leon said. "It will be hard in the beginning, but once you succeed, you will feel accomplished and more eager to practice."

"I will do my best, master!" Gisela raised her right fist upward.

After she manages to learn her first spell, Leon wouldn't have to teach her water magic. The foundation was there, so she would have to decide her own means of attack. Since her homeland was in Europe, perhaps learning fire spells would help her, but Leon wondered if he would have time for that. Lately, he could see in Tom's eyes his excitement. It looked like soon his fake progress would be enough to convince Tom. Eventually, he and the others would challenge the grim reaper of that dungeon. Speaking of the others, the other two members of the team were quite lazy as well. A Canadian blond woman called Suzan, she was a whip user. And a Mexican black-haired youth called Juan who used knives. Just like Miller and Kelly, they obtained a powerful skill by using a tome, and their weapons had special effects too. They also tried to mess with Leon but soon stopped.

Two more weeks passed, and Leon decided to show the result of his 'training' to Tom, he could control three earth spears and make them spin at fearsome speed, making the piercing power increase a lot.

"It looks powerful, but we have to test it." Tom declared.

"How?" Leon asked.

"Your spear against my hammer," Tom said. "If you manage to overpower me, then you are ready."

"All right then," Leon nodded.

Leon and Tom walked toward the front of the dungeon, and after taking some distance from each other, they prepared themselves. Leon created an earth spear and made it spin. Meanwhile, Tom holds his hammer with all his strength. Tom wouldn't hold back his brute strength this time, so Leon couldn't hold back all that much either. He had already spent too much time in there.

Like an unreasonably fast bull, Tom charged and swung his hammer toward Leon's head. However, midway he stopped because the earth spear hit the hammer. Tom tried to keep moving and sent the spear away, but he barely had the power to keep holding his hammer. Eventually, he felt the bones and muscles of his arms ripping apart. Tom tried to endure that too, but ultimately, he lost control over them.

Without anything to hold it back, the hammer flew hundreds of meters away from Tom. He was used to the pain, but he still fell on his knees. Leon approached, showing an apologetic expression. He went too far…

"Don't worry; it will heal very soon…" Tom forced a smile. "We will clear this cursed dungeon tomorrow if I find my hammer in time."

Health: 75

Mana: 1735

Stamina: 70

Strength: 66

Dexterity: 10

Speed: 42

Intelligence: 281

Endurance: 84

Control: 117

Mentality: 97

Luck: 01

Recovery: 600

Willpower: 75

Coins: 499654

Status: 00

Skill List

Active Skills: Earth Manipulation Lv 60, Water Manipulation Lv 35, Wind Manipulation Lv 32, Fire Manipulation Lv 34, Earth Transformation Lv 37, Water Transformation Lv 27, Wind Transformation Lv 32, Fire Transformation Lv 31, Earth Creation Lv 40, Water Creation Lv 35, Wind Creation Lv 29, Fire Creation Lv 34, Mana Reinforcement Lv 33, Mana Eater Lv 07,

Passive Skills: Spearmanship Lv 52, Meditation Lv 54,

After seeing Tom's wounded arm, everyone sighed when they understood what soon they would do. It was risky, but in the end, they didn't complain because they were also sick of that dungeon, they had been working there for the past seven months, after all.

"Be careful, master," Gisela said when Leon left the house.

Leon nodded, even though he showed her a few things that he could, Gisela wasn't fully aware of Leon's skills and probably never found since he wanted to keep a few cards hidden up his sleeve.

"All right, I want this day to be the last day of us working here," Tom said. "However, I don't want to see anyone dying to complete the mission. Is that clear? Do your best, but don't kill yourselves."

Everyone nodded, even though the plan was way too simple, Tom was confident that it would work. Leon showed them that he could keep attacking the grim reaper without a break if he uses only one earth spear, so he would be responsible for attacking the boss as much as possible. Tom and the others would kill the skeletons, and whenever possible, they would attack the grim reaper while they protect Leon at the same time.

Since the team was full and they had a lot of experience fighting skeletons, the battles were quite easy, to the point where no one had to use skills since Leon could always smash at least one skeleton whenever they appear.

After walking for one hour, they reached the end of the dungeon, the crystal, and the boss. The creature was essentially the same as Leon saw in the ghost's dungeon, but this one was bigger and had several purple rings on its fingers.

"Come to think of it... is there a reason why bosses don't leave the dungeons before the dungeons are cleared? Why doesn't this boss just summon hundred of skeletons and make them leave the dungeon at the same time?"

It was hard to be sure, but Leon concluded that the bosses' presence was necessary to cause the dungeon breaks. Maybe they were emitting their mana and making the skeletons appear already in their first evolved form. Either way, it didn't change the fact that they had to kill it in order to avoid the dungeon breaks and because that was their job.

Since the grim reaper could fly, the chances of the beast dodging the attacks of every one were quite high. But since Leon could remotely control his earth spears, that wasn't a problem.

"Remember, don't use your skills on the small fries," Tom said to everyone.

They had no idea how much punishment the grim reaper could take, so their best option was to focuses their skills on the boss. Eventually, six skeletons appeared coming from the other world. Tom, Leon, and the others retreated a little bit to kill them without letting the boss notice, and after that, they charged to attack it.

Leon had planned to smash the beast against the dungeon walls, but at the moment they entered the boss's field of vision, the creature summoned fifteen skeletons with a swing of its scythe. That caught everyone off-guard since that didn't happen before. However, Tom threw his hammer like a boomerang; Miller shot several energy beams until his face became pale, and Suzan extended the reach of her whip using electricity. With the help of Leon's spear, the boss got hit and was smashed into the dungeon walls. The entire place trembled, but that hadn't been nearly enough to kill the grim reaper. Now Leon would have to face the creature one vs one, while Tom and the others kept the skeletons away.

"Let's see if you can swing that again..."

Before the grim reaper could escape from the hole that the impact created on the wall, Leon made his earth spear smash against the boss's chest again and again. Moving his spear faster than he had previously shown to Tom and the others, they were busy fighting the skeletons, so he decided to make good use of that opportunity. However, even with the improved speed of his attacks, the boss blocked the earth spear with its scythe at some point and tried to recover again.

"No, you don't."

Leon increased the power behind the spear; no one would be able to notice that suddenly his attack got heavier since that wasn't possible to understand without being in the position of the reaper. So, Leon didn't hold back and pushed the boss against the wall again. Then he had an idea, it wasn't part of Tom's plans, but Leon sent another wave of earth toward the grim reaper and sealed the monster's arms by sticking it against the wall using thick earth rings. The amount of earth being used was the same as the earth spear, so no one got suspicious.

Eventually, Leon would have to fake his tiredness, but he couldn't imagine the battle lasting that long now that the boss couldn't move. Eventually, Tom and others killed all the skeletons and saw what Leon had done and didn't waste time questioning him. Those who didn't have ranged skills threw their weapons to cause damage, and those who still had mana used their skills. Little by little, they saw the cloak of the boss being damaged, and the monster's bones were also cracking.

When everyone was getting excited... it happened. The red glow in the reaper's eyes grew stronger, and in the next second... there was nothing. It took a while for Leon to understand that the dungeon got enveloped by darkness. Leon felt shivers because the reaper also suddenly got strong enough to destroy the earth's rings with brute strength alone.

"Fall back! He freed himself!" Leon shouted.

As much as everyone wanted to retreat since something very unexpected happened, they couldn't move that much, and they couldn't see the path to the exit of the dungeon. Suzan illuminated the place a little bit, but she quickly ran out of mana. However, at least that let everyone to approach.

"Don't move and don't attack blindly," Tom ordered. "We will just kill ourselves by acting like that."

Leon could illuminate the place using fireballs, but it would be too suspicious if he suddenly learns in such a convenient moment how to create fire. However, he knew he didn't want to die because he held back... again. The best option would be to spam Magma Spears or Ice Pillars, but he would have a hard time explaining those.

Leon created a thin curtain of sand around them in order to find the grim reaper; after that, he also created a massive earth spear. He would end that in a single strike; again, he would have a hard time explaining how Leon could kill a boss in a single strike like that, but it would be better than dying, and he could always fake that he passed out. However, even after several minutes, nothing happened. He was ready to attack at a moment's notice, but the boss didn't do anything.

"What the hell is going on..." Miller muttered.

"Shut... up," Tom said.

Something was off, it was the perfect chance for the grim reaper to wipe them out, but the beast wasn't doing anything, it didn't even summon skeletons. Considering that, it was improbable that the creature was waiting for the help of the next wave of skeletons. Leon only noticed what was going when Suzan collapsed at his knees. He couldn't see her, but she wasn't wounded. So, there was only one reason why that happened.

"The boss is draining our mana..." Leon said.

"I thought I was getting tired due to the tension..." Tom clenched his teeth. "This isn't good."

Although Leon's mana was decreasing, it wasn't by that much. It looked like undead creatures were quite good at absorbing mana, but it couldn't absorb a lot from so many targets. That would explain why the skeleton had to wait for a full day before they could equip their swords, helmets, breastplates, and shields, even though they could create those with only one-tenth of his mana.

"It can't absorb mana fast, and probably it can't attack while it is absorbing mana... this is my chance."

Leon decided to keep that information for himself, for the time being, to recover his energy, he decided to meditate and that made Tom frown, because even without light, he could hear his movements.

"What are you doing, Leonard?" Tom asked.

"Saving my energy while I search for the enemy," Leon answered. "We can't escape since the whole dungeon is covered in darkness, so I will kill the bastard with everything I have."

"Can you do it?" Tom asked.

"I can try," Leon answered.

The monster was troublesome, but it wasn't at the same level as the three-headed earth dragon. So, Leon was sure he could kill it even using only earth magic. However, he was also waiting for Tom and the others to collapse, because he didn't want to show them his hidden cards.

While his teammates fell one by one, Leon used the sand to look for the boss. He found the bastard hiding behind the purple crystal; the bastard was hoping that Leon could hit the crystal and summon a horde of monsters to help the creature. Tom was the last one to fall, and when that happened, Leon created a thirty-meter long earth spear that was sharp as hell. When he finished, he grinned.

"I hope you like this..."

Without a hint of hesitation and not demonstrating any signs of his attacks, Leon fired the spear. Before the beast could understand what just happened, the projectile hit its target, destroying its entire body in an instant. Leon didn't hold back, so several blocks of earth started to fall from the ceiling of the dungeon, luckily when the boss died, the darkness disappeared, and he blocked those stones with his Earth Bullets.

"Phew…"

Leon sighed in relief, even though he could have strengthened the attack by changing the material of the spear, he didn't because even himself couldn't dispose of metal. Anyway, the earth spear became sand and create a pretty big pile of dirt. Leon sat down to rest because someone of his group could have faked their own collapses to see Leon in action. Regardless, he stayed conscious to stop the monsters when they appeared. Surprisingly, Tom got up quite quickly.

"What the…"Tom looked around, confused. "Did you kill it?"

"Yeah, the boss couldn't move and drain our mana at the same time," Leon explained. "So, it received my best attack in full."

"I see… you are unbelievable; you just killed a boss of a difficult dungeon alone." Tom massaged his eyebrows while trying the process of what just happened. "… You fools, for how long do you plan to sleep?"

Tom slapped them on their faces to wake them up, while he was doing that, Leon went to check for his loot. Skeleton's weapons always disappeared when they died since they were made of mana. However, they still could drop items. Unfortunately, Leon didn't get anything in the previous month. So, without any hesitation, he picked the grim reaper scythe that surprisingly didn't disappear.

Grim Reaper's Scythe

It grants the user the skills: Summon Skeleton Knight Lv 20, Summon Skeleton Archer Lv 20, Summon Skeleton Wizard Lv 20.

Cost: 50 mana

Cooldown time: 10 seconds.

"I guess this is a jackpot..."

Leon had no use for skeleton knights, but the archers and wizards could perform magic as attacks, and the power of those attacks were defined by Leon's mana and magic power. Although those weren't as impressive as Leon's best spells, thanks to them, Leon didn't have to hold back all that much anymore.

Ignoring the jealous stares, Leon walked toward the exit of the dungeon while keeping his guard up in case someone tries to kill him to get the scythe. Even though it looked like a melee weapon, it was a magic staff that only granted him three skills. It increased the number of things he could do but didn't make him stronger. However, Leon had no thoughts in selling that whatsoever.

Despite Leon's not showing any kind of malice, he still looked quite ominous carrying such a weapon on his back. The scythe/magic staff's color was silver, so it really looked like he had killed Death. He recalled a game in the past which he played and obtained such weapon...

"Let's just hope this will help me instead of putting me in trouble..."

"Master?" Gisela frowned when she saw Leon's new toy.

Usually, Gisela would be spending her days training, but since that day, Leon was going to face the boss, she decided to wait for him outside. Aside from his new weapon, everyone was pretty much unscathed. Despite the surprises in the middle of the battle, no one aside from Tom and Leon felt like celebrating, since they didn't do all that much and lost the chance to obtain one hell of a weapon.

"It is time to say goodbye to this place; let's start packing our things," Leon said, and Gisela hurried to the house. "What do we have to do now, captain?"

"You guys can go to New York and report the mission; I will watch the dungeon until the next team arrives," Tom answered.

"Are you sure?" Leon asked.

"Yeah, don't worry about it." Tom smiled and offered a handshake to Leon. "I'm the captain, so my pay is higher than yours to do that kind of thing when it is necessary. I hope to work with you eventually, Leonard."

"Me too." Leon accepted the handshake.

Once every three days, a truck coming from New York would come to transport the dust that once was the skeletons, and that day was one of those days. So, Leon and his teammates would use that vehicle to go back to New York. Aside from clothes and cooking utensils, Leon and Gisela didn't have much, so they finished rather quickly and waited until noon, which was the usual time for the truck to arrive, without doing anything.

At the end of the day, they were finally back to New York, even though Leon and Gisella returned a few times to buy food and to let Gisela train her martial skills, the feeling of returning knowing that they wouldn't go back to that dungeon was reassuring. That being said, Leon was aware of the fact that things would only be more difficult from that point onward.

Leon went to the main building with his teammates while Gisela and the other maids and butlers returned to the apartments. Although they only caused problems for Leon in the beginning, he was thankful for the fact that they wouldn't work together for the time being. Putting their sexual preferences aside, the fact that they were noisy in bed was annoying.

Sarah opened her eyes widely when she saw Leon and his teammates; it was too surprising that with his help, Tom's team managed to clear a dungeon in one month when they didn't clear in seven. Anyway, she soon recovered herself and guided them to the meeting room.

"Director William, Director Sanchez, Director Alisson," Sarah knocked on the door. "The team who was working clearing the skeleton's dungeon has returned."

"... Come in." William said after a brief pause.

Aside from William, the other directors frowned when they saw everyone, but Tom coming to give their reports. Since they participated in the mission to kill the skeletons who left the dungeon, they knew how troublesome those creatures were, and they killed the boss who was supposed to be far stronger than the skeletons.

Since everyone gave their report vocally, and at the same time, there was no room for lies. Although Leon didn't want to reveal what his scythe could do, he did it because he certainly wasn't the only person in the world who could analyze items. Since no one had ever heard of someone obtaining the skill to summon skeletons, even William was quite surprised.

"I see, the boss was a formidable opponent, Sarah, send another team to the dungeon," William said. "Tom and his teammates deserve to rest for a while."

"Yes, sir." Sarah immediately left.

"Well, you guys must be tired from your work," William said. "You can go to your homes and rest, in the next few days you will receive your rewards."

Everyone nodded and left that surprised Leon; he thought he would immediately receive his next mission, and Leon even prepared himself to hand over his scythe. Those three were shad,y but not so stupid to be so unreasonable in front of their subordinates.

"Well... now what?"

Two months working in that organization wasn't supposed to be nearly enough to gain the trust of the three directors. Still, considering his accomplishments and the information on how to kill the grim reaper, Leon was hoping to be called to participate in the secret actions planned by William.

"They will eventually call me... so, until then, I just have to be patient and play it safe."

When Leon opened his apartment room, he was welcomed by an ice bullet. Fortunately, it just scratched his shoulders. Although the bullet cracked the wall behind him and cut damaged his clothes, it didn't even cause a scratch.

When Gisela noticed what she had done, she fell or knees and begged for forgiveness. It looked like she just learned the spell and wanted to test it. Leon forgave her, but it took a few hours to convince her to get up.

"My mentality is stronger than her intelligence, that is why it didn't damage me... but still, to learn it so fast... I'm a slow learner but a good teacher?"

Leon thought he would have a few days to rest, but Sarah visited him the next day early in the morning.

"Good morning, may I come in?" Sarah asked.

"Sure," Leon said.

Usually, Gisela would be training, but since Leon and herself were sick of eating hot dogs, cakes, and other types of junk food, she decided to make good use of the cooking utensils they bought and used over the last month. Thus, Gisela was making breakfast. That day she was making pancakes since it had been almost a decade since the last time Leon ate that.

"Good morning, Sarah," Gisela smiled.

"Morning, Gisela, it is good to see that you are still full of life," Sarah said, showing a tired smile. " I want to talk more, but... I don't have much time. Leonard, congratulations on completing your first mission so fast. Here is your payment."

Sarah offered a handshake, and Leon accepted, then he received fifty thousand coins. Ten thousand was supposed to be his salary; the other ten was for the job completed. Leon also expected to obtain more ten for the dust of the skeletons...

"You received a bonus for the information you obtained," Sarah explained. "Usually, we would let you rest for a few weeks, but there is to time. The directors want you to participate in a certain mission, you already proved your abilities, and with your new weapon, your presence will be required."

"Is that why you look so tired?" Leon asked.

"Yes, some important missions will be done over the next few weeks, and I have been doing preparations here and there," Sarah explained. "Anyway, about the mission. Ah, before that... you have been promoted again. Your salary doubled, and you can hire more maids, and... what was it again?"

"... You are really tired, aren't you?" Leon frowned.

"Sorry... I didn't sleep last night." Sarah massaged her eyebrows. "Well, I will tell you about your new benefits later."

"Isn't my promotion a bit too soon?" Leon faked his surprise.

"Yes... the directors can see your potential, but they can't imagine that you are on the same level as the other rank S members," Sarah explained. "Although you don't have the same amount of raw power as them, you obtained a skill that can be very useful to the next missions... by the way, don't tell the contents of the mission to anyone."

"The power to summon skeletons..." Leon said.

"That is right," Sarah added.

Leon nodded, but he was a bit surprised, even though he was still holding back, to be considered weaker than the S members of the organization while being able to defeat a grim reaper almost alone and now with the power to summon skeletons... He had no idea how those guys were, but they must be quite the powerful bunch.

Now that Leon thought about it, he had no idea in which category summoning skeletons fall in. He didn't use any elements to summon them; it wasn't an offensive, defensive, or support spell either. Of all things Leon wanted to learn, summoning magic was the thing Leon had not a single idea of how to emulate.

"We lost control over a dungeon last week," Sarah explained. "It is located in Dallas, and we lost five of our S rank members due to it. It is almost impossible to clear it, so we are abandoning that area for the time being."

Leon showed a difficult face, Dallas wasn't that far from Las Vegas, the nearest which had survivors was Houston, but eventually, those monsters would become a threat to the whole country.

"How are the dungeon break and the mission related?" Leon asked.

"As I said, we are abandoning the area until this mission is complete," Sarah answered. "If you and rank S members who will participate complete the mission, we will obtain a relic that will help us defeat the monsters."

"A relic... come to think of it, what kind of monsters are we talking about?" Leon asked.

"Demons... I didn't see them, but from the reports, I read..." Sarah hesitated. "They are quite cruel and despicable, even for monsters."

Leon frowned when he heard; it didn't look like Sarah was using a figure of speech... the monsters were really demons. However, the other half of the mission worried Leon.

"The relic is in the hands of the Russians, almost all Europe is under their control," Sarah said. "However, we know exactly where the relic is... and we will have to steal it. Your job will be to create an army of skeletons and attack Rome. Meanwhile, the other members involved in the mission will use the diversion you will cause to infiltrate Vatican City. Where the relic is being kept."

The mission was so crazy that Leon didn't even bother to hide his astonishment. He waited for a few minutes processing that information while waiting for Sarah to say that was a joke, but Leon wasted his time. William, Sanchez, and Allison already made an enemy out of Japan. They probably thought a nation of that size wouldn't be a problem later, and they couldn't be more wrong... and now they were challenging another country that had a massive territory and probably hundreds of thousands of powerful survivors under their command. There was only one possible explanation... William and the other two were mad.

"Director William said that he is putting a huge burden on you, but it is necessary to save the citizens of the Alliance," Sarah said. "You and the others will leave in the middle of the night in order not to be seen by anyone. Go to the arena at midnight. This time, Gisela will have to stay behind."

By the look of things, Sarah already knew that William and the other two attacked Tokyo and caused the death of Makoto's son, it was even possible that she helped them directly. So, Leon started to wonder if Makoto would want her head… Regardless, Sarah didn't show a single sign of hesitation. She already concluded that that kind of thing was necessary to protect the citizens of the Alliance…

"Cause deaths to prevent deaths… this is insane."

In the end, Leon nodded, showing that he would participate. It was crazy, but it couldn't be helped. That was his chance to approach those who participated in the death of the prince.

"I have to act faster… If I take my time, I will cause an international incident while I'm trying to avoid a war."

If, by chance, he ends up helping William and the others, eventually, Makoto would discover and conclude that Leon became an enemy. That would be the worst-case-scenario… Makoto didn't give him a deadline, but Leon couldn't take his sweet time, two months have already passed, after all.

"Master…" Gisela hesitated.

"Don't worry about it… it is just another job." Leon said. "Just focus on your training, remember, your goal is to return home."

"…Yes." Gisela said.

Speaking of home, Italy is very close to Germany. So close that Leon could travel between them in one hour. Unfortunately, Leon couldn't bring Gisela with him, and it wouldn't be that easy to find her home and her family... if they are still alive.

Anyway, Leon didn't have a lot of time to think. Now that it has come to that, his best option was to capture the S rank members involved in the mission and William to interrogate him. It would be good if he participates in the mission, but Leon had no idea if he would or not.

"I hoped that I would eventually join the spies ranks... but I never thought my first would be to cause another diplomatic problem. My best option is to solve this tonight... but if those guys think that we really need that relic to kill the demons, should I really get them tonight? What will happen to the Allied Forces if I interrogate William and discover that Sanchez and Alisson are also involved? Ugh... this a pain."

While Leon was thinking about what to do, time passed fast. In no time, the night came, and then the time to depart… Leon hadn't a single plan of what to do. Specifically, he should have considered the possibility of such an event happening. What happens once, happens twice, after all.

Leon packed some food and clothes, he didn't know what would happen, and there was a chance that he really would have to cause an international incident, so he had to be ready for everything.

"Be careful, master," Gisela said when Leon opened the door to leave.

"Yeah, just keep up with the good work," Leon said.

Although New York had power, at night, most of the city stayed dark. The only exception was the bridges, and the extreme points of the city were some watchmen worked. However, Leon had an easy time walking to the arena since he just had to walk in a straight line.

After a few minutes, Leon arrived at the arena, and he saw a few silhouettes in the middle of the darkness near the entrance. Unfortunately, there was no sign of William. So Leon immediately understood that he would work with the S rank members and complete the mission. The only way to put all the spies and William at the same place would be completing the mission and then giving the report.

"I can only hope that the Russians will accept my apologies later... for that to happen, I can't kill any of them, and I also have to prepare a gift."

It was disappointing that his mission would last for a while longer, but soon Leon recovered from the disappointment. Although he couldn't see their faces, everyone there had a good built, and even their presences were different from regular survivors. Unlike Miller, Suzan, Juan, and Kelly, those guys had the luck to find powerful skills; they also had the will to work hard to improve, but more importantly than that, they were born soldiers.

Eventually, one more last shadow approached, it looked to be the silhouette of a woman since it was thin, and she was relatively short.

"Follow me." The woman said.

Leon didn't recognize the voice, but it sounded kind of familiar... since everyone just obeyed, he concluded she was known among them. After walking for two hours, they reached the inhabited part of the city where a warehouse was. The building was quite big, big enough to park dozen of helicopters, and that was what he saw there. When he saw one chopper being prepared, he concluded they would use one of those. However, Leon was pretty sure a helicopter didn't have enough fuel to cross the entire Atlantic ocean. Besides, they had to worry about dragons... even though it has been a while since Leon saw one.

"Will we use a chopper to go to Europe?" Leon asked.

"Mmm? Yes, you are the newbie, right?" The woman who leads them to that place asked. "You seem nervous, don't worry about it. Those choppers were constructed after the monsters appeared, they are moved by mana, and they don't cause any sound, and on top of that, they can become invisible."

Even that part of the city was dark, so Leon could only see everyone's silhouette. Considering that they didn't say anything, it wasn't the first time they would travel in those choppers. However, putting that aside, Leon was quite surprised that someone built a helicopter that could use mana, didn't make noise, and became invisible. It was one heck of a perfect vehicle for espionage work and for missions like that.

When Leon entered the chopper, he noticed a light blue glow coming from some parts. It looked that was mana, but rather than that, Leon was surprised that a helicopter could fly using mana. He was also very interested in how such a vehicle could store mana. Since Leon never traveled in a chopper before, he was fidgetting a little bit while everyone else looked quite composed and didn't say a word. There was no mistake; every single person there did that kind of job behind the scenes many times...

Aside from the pilot, who would fly them to near Italy and then back home eventually, eight soldiers inside the chopper would participate in the mission alongside Leon. He still couldn't see their faces completely, but four of them were women. It was quite surprising since women were the minority when he was a B and A rank soldier. By the look of things, the woman who leads them would also be the captain of the mission.

Eventually, the chopper took off, and just like the woman said, without making any noise. Surprisingly, after flying for over a few hundreds of meters, the helicopter became translucent, and so did Leon and everyone else.

"The technology of the Allied Forces of the North-America advanced a lot... they can create magic items and things like this..."

The trip would be very long, and even though the chopper was fast, it couldn't cross the distance between New York and Rome in just five hours. When morning came, they landed on a certain forgotten island in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. Leon didn't have many fond memories of islands, but he decided not to complain.

At dawn, Leon finally noticed the appearances of his new teammates; they were quite a diverse bunch. Two were Russians, and two clearly looked like Japanese girls, so Leon frowned when he saw them. Could he be wrong when he thought he would find Makoto's son's murderers among that group? Could they be deserters who helped them?

"...Yesterday I thought that your voice sounded familiar," The woman who is the captain of the team said. "But your face also looks kind of familiar... have we met before?"

The captain of the team was a beautiful redheaded woman, her hair was short, and even though her voice was like an adult, due to her short built, she looked a bit like a teenager who was yet to have her growth spurt. Her eyes were green... her appearance was quite outstanding, but Leon also felt like he had seen her before.

"... You think so? You don't look familiar at all." Leon said.

Leon was in an important mission, so he couldn't waste time thinking about things like that, and he also needed to avoid any suspicion. Despite Leon trying to act like usual, the captain already had her eyes on him. Since those guys didn't like to talk, she had all the time to stare at him, trying to figure out where she had seen Leon.

Regardless, the island was quite big. So, the Allied Forces of the North-America built a small base there for the teams who would occasionally do certain things in Europe. There was a tent big enough for them to put several beds, the kitchen and toilet were simple, but they could be used. That being said, everyone brought their snacks, so they only lay down on their beds and tried to get some rest.

"Tch... it doesn't look like I will hear anything here."

Leon hoped to hear some conversations about their previous missions, but it didn't look like he would. To make matters worse, the captain of the team decided to bother him again.

"Hey, newbie. Come with me." The redhead woman said.

Leon nodded, it was a pain, but he had to follow her orders. Since she didn't call the other six members, she probably wanted to see by herself what Leon could do.

"I heard that you joined our organization a few months ago and got promoted two times in a row." The captain said. "Your main job will be to cause a diversion to let us steal the relic. However, I need to see what you can do in a fight. Attack me with all your strength."

The redhead woman grabbed two silver glowing knives that were hidden on her back and took a defensive stance. It looked like she wanted to block Leon's attack head-on. He almost let out a sigh, so many people already asked him to test his power that he was already sick of it. Still, he couldn't disobey the orders.

Using all his power was out of the question, and he also couldn't use the same attack that killed the grim reaper; her knives would probably break, and that would be a problem since it looked magic weapons. So, Leon created a short lance by fusing three earth arrows and prepared himself.

"Not bad, you do have a lot of control over your magic." The captain said. "I guess you are indeed our best mage."

Leon didn't have for an idle chat; he had to think of a way to avoid causing deaths in Rome. So, Leon shot the earth spear. Using both knives, the redhead woman blocked the attack, but since that alone wouldn't satisfy her, he made the projectile push her back several meters. When Leon stopped the projectile, he saw the sweat running down on her face.

"Not bad, not bad at all." The captain said. "My name is Betty, what is yours, newbie?"

"… Leonard." Leon said

Her name also sounded familiar, but Leon decided not to think about it. Unfortunately, after giving his name, Betty looked at him even more intensely.

"Leonard… Leonard… Leon." Betty frowned. "By chance, did you live in Phoenix and then went to study abroad after high school?"

Leon also frowned when he heard that espionage work didn't really suit him since he had the good or perhaps the bad luck to find people of his past in the most unexpected places. Leon eventually recalled who she was… Betty was a classmate during high school and once his girlfriend.

"… Little Betty." Leon said when he recalled the moments he spent with her during high school.

"So, it is really you, Leon," Betty crossed her arms and showed a displeased expression. "I thought you died a long time ago."

The current Betty looked like a veteran soldier of many wars, she didn't have many scars in her body, but Leon could see in her eyes that she had to dirty her hands with blood many times. She was so different from the shy Betty from ten years ago that one could think they were two different people, even though her overall appearance didn't change all that much.

Leon first met Betty on his first year at high-school, she was a shy girl who didn't have many friends and liked to spend her time at school reading comics. In her free time, she stayed at home playing computer, console games, and watching cartoons like Dr*g*n B*ll. Leon just recalled that she always got mad when Leon called them cartoons, she wanted him to call it anime…

"You grew up in the last years, Betty." Leon smiled. "Three centimeters, I would say. You didn't get mad when I called you little Betty, either."

"I see… so you are going to joke around about your captain's height." Betty smirked. "It seems you are not afraid to see hell…"

"I guess you didn't grow all that much…" Leon shrugged.

Leon saw a vein throbbing in Betty's forehead. As expected, she still didn't like to be made fun of like that. Little Betty was how her parents called her, and she hated that nickname with passion, Leon always called her like that to tease her.

"… What are you doing here?" Betty sighed to calm down. "You are from the south; you are not supposed to be here."

"I could ask you the same thing…" Leon frowned. "When the monsters appeared… I was returning home after graduating from college. The plane was forced to land in Vancouver, so I had to walk all the way back to Phoenix… only to find our hometown destroyed by a nuclear bomb."

"I see… believe me; the bomb didn't destroy the city, a horde of dragons did." Betty recalled her memories of that day. "The bomb killed dragons and the other monsters… at least a few of them."

Leon frowned when he heard, it looked like many dragons survived the power of a hydrogen bomb, but considering that many dragons could use fire, it wasn't that surprising… Leon made a mental note of that.

"… Anyway, without a home and my family, I just moved from one survivor's camp to the other." Leon explained. "Until I heard that things in New York were going quite well."

"I see… and while you were traveling, you learned how to manipulate earth." Betty added. "Still, to think that you could become this powerful after training and working for two months… perhaps you have the potential to become the strongest mage in the world."

"That looks like the title that the old you would want," Leon smirked.

"No…, even the current me, would want that." Betty scratched the back of her head. "Although it is impossible, I'm quite satisfied with my current skills."

Leon didn't ask for Betty to show, but she did it anyway. Betty threw one of her knives to a nearby tree, and when the knife pierced the tree, she appeared in the same place holding the knife.

"It looks like the weakened version of teleportation… very impressive." Leon tried to analyze how that skill worked. "It also looks like a game we played in the past."

"Hahaha, you remembered…" Betty smiled. "You can't imagine how happy I was when I found those knives."

"I actually can easily imagine." Leon chuckled.

"…Anyway, we don't have time for this. We can talk about the past after the mission." Betty said, a bit embarrassed. Now it is time for you to show me the power of your skeletons."

"Yes, Ma'am." Leon nodded.

Leon wondered why his friends of his high school days had such important jobs now that humanity was suffering against the monsters... maybe it was because of that. Just like Hector changed from a scumbag to a respectable leader, Betty wasn't just a shy nerd anymore; she was the captain of an important team under the control of the Allied Forces of the North-America. Due to their relationship in the past, Leon started to feel a bit conflicted, since the chances of her being involved in the death of Makoto's son was quite high.

Leon had no time to think about it, so he just summoned several skeleton knights. Even without her semi-teleportation, Betty destroyed ten skeletons in less than ten seconds. Her base stats were also quite high…

"I guess they are on the same level as of those I faced before..." Betty concluded. "Why did you summon only skeletons knights?"

"Because they don't consume my mana when they attack," Leon explained.

"Skeleton archers and wizards consume your mana?" Betty asked.

"If I made them attack as soon as they appear, yes," Leon answered. "If I summon them a few hours before a battle, they will have enough time to absorb mana from the environment, and thus they won't absorb my mana... for a while."

"I see... I guess the best option would be to summon the skeleton knights." Betty nodded. "They are more sturdy, and since they don't consume your mana to work, you will be able to summon more of them. The test is over, let's join the others."

Leon almost stopped Betty; she was a friend from the past, so Leon wanted to convince her to help him. But in the end, Leon stopped. Just like himself, Betty must have changed a lot in the past four years. He couldn't just suddenly bring the topic, and he also had to prepare himself for the worst... Maybe in the future, he will have to offer her neck to Makoto.

Although they were more or less on the same team now, everyone else aside from Betty didn't even look at Leon. Those six didn't do anything aside from sleep all day, they didn't train, and they didn't even check their equipment and weapons. They didn't even show their weapons to him...

"Well, they are quite a secretive bunch... but they are smart enough not to give any information to the newbie of the team."

Leon spent the day training at the beach, he got used to the silence and loneliness, but he didn't get used to the creepiness of being in a place with several people where not a single person recognized his existence.

"You are really skillful with earth magic," Betty said and sat by Leon's side while he was trying to create a golem made of sand. "You already an S rank in our organization, but it looks like you are the type who doesn't miss a single day of training."

"Well, when you live in a world where dragons can destroy cities in a matter of seconds, even an extra hour of training can save your life one day," Leon explained. "There is no absolute power for humans; you shouldn't slack off even you are one of the strongest in this organization."

Leon still had no idea how to emulate a defensive or support spell, so he decided to go for something more simple. His earth golems wouldn't be as near powerful as the golems he faced in Japan, but as long as they could buy him a few seconds, it would be more than enough... for the time being. Leon was satisfied with moving at baby steps, but he hated the feeling of stagnation.

"I know..."Betty said. "Anyway, I bet you are quite satisfied with being an S rank member in our organization while also being a man."

"Mmm? Ah... the benefits." Leon smirked. "Are you jealous, little Betty? Even though several years have passed since the time you dumped me?"

"Don't call me that..." Betty slightly punched Leon's stomach. "I didn't do that because I wanted to..."

"Of course not... you just did that because you got tired of your toy," Leon said. "After playing with my maiden's heart, you threw me away and..."

"Like always... you never take anything seriously." Betty sighed. "Anyway, don't dodge my question."

"... After all that happened, I don't feel like playing around with women." Leon said. "I have one maid, but I don't force her to do anything aside from cleaning the house and making food."

The truth was that Leon was too busy thinking about how to avoid a war, he also was busy with his daily practice, and because the holy sword was still sealed. Every morning he woke up and saw the blade unsheathed, but after a while, the seal returned... that being said, Leon would choose death over saying that to Betty.

"Is that so... what is her name?" Betty asked.

"Gisela," Leon answered.

"Ah... that girl from Germany," Betty made a complicated expression. "I heard what happened to her, but I also heard that she got better in the last few months. Is it because of you?"

"Who knows..." Leon answered.

"I saw her one, and she kind of reminded me of Sasha," Betty said.

"… Who?" Leon forced a frown.

"She was your best friend's neighbor," Betty explained. "She studied with us, and it looked like she had a crush on you."

"Who could have thought a scumbag like me was so popular in high-school?" Leon smirked.

"At least you are aware that you were a scumbag…" Betty said.

"… Anyway, Betty. What do you think of this mission?" Leon asked with a serious expression.

"This is your first rank S mission, and you are already questioning it?" Betty frown. "I don't like what we are doing, but we don't have other choices. To save Houston and Las Vegas, and we will need that relic."

"I understand the reason; I'm asking if you are fine solving a problem by causing another," Leon said. "Japan already doesn't like us after the death of their prince, and now we are doing something that will make us the enemy of entire North Europe."

"So, you knew about that," Betty said.

"There are rumors about it everywhere; I would say half of the population already believes it," Leon said.

"I wish there is another way, but as I said, there isn't." Betty bit her nails. "I faced those demons a few times, even though they are not as powerful as dragons and megalodons, they are dangerous in a different way. They mess with our minds, and they don't kill us just to eat us, they kill because they think it is fun. Demons are experts in decreasing the morale of any army since they torture their foes in the middle of a battle."

Leon frowned when he heard that, it looked like demons were quite smart… until now, Leon saw monsters that attacked humans to eat them, but demons did that because they felt pleasure doing so.

"Demons also heal pretty fast, unless you destroy their head and hearts at the same time, they are pretty much immortal," Betty added. "Although they are not much taller than humans, their flesh is much more sturdy. The best way to deal with them is by using light magic, and until now, only one weapon that has such powers has been found."

Leon nodded; it looked like light magic was considered to be like holy magic since it could kill demons easily. That was probably why it was being kept at Vatican City. The best way to kill demons was to use holy magic if Leon could learn it, perhaps they could avoid such an incident. Then again, he had no idea how to emulate such magic… the list of things Leon wanted to learn increased once again.

Since learning magic wasn't an option to solve the problem with demons, the only way was to steal the relic. That being said, to minimize the damage, neither Leon nor the others could cause deaths. They couldn't fail in stealing and avoidings deaths so that the mission wouldn't last long. Considering that, Leon didn't have much time to get the information he needed.

"Betty… do you always participate in missions like this?" Leon asked.

"Yes, I'm one of the first members of this organization, and I've know William for a while," Betty explained. "So, he made me the captain of this squad."

"Did you participate in the mission to steal the water dragon scales?" Leon asked.

"… Yes." Betty closed her eyes and showed a regretful expression. "We really needed those scales, we needed them to fight the mermaids before they could destroy all the cities on the east coast, but even though we stole the scales and made equipment using them, we failed. It wasn't our intention, but we ended up killing the prince of Japan."

It was hard to be sure if Betty was telling the truth or not, but Leon couldn't see any sign of Betty faking her emotions; she looked sad, just like the few times he saw her sad in the past. Anyway, the death of the prince wasn't planned, that was good, but it wouldn't be enough to calm Makoto's wrath. He wanted to see the criminals punished, but Leon didn't want to see an old friend dying because of him.

"Who participated in that mission?" Leon asked.

"… Why are you asking this?" Betty frowned.

"I'm just asking… why do you look so suspicious all of a sudden?" Leon also frowned.

"Because it is suspicious…" Betty said. "Come to think of it, why did you register in our organization as Leonard?"

"Because… I wanted to have a new start in New York." Leon forced a smile. "With a new life, I wanted a fresh name, but it would be too weird to change my name to Bob or Steeve…"

"Really?" Betty asked. "Aren't you trying to do something suspicious?"

Keeping lying wouldn't help, in the end, if Leon tells any more lies, Betty wouldn't trust him when the time comes. So, he decided to tell her his true intentions.

"Betty… I want to avoid a war." Leon looked her in the eye. "Humans don't have the time and resources to waste fighting against each other."

"That is obvious, but why are you telling me this now?" Betty asked.

Leon looked around, but he saw no one. Still, there was a chance of someone with good ears being looked around. Despite that, Leon decided to take his chances. If he fails, he would have to knock down everyone.

"I'm sorry, Betty. I lied to you." Leon said. "In the last four years, I…"

It took a while, but Leon said to Betty what happened to him. The airplane crash, his life on the island and then his visit to Japan. Unfortunately, Betty didn't show the expression Leon hoped she would.

"You are lying, right?" Betty showed a baffled expression. "Why are you working for the Emperor of Japan?"

"I'm not working for him; I'm trying to prevent a war," Leon answered. "It seems you guys think they aren't a threat since their country is small and there is a massive ocean between us and then, but I came here with their help. So, as you can see, they can cross the ocean."

"So what? Are you going to offer all of our heads to him?" Betty asked.

"No, I will persuade him, I will end up owing him a few favors, but it will be okay," Leon explained. "You and your team are necessary for the country, and I don't want to see you dying because of me… but someone will have to be punished."

"…Who?" Betty asked.

"One of three directors," Leon said. "The person who gave the order to steal the dragon scales. Although all of them were involved, we can't lose all of them. It will also serve as a warning to those who survive to change their ways. We can't force anyone to follow our principles, we have to become allies to survive, but we must respect every nation. The world is too big for a single person or a small group to control."

Betty looked conflicted, she recognized Leon's reasoning, but she couldn't readily accept what he was saying. By the look of things, she and William were on good terms, they worked together to survive for quite a while, so she didn't see him die. It was him who issued the command to steal the dragon scales.

"Betty, you are already aware that we reached a point in time that we can't let our feelings get in the way," Leon said. "However, I'm not the right person to say this. My original plan was to lock everyone who was involved in Makoto's son's death in a steel box and offer their necks to him to solve this problem once and for all. But after seeing that you participated in that mission, I don't want to do that. Like I said, I will end up owing a few favors for Makoto, and I won't be able to see Amanda and Maya for quite a while, but it will be worth the trouble."

"Your little sister and mother are alive?" Betty asked, surprised.

"No…, my mother passed away," Leon said. "Amanda is in Las Vegas with my niece; her name is Maya."

"I see..." Betty crossed her arms and closed her eyes while she was thinking. "I understand that you want to avoid deaths, but how are we going to solve the situation with the demons?"

"Don't worry; we will get the relic without causing another international incident." Leon smiled. "We will just borrow for a while; I have a plan."

After hearing Leon's crazy plan, Betty couldn't help but frown. He explained to her that he obtained the power to deal with megalodons while he was on the island, but she still couldn't imagine that.

"I knew you were a talented magician and that we would use your skeletons as a diversion, but..." Betty furrowed her eyebrows. "Can you really do those things?"

"Yeah, it took a while, but I obtained the power to defeat hundreds of the king of the seas," Leon answered. "And like I said, I'm still improving. However, I can do that much, just fine. The problem will be to convince the other six."

"I'm the captain; they will obey me," Betty said. "However, you will have to show them that, or they may think that you will lure them into a trap."

"If you think I should, then I will show them," Leon said. "But are you sure we can trust them?"

"Like I said, Leon, we are doing this kind of work to help the citizens of our nations," Betty answered. "Those guys are my friends, I know their families and I worked with them for months. They can be trusted."

"... All right then." Leon said.

Although Leon easily trusted Betty, it would a long time for him to trust her teammates. He knew her very well, and by looking at her in the eye, Leon was sure that her essence didn't change. But he couldn't read strangers like that, so he decided to be careful. The best option would be to use them as a diversion, and only Leon and Betty would steal the relic, but things could go wrong if they were alone. If they get surrounded, they would have no choice but to fight. So, to avoid any deaths, Leon decided to let them tag along.

Leon's plan was simple; he would spend two days creating skeletons knights. Without sleeping, he would be able to create six thousand skeletons, and those would attack Rome from two sides. That would be enough for the diversion. Meanwhile, Leon, Betty, and the others would invade Vatican City by the skies. That was why Leon spend the rest of the afternoon, making Betty and the others levitate using earth magic. It was very annoying to reveal the things he could do to strangers, but it was in order to avoid deaths, so it couldn't be helped. After convincing that he could make everyone cross Rome while flying and avoiding detection, they agreed to the change of plans.

"I can't believe you have so much mana to do something like this for so long," Betty said while she was floating in a chair made of earth.

"Well… I trained my earth magic a lot. Besides, the more intelligence you have, the more powerful and efficient your mana becomes." Leon explained.

For the time being, Betty and her teammates were thinking that Leon could use only earth magic. Betty probably noticed that he was still hiding his powers, but she could understand why, so she didn't complain.

When it got dark again, they resumed the trip. The flight would last until sunrise, and this time they would land in Italy. Since Leon couldn't control the skeletons miles away from them, he could only give them a few orders. Leon would create three thousand skeletons knights in a port city called Naples, and from there, they would march while keeping a defensive instance toward Rome. After that, they would move to another city called Viterbo and create more than three thousand skeletons there and give them the same orders.

"You will have to stay awake for three days and nights," Betty said. "Can you handle that?"

"No worries, I'm used to it," Leon answered.

Speaking of worries, Leon explained to them that his mission was to bring the responsible for the prince of Japan's death. Some of them suddenly grabbed their weapons when Leon mentioned that, but they relaxed a little when Leon explained that he would negotiate on their behalf to avoid their deaths. The who issued the order to steal the water dragon's scales had been William, so he would have to pay for the consequences of his orders. According to Betty, he wasn't a bad person, a bit too thirsty for power perhaps and also a bit of a supremacist, but everything he did was for the sake and glory of his country… Still, crime was a crime, and crimes must be punished.

The next morning, they landed in the abandoned port city, and after checking the perimeter, they set up a small camp while Leon was meditating and creating his army of skeletons. Some monsters appeared to attack, but Betty and his team quickly killed them.

Although Leon knew that he had the power to do it, just like Betty and the others, he was quite impressed while the undead army was increasing. Summoning magic was quite impressive, but it had a few weaknesses. Since it wasn't elemental magic, none of the types of magic Leon learned on the island could strengthen them. Not only that, controlling a few skeletons ultimately was possible, but not the whole army.

Twenty-four hours later, Leon, Betty, and the others left the port by helicopter while seeing the army marching toward Rome.

"It is quite a sight… are you sure they won't kill anyone?" Betty asked.

"You can relax, I only gave them the order to block the attacks and march," Leon explained.

Six hours later, they landed on Viterbo, after checking the perimeter and confirming its safety, they set up the camp and waited until Leon finished the second army of undead. Leon finished the job at noon, so they rested until it got dark.

Leon didn't know the details, but it looked like some scientists managed to make the engine of the chopper be able to absorb mana from the surroundings. However, it had to absorb mana for twelve hours to fill the tank. Although the chopper's tank was already full, they decided to leave it behind since they would use that to go home. It would be the best option to use the chopper in case some group find and tries to chase them. Even though Leon could make everyone fly at fifty meters per second, he couldn't make them invisible.

"How many guards protect the relic?" Leon asked while they were flying to Rome.

"Only ten, in fact, they protect the entrance of the treasure room," Betty explained. " The treasure room is entirely made of steel... you said you could make holes in wall and floor using earth magic, but can you do the same to steel?"

"Don't worry about it; I will open the path to the treasure room," Leon said.

In fact, Leon never tried to open holes in the wall and on the floor, but if he could use steel spears to pierce the skin of a three-headed dragon, he was pretty sure he could silently open holes in walls and floors using earth magic alone. He just needed to be quiet, and he knew the method to that quietly.

"Still, to think that I would have to damage a building with so much history..." Leon said, feeling somewhat guilty.

"It is to save lives, so it cannot be helped," Betty said.

Since the whole building wasn't made of a single uniform material, Leon couldn't repair it. A few minutes later, they finally reached the boundaries of Rome; they arrived just in time to see the moment of Leon's armies arrived, and the battle started. Little by little, his skeletons began to fell. Thanks to their defensive stance, Leon confirmed that they would last for quite a while.

While they were crossing the skies of Rome, Leon and the others also saw the moment when a few survivors were heading North stopped and then headed South. The second undead army also arrived on time. Leon analyzed the map of Italy and measured the distance, but he didn't imagine that his calculations could have been so precise.

Little by little, the lights of Rome were relighted, the only point which that didn't happen was the Vatican city, which its lights were already on, to begin with.

"According to the map of the building, the treasure room is underground," Betty explained. "Right in the middle of the building."

Leon sighed when he heard that he would have to damage the building much more than he thought... Even though the believers worked hard to rebuild the whole Vatican city after the dragons destroyed it.

Unfortunately, there was no time to lose hesitating. Leon saw a few guards around the plaza, but none of them noticed their approach, not even when they landed on the top of the chapel.

"I'm sorry... please forgive me," Leon said before he started to make a hole in the chapel.

"I never thought you were a religious guy..." Betty said.

"I'm not... but I respect the faith of every person," Leon said.

Leon created an earth spear and made it spin before anyone could notice, there was a hole big enough to a person to cross leading to the interior of the chapel. Putting aside the fact Leon dirtied several rooms, he succeeded in his mission because he didn't make any noise.

Despite the fact that they crossed several rooms, they didn't find a single living soul. That was due to the fact that Betty chose a path that made them pass through rooms which were used only during the day. Eventually, they were in a room which was just above the treasure room, after digging a little Leon found the steel of the treasure room.

"Ah… I forgot about that." Leon massaged his forehead.

"It will be noisy, right?" Betty asked.

"No, it will be smelly," Leon said. "Cover your noses."

Leon created a small but highly concentrated, powerful flame and melted the steel. Although the walls were thirty centimeters thick, Leon managed to open a hole big enough for a person to enter in just thirty seconds. Before the round piece of steel could fall and cause a huge noise, Leon grabbed.

"Ugh… it is heavy."

Leon gave the sign for Betty and the others to wait while he entered the treasure room since it was dark, he created a fireball to illuminate the place. As expected of a treasure room, Leon saw several items that looked it had been dropped by bosses. However, among them, in the middle of the room, a silver bow stood out. It was on a table; the design was so beautiful that Leon thought that just touching would be a sin. Its color was silver, and it looked like it had been made by combining the wings of an angel. Despite that, Leon picked.

Angelic Bow

It grants the user the skills: Arrow of Light Lv 50. Intelligence 50, Dexterity 50.

Cost: 10 mana

Cooldown time: 2 seconds.

"This is one heck of a bow… maybe it is even better than my scythe."

After grabbing the bow, Leon left the twenty golems' cores that he obtained in Japan on the table. When he returned to New York after completing the quest, he picked them; he also left a note.

I'm borrowing the bow for a while, I'm truly sorry, but I didn't have any other choice. These cores will be the payment for borrowing the bow. I will bring it back as soon as possible. Let me say this again… I'm truly sorry.

After that, Leon, Betty, and the others left before anyone could notice what they had done. Although it wasn't much, Leon repaired the hole he made in the treasure room.

"I can't believe you completed an S rank mission alone..." Betty said soon after they left Rome.

"I just had the right skills to do it... I was lucky." Leon said.

Although six thousand skeletons invaded Rome, Betty couldn't see a single sign of destruction. It would take a while before all the skeletons could die, but that wasn't a problem. Unless an idiot let the army step on themselves, no one would die.

Even though Leon was feeling bad for having invaded a sacred place, he was quite refreshed because he didn't have to hold back for three days straight. Regardless, things went well. Perhaps too well, and Leon considered that someone was chasing them while keeping their presence hidden. He had that feeling that something bad was about to happen.

Nothing happened while they were flying, but as soon as they landed, Leon felt shivers. That was killing intent… it was the first time Leon felt that coming from humans. Monsters also emitted that, but Leon could only sense in certain situations. For example, when a megalodon was about to attack him. Although four of Betty's six friends had their weapons aimed toward him, Leon felt the same bloodthirsty he always felt when he saw the megalodons' colossal jaw.

"Guys… I gave you the chance to do the right thing and to prove that you guys were innocent." Leon said and then looked at Betty and saw two knives and a spear, slightly rubbing her neck.

"I'm sorry, Leon…" Betty bit her lips. "It looks like I didn't know them enough…"

"Don't move your hands, or we will cut her throat." The man holding the spear said.

"So, it is going to be like that… I guess we can't avoid war like this, Betty." Leon said, showing an annoyed expression.

"I'm sorry…" Betty closed her eyes and showed a regretful expression.

"Don't be… sometimes, things just can't be helped." Leon said.

While Leon was busy trying to console Betty, the four soldiers around him swung their weapons to use their skills and cut his neck. However, those four and the two holding Betty fell on the ground like masterless puppets. Betty opened her eyes in surprise, and then she saw small Ice Arrows on their backs.

Instead of relieved, Betty fell on her knees. She lost her family and friends when the dragons attacked; after four years, she thought she had found a new family and friends only to be betrayed like that… everything was just an act.

"Don't worry; they are not dead," Leon said. "I just damaged their spines. Makoto will probably want to kill them himself. Besides, if I kill them, William will know. Honestly, I'm kind of relieved; with this, I will owe him only the favor to forgive you."

"… How did you know what they were planting?" Betty said.

"I never knew, I just thought it was possible that they would try to kill me at the moment when I would be most tired and after completing the mission," Leon explained. "When you said that Makoto's son's death was an accident, I got suspicious. He was the only person who died, but he wasn't the only person who chased your team. I can't imagine him being weak since he worked in the security of such special materials… considering all of that, his death might have been part of the mission, but it looks like you didn't know."

"Why William would want the death of the prince?" Betty asked with her head down.

"Perhaps he wanted a war, or perhaps someone paid him to do it…" Leon scratched the back of his head. "It is difficult to conclude having so little information. Hah… at this point in time, Alisson and Sanchez may as well be accomplices in the crime. This will be a pain…"

In the end, Leon will have to question them. To think that the people who united the survivors of three nations were that troublesome… the Allied Forces needed them, but it looked like Leon would have to find someone else for occupying their positions

While Leon was thinking about what to do, he heard the sound of the helicopter took off. Without a hint of hesitation, he shot a stone bullet in the pilot's head. Although his job was to pilot, he was quite strong, Leon only managed to knock him out.

"Betty, can you pilot that?" Leon asked. "For how long do you intend to mop around? We don't have time for this, did you forget that every minute demons are leaving that dungeon?"

"… Can't you give me a few minutes to rest?" Betty glared at Leon. "If you didn't notice, the people who I thought were my friends almost killed me."

Leon sighed; he had so many problems in his head that moping around was a luxury that he didn't have. He didn't even consider that… Regardless, Leon picked several pieces of clothing and covered Betty's 'friends' mouth. They were conscious, but they could only move their heads.

"You guys thought that I could only use magic through my hands… too bad, I made you think that." Leon said. "It is a joke that William and those two can control the world using a bunch of careless survivors like you."

Since Gisela couldn't recover her eye, Leon was pretty sure the damage in their spine wouldn't heal as well. But Leon covered their arms and legs with steel rings in order to prevent them from moving, just in case.

Despite having the nerve of trying to screw with Leon and even using Betty as a hostage, they helped him a lot. Although their equipment was nowhere as good as Leon's, they were pretty decent. That being said, Leon had no idea of what to do with them since he would keep using the scythe…

After one hour waiting for Betty to recover from the shock, Leon was already tired of it. It looked like she forgot that they were in the territory of a country they just invaded. Fortunately, when Leon got up to complain, Betty headed to the chopper and sat on the pilot's seat.

"Let's go…" Betty said, showing an exhausted expression.

"Don't think too much about it, Betty," Leon said. "You are a good person, so you just tried to think they were your friends despite their obvious shady actions. They probably even received orders to act friendly once in a while to fool you."

"… Was that supposed to cheer me up?" Betty frowned.

"I'm sorry… my social skills are kind of rusty." Leon showed a complicated expression. "I won't be able to stop and work on our territory for a while, but I assure you that I will never betray you, and I can even take you to a place where you can find some trustworthy people."

"How can I trust in other people after this?" Betty asked. "You spent four years on an island, you returned three months ago, and you already know in who you can trust?"

"Yes, to some extent," Leon said. "I don't know how or why you came to the North, but if you had stayed in the South for a while, you could have met them. Hector, my sister, and Sasha are working in Las Vegas, and they are doing a pretty good job there."

"Hector and Sasha survived?" Betty asked, surprised. "Now I can understand why you found your sister after so many years and still left her to do this job…

"Anyway, Like I said, if you want to, I can take you to them," Leon said. "But, I think you would be more useful in New York, leading the survivors."

"That is very funny… I'm such a good leader that my subordinates almost killed me." Betty forced a smile.

"Don't be a drama queen… Well, it is your choice," Leon said. "I will find some not so shady people to lead the survivors in New York and warn them not to use their human resources and resources to screw with other nations. Betty, this pilot was the one who rescued you guys in Tokyo?"

"Yes," Betty said.

"Well, then it is game over for him too," Leon said.

Leon created several steel rings to make him unable to move a single finger, and he also covered his mouth with a piece of cloth. Considering that everyone in the organization could use cellphones, the chances of William, Sanchez, and Alisson being aware of his skills and of his actions were pretty high. However, he had to face them directly no matter what to solve that problem once and for all.

After leaving Italy, they flew until they reached the Island where they rested a few days ago. It was very unpleasant for Betty to look after the people she thought were her friends, even more, when they were showing the terror through their eyes. They couldn't move their bodies, and they knew death soon would come to them… it was like a nightmare. However, it couldn't be helped since the chopper had to absorb mana.

While Leon and Betty were resting, suddenly, an explosion happened nearby. Now Leon was sure that William and the others knew about him, and they probably gave the order to those six to attack him. Leon left the tent only to find ten choppers and several soldiers attacking the island. The first thing they destroyed was the chopper that Leon and Betty used.

"Tch… Now they really have done it."

Luckily, for situations like that, the directors constructed underground shelters on the island they used. Leon had already considered that they could be attacked, so he hid the pilot and Betty's ex-friends there.

"What are you going to do?" Leon asked.

"… I will help." Betty hesitated for a second. "But try to negotiate with them first, if possible, just knock them down."

"Are you for real?" Leon frowned. "Why don't you ask me to defeat all of them with my bare fists as well?"

"I'm just saying…" Betty paused when a Fire Ball almost hit them, but Leon blocked the projectile with an Earth Wall. "If you want to change things in our territory, you will have a hard time convincing everyone if you kill those who oppose you indiscriminately."

"You talk as if I'm the bad guy here, It is not like they have the numerical advantage or anything…" Leon sighed. "But you have a point."

"Let's just destroy the blade of the choppers and knock everyone one down," Betty said. "You just defeated the remaining S rank members of our organization, so those guys must be rank A or lower. You can do that, right?"

"… Yeah." Leon said while blocking the magic projectiles that were aimed at the tent.

Leon wondered how William, Sanchez, and Allison planned to reunite the world when they didn't have many S rank members. Betty's team had the behavior of professionals, but they got careless. After observing Leon for a few days, they concluded they knew everything about him and tried to kill him. They made a big mistake…

"Those three were hiding something… they must have hidden cards up their sleeves."

Even if that was true, it wasn't something Leon could think at that moment. He had to knock down several choppers while making sure to capture at least one… while avoiding deaths.

"This has to be some kind of joke…"

Trying to be a good guy and solving all the problems the best way possible wasn't easy. Leon also had to hold back in order not to make more enemies… things in human society were so complicated that Leon missed a little his days on the island.

"All right… I will draw their attention." Leon said. "You will need to retrieve those who are unconscious and fall into the sea."

"Got it." Betty nodded.

Leon flew upward, and when all the soldiers saw him, they stopped attacking the island to attack him. That being said, the speed of their projectiles could ever match Leon's speed. While moving up and down to dodge the attacks, Leon approached the nearest chopper and destroyed its blades with an earth arrow quite easy.

"It looks like in order to the chopper move faster, the builders sacrificed the durability."

The chopper started to fall, and then all the passengers jumped from the vehicle, Leon approached them and shot Earth Bullets in their stomach, some resisted the pain while others lost consciousness. However, both groups wouldn't be able to fight for a while.

Leon repeated that action a few more times, and in no time, half of the choppers had fallen. Then suddenly, Leon saw some familiar skills. Several earth lances flew toward him at a fearsome speed. Leon dodged them by a hair's breadth, but then he felt his skin burning when several energy beams and lightning in the shape of a whip almost hit his back.

"Tch… that hurts! Damn it!"

Leon looked at the chopper those attacks came from, and he became a bit surprised when he saw Tom, Arthur, and the guys he fought alongside in the skeletons' dungeon. They weren't holding back, and by the look of Tom's eyes, he would do the same if he had the chance. However, he knew that his Boomerang Hammer wasn't fast enough.

"Dumbasses… can't you guys use your head a little? The only thing you guys can do is to follow orders?"

That being said, Leon was aware that believing in their bosses was the obvious option instead of believing in a stranger that appeared a few months ago. Deciding to ignore them for the time being, Leon chose another chopper to knockdown.

Imagining that he was acting too fast, Leon checked the beach only to find Betty easily knocking down those who managed to stay conscious. The number of soldiers in the sea was small because she was fast and could even teleport to some extent. Leon lost his hesitation and, in no time, knocked down the remaining chopper with the sole exception of the one which Tom was. He would use that one to return.

Unfortunately, the pilot of that vehicle had other plans. Seeing that those soldiers had no chance, he decided to flee, but Leon didn't let him. He sent a wave of sand to that chopper, and then he imprisoned the pilot. Leon saw Betty piloting, so he knew how to control the pilot and make him land the helicopter on the island.

"You traitor!" Tom shouted.

Leon approached the chopper to control it with more ease, and then Tom jumped toward him with his hammer. Leon dodged the attack and also imprisoned Tom using earth, they moved a little bit from the island, so he couldn't let him fall since the megalodons could appear at any moment. Noticing what Leon just saved Tom's life, Arthur and Tom's subordinates stopped their attacks.

"So, you guys are finally using your head a little…" Leon frowned. "Let's talk on the beach."

They had no chance of escaping or winning the battle, so they could only obey Leon's terms. They had no other choice but to obey the man who defeated almost one hundred rank A soldiers.

When they landed on the beach, Leon saw Betty had grabbed all the soldiers' weapons and cellphones. The soldiers who were in Tom's chopper threw their weapons on the ground, but Leon frowned when he saw that.

"You don't have to do that." Leon declared. "You guys can keep your weapons and attack me again, but this time I won't hold back."

"Leon! Don't threaten them." Betty said.

"I'm not threatening anyone, I'm warning them," Leon said. "Like you said, I cannot kill indiscriminately since they were just following orders. However, I have no reason to forgive the fools who may try to screw with me two times."

In the end, Betty could only shut up. They didn't live in a world where things like that could be forgiven. Most leaders didn't give a second chance to their underlings, Leon wasn't a leader, but he showed more mercy than the majority.

"Well, then… Let's talk." Leon said. "I already know what William and the other two said two you guys, I'm a traitor who is working for the Japanese and blah, blah, blah. The truth is, I'm just doing a favor for Makoto to alleviate his anger."

"… Who is Makoto?" Tom asked.

"The emperor of Japan," Leon answered. "Thanks to him, I managed to return to my homeland. So, to repay the favor, I will bring back to him those who were involved in the death of his son."

"You are just a dog of the Japanese!" Jess shouted.

"Ah, you are here, Jess. Sorry, I didn't notice you." Leon smiled.

"Kuh!" Jess clenched her teeth and fists.

Leon looked around and also saw Paul in the middle of the unconscious guys. That surprised him; he thought only rank A soldiers participated in that mission… it looked like William, Sanchez, and Alisson were short-handed. Or perhaps they were plotting something else…

"Anyway, I spared your lives, so you guys have two options," Leon said. "Die or stay out of my way. You don't have to decide as a group. Those who want to die will die, and those who want to stay out of my way can do anything that doesn't bother me."

"Why should we trust you?" Jess asked. "You just killed the members of your new team aside from her."

"Man, you are noisy…" Leon sighed. "They are not well, but they are alive. They are inside the underground shelter."

Little by little, those who got knocked down by Leon and Betty woke up. After being utterly defeated, they didn't have the will to fight against the man who beat them while holding back. They thought they would die, but they felt a little relieved when they heard from the others about Leon's intentions.

Since most soldiers were just following the orders to have a good life, they decided not to antagonize Leon. However, they had a few questions.

"What are you going to do?" A random soldier asked.

"I will do exactly what I said," Leon explained. "I will imprison those who were involved in Makoto's son's death and offer their heads to avoid a war."

"And after that? Will you become the new leader? Will you take the things we earned after we worked so hard?" The soldier asked.

"No, after solving this problem, I will go to my home." Leon recalled Gisela's history." You guys can nominate a new leader, a not greedy person would be preferable. You guys can keep the maids and butlers that work for you, but unlike those three, I won't ignore any mistreatment. They cannot fight and don't have many skills to contribute to this world, at least, as of now. However, they are still human beings. They deserve to be respected."

It would be a good idea to teach those who were weak and coward how to use magic, with the training they could become a decent force. However, Leon didn't have time to do that for them. Nor he wanted to protect all the weak and helpless persons in the world because that was beyond his abilities. He wanted to do something like Tom to help the world, but he wouldn't dedicate his life to it. His sister and niece were his main priorities.

"What will you do if the emperor doesn't keep his promise?" Another random soldier asked. "He is sending his spies to cause dungeon breaks, after all."

"I don't think he is," Leon answered. "I think someone is trying to cause a war between them and us. However, if Makoto doesn't keep his promises and tries to destroy my homeland, then I will kill him myself."

"Hey, Leon," Betty whispered. "Don't call him by his first name; people will think you two are buddies or something. You shouldn't say that you will kill him either."

"Why not? I don't have any more reasons to lie." Leon said. "I will do that to any assholed who tries to mess with me."

"Geez, you are so bloodthirsty..." Betty frowned.

"That is not the case; I just don't have time to deal with those who cause me problems," Leon said. "Anyway, anyone who wants to keep trying to mess with me should take a step forward. The others wait for a while. Eventually, I will send the choppers to pick you guys up."

In the end, not a single person stepped forward. However, after a while, Tom approached, he didn't look friendly like before. Even though not even a week had passed since the time they worked together.

"... Are you really not working for the Japanese?" Tom asked.

"If I were working for them, why would I have brought the Angelic Bow?" Leon asked. "Although I won't show mercy to those who try to kill me more than one time, my goal is to avoid meaningless deaths."

"Maybe because you wanted another powerful weapon," Tom said. "Maybe this is just an act to fool all survivors."

"Who said that I would use the bow?" Leon frowned. "I'm not that proficient with the weapon, so I will give it to someone who is. That person will defeat the demons while I deal with William, Sanchez, and Alisson."

"Who is that person?" Tom asked.

"My sister, she lives somewhat nearby the demons' dungeon," Leon explained. "She is the best archer in her region, and someone who lives there should do the job, not me."

"I don't think you should do that," Betty said. " Your skeletons will be essential to avoid deaths."

"I cannot leave William and the other two alone," Leon said. "They may plot something troublesome if I try to kill the demons. With your help, she, Hector, and Sarah can save many lives."

"So, you intend to defeat them alone?" Betty asked.

"Yes, this is my job, after all," Leon said. "I have a feeling that they are more powerful than they look. So, I don't want to risk anyone's lives in the battle that I started."

"Phew… if you are willing to go to that extent, then I guess I have no reason to doubt you." Tom said. "Honestly, when I heard that you were a traitor, I just thought about killing you before you could cause more people to rebel. Our new society is far from perfect, but the uncertainty of a new leader isn't something that we need. Without those three, we will face a lot of problems, but it will be better than letting them lead us to war against other humans."

"I wanted for Betty to become the new leader, but she rejected the idea," Leon said. "So, based on the people I know, you are the second-best option. You should try, but I must warn you, I don't have time for troublemakers. Even if you don't become the new leader, you should keep an eye on things."

"You are so full of confidence… you talk as if you already won." Tom frowned. "Let's just hope that we can solve our problems before the Russians attack us."

"That is not a problem; I already paid for the rent of the Angelic Bow," Leon said. "If that is not enough, I will try to repay the favor, somehow."

The talk was over, so Leon and Betty rested on the chopper until it got dark. After that, they moved to New York carrying their prisoners and everyone's cellphones, just in case.

Considering that William, Sanchez, and Alisson gave the order to the members of Betty's team to use her as a hostage, Leon was worried about Gisela, Amanda, and Maya. He didn't reveal to them that he had found his sister or where she was, but William probably knew about Betty's hometown. There was a chance that he could have figured out that Amanda and Maya are directed related to him. There was also a chance that he also discovered that Gisela became Leon's good friend, but it was hard to be sure. Regardless, Leon had to check Gisela.

"No... I cannot do that. They can tell my localizations thanks to the ring, if by chance he didn't capture Gisela, he will notice that she is an important friend in the very moment I visit my apartment."

The only option was to check Amanda, Maya, Hector, and Sasha. However, that also would reveal that he had important people in Las Vegas. If he fails, they will be in danger. Leon also had to deliver the prisoners to one of the transporters; he couldn't keep them with him forever.

"What a pain…"

First of all, Leon picked the items that he had hidden near New York. A big battle was approaching, so it was battle to be careful. When Leon recovered his gear, he suddenly had an idea. He recalled what happened when he ate the mana of the skeletons' dust, those lost their magical powers and became lifeless sand. What if he could do the same to the cursed rings?

"It is worth a try."

Betty frowned when she saw Leon touching the cursed ring, the moment anyone put those, it was impossible to remove it. The ring could be touched, and it wasn't stuck to the flesh, but it just didn't move. However, when Leon used Mana-Eater, he noticed the purple light becoming dimmer. After several more tries, the ring lost its color, and then Leon managed to take it off.

"Hehehe, too easy," Leon smirked.

"How did you do that?" Betty asked, with her eyes widely open.

"With magic… hard work sure pays off." Leon answered. "Anyway, let me disable your ring, and the prisoners rings."

"Will you teach me how to use that?" Betty asked.

"It is not that simple, you can learn, but it will take a while," Leon explained. "The best for you would be to start with the basics."

Leon taught Betty how to use Earth Manipulation while he disabled her ring, on her first try, she succeeded, but she only could make a depressed expression. It was easy and straightforward, that she could only feel ashamed by not trying to do that before.

"This is a joke… this has to be a joke." Betty covered her face with both hands to hide her embarrassment." Please tell me that magic is not that simple."

"Elemental Manipulation magic is relatively simple, but it will take a while before you learn how to use a spell," Leon explained. "I learned my first spell after almost one year on the island, but Gisela learned in only one month."

"… Why did you teach her?" Betty crossed her arms.

"Why do you look upset? Could it be that you are still single after all these years?" Leon asked.

"Don't change the subject," Betty said.

"She is learning how to use various types of weapons, but since magic is so convenient, I decided to teach her," Leon explained. "She wants to go to her home, so I decided to give her a hand."

"I see… Well, if you taught her, then you will have to teach me too." Betty declared as if it was a matter of fact.

"Well, if you do a good work helping Amanda, perhaps I will," Leon said. "Anyway, wait here. I will check things in New York."

After disabling the cursed rings of the prisoners, Leon flew to New York. Usually, most parts of the city would be dark at night, but every single energy pole that could work was working. Not only that, but several floodlights were also being aimed toward the skies.

"Those guys sure are cautious…"

Leon could see in the distance several dozen of soldiers moving toward the main building, William probably noticed that Leon disabled the cursed rings and was imagining that Leon would attack. He attacked, but only the floodlights. To make them unable to see where he was going, he destroyed every single one of them.

Using the same method he used to invade the chapel, Leon invaded his apartment only to find the place completely empty. There were signs of battles in it, Leon even saw blood… a lot of blood. Several holes in the walls created by Gisela's ice bullets, and there were no signs of the weapons he left her to train.

"They captured her…"

In any other situation, Leon would laugh. Those guys were so pathetic and dumb that their only strategy was to use hostages. Leon wanted to laugh, but he couldn't… because they threatened his friends. Leon sighed to calm his nerves, the enemy wanted to make him lose his cool, and he couldn't give them that pleasure. After repairing the holes he created, Leon left the building and left New York. When Betty saw Leon's angry face, she hesitated in asking that, but she did it anyway.

"Did they capture her?" Betty asked.

"Yes," Leon answered.

"What are you going to do?" Betty asked.

"I'm wondering if I really should give Makoto the pleasure to kill them," Leon said. "Maybe I should do it myself."

Betty felt shivers when she heard Leon's monotone voice. Until that moment, she only saw him slightly troubled by the situations. But after seeing one of his friends being taken as a hostage again. He got mad, really mad.

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

After four years, Leon finally learned what the skill Rage could do; essentially, it raised his strength, speed, endurance, and health at the cost of his mana, intelligence, mentality, and dexterity. The higher the level, the more his physical attributes increased, and the more his magic attributes decreased. For someone like him, who used magic to do anything, it wasn't very efficient. However, during the whole trip to Las Vegas, the skill leveled to the level seventeen, and now Leon was considering that using that and let loose once in a while wouldn't be so bad.

Two days later, Leon and Beth finally reached Las Vegas. However, only Leon went to Amanda's home since the moment the chopper stopped working; it would become visible. Leon arrived in the middle of the night, but surprisingly, Amanda and Hector were awake and working. It looked like they were revising some sort of plan.

"Leon? Thank God you are finally back!" Amanda ran and hugged Leon.

"Hey, long time no see." Leon's anger instantly disappeared. "I bought you a present."

"… Where did you get such a bow?!" Amanda asked, her eyes were wide open after seeing the stats of the bow.

"I borrowed from the Vatican City," Leon said. "Come to think of it; it is not a present since I have to return it…"

Hector and Amanda looked at Leon while frowning; it looked he did something unbelievable and was treating it like a joke.

"Sorry, there is no time to explain," Leon said. "You will use that to defeat the demons."

"Is that the relic I heard about?" Hector asked. "It is exactly what we need since we are preparing the city against the invasion of the demons, but…"

"So, they are already coming to this place…" Leon said.

"Yeah, Houston has fallen," Hector explained. "The regular citizens managed to escape a few of them came to Las Vegas, but 80% of the soldiers there perished."

"Is that so… even though we hurried…" Leon sighed. "Well, with this bow, you guys should be able to repel them for a while. I intend to help eventually, but I need to solve some things."

"Did you already solved that problem?" Amanda asked.

"Not yet, only half of it," Leon answered. "I know that you guys are busy, but you need to come with me. By the way, did you guys receive some message or visitor from New York?"

"No, why would we receive them?" Hector asked.

"Well, I guess I will explain along the way," Leon said. "I also brought someone who will help you guys in my place for the time being. Let's see her, but first.. is there someone here who can look after Maya?"

"Don't worry; Sasha is sleeping in her room," Amanda said.

Leon nodded and then took Hector and Amanda to where Betty was, they didn't like the feeling of flying using a thin layer of earth, but soon they got used to it. While they moved to where the chopper was hidden, Leon gave a brief summary of his actions in the past two months. Hector couldn't help but let out a big sigh when he heard everything; his brother-in-law did some crazy things and didn't even consider asking him for help. Hector massaged his forehead while he was trying to assimilate the whole situation.

"Betty? That Betty? You found your girlfriend in New York?" Amanda asked.

"Ex-girlfriend, she dumped after we graduated in high-school," Leon said. "Anyway, it doesn't matter, she can be trusted, and she is one of the most powerful soldiers in New York."

After a while, they finally reached the place where Betty was, while Leon was busy moving the prisoners, Betty greeted and Amanda.

"Woah, to think Amanda could be this big and feminine, maternity truly changes people…" Betty smiled. "I heard that you are a mother now, but I didn't hear Hector was the father… what a lucky scumbag."

"Hey…" Hector protested.

"Hahaha, you didn't change much, Betty." Amanda laughed. "You look the same as I remember."

"Please don't say that, it makes me feel depressed." Betty lowered her head and forced a smile. "By the way, Leon. Why did you bring them?"

"To carry their weapons and armor," Leon said. "I'm going to deliver the prisoners, and since Makoto won't ask for the items, the people of Las Vegas will make good use of it."

"… This spear is better than mine." Hector frowned.

"Those probably are the best weapons of the Allied Forces," Betty said. "I can't say for sure since I didn't see William, Sanchez, and Alisson fighting in a long time. Considering that they didn't even try to buy or take Leon's spear, they probably had some crazy weapons."

Amanda and Hector frowned when they saw what Leon did to the prisoners; they couldn't move anything aside from their heads, and their eyes were essentially dead… they had already accepted their fates.

"Anyway, I'm going to San Diego, and I will probably return in two days, but I won't stay for long," Leon declared. "So, if you need help with something, then think while you can because I will return to New York soon."

"Are you planning to rescue your friend alone?" Hector asked.

"That is the idea; I can't move that many people using earth magic," Leon said. "Besides, you will need all the help you can get to protect the city. Anyway, don't let anyone see Betty and the bow before the battle."

Amanda and Hector nodded, after that, he created an earth box in the shape of a massive rock to hide the chopper. Maybe they wouldn't need the helicopter, but Leon decided not to make the box all that sturdy.

After that, using earth, he transported everyone to Amanda's house. Then, Leon went to San Diego, transporting his prisoners.

Strangely enough, Leon didn't find many enemies while he flew to San Diego. Thanks to that, he arrived there in half a day. He didn't see many monsters in the city either, so he got worried. Something bad was about to happen…

Leon arrived at the place where the transporter left him at noon, so he started to wonder what he would do until night. Fortunately, Leon saw the water moving and a megalodon slowly approaching. When the creature opened its mouth, Leon saw the man brought him to San Diego.

"What is it?" The transporter asked.

"Should you appear in the middle of the day?" Leon asked

"There is no one nearby," The transporter explained. "Since you caused a ruckus in New York, anyone who wanted to find us left their posts and retreated to help to protect Las Vegas.."

"I see… so you guys already know." Leon nodded. "Well, here is a present for His Majesty. Those guys participated in the death of the prince. There is another three who were directly involved; soon, I will bring them."

"I see…"The transported looked at the prisoners as if they were trash, and he was ready to step on them. "But three… I thought there are four more people involved…"

"The last one is my friend, and she wasn't directly involved in the death of the prince…" Leon frowned when he discovered he was being watched. "I will ask His Majesty to pardon her, don't worry, I will eventually bring her to Tokyo."

"We appreciate your sincerity." The transporter bowed and brought the prisoners to the mouth of the megalodon.

"By the way, do you know why there are so few monsters around?" Leon asked.

"You can thank demons for that, they have the power to hypnotize monsters and humans, so they are increasing their numbers by controlling monsters." The transporter explained.

"Illusion powers… that is a pain." Leon sighed. "Anyway, I can't thank them since they are planning to destroy the city where my family is. Can I ask you guys for assistance to protect Las Vegas?"

"Yes, His Majesty said to offer support if you ask for it." The transporter said. "Although it took a lot more time than we predicted… since the scouts are no longer here and the people of Las Vegas are strengthening the defenses, we can move freely and offer support without being seeing. It looks like the horde of demons will reach Las Vegas sometime tomorrow… so I can only contact fifty spies who have enough power to make a difference against such massive numbers."

"Please do, you have my thanks, and someday I will repay the favor," Leon said.

The transporter nodded and then left with the megalodon, then Leon suddenly recalled that she had to know who was causing dungeons breaks. There was a chance that the Japanese spies could know who was causing that… Regardless, Leon didn't have time to deal with that.

"Fifty spies who can fight… Makoto sure has a lot of useful subordinates."

Leon didn't have time to waste, so he returned to Las Vegas as fast as he could. Without the extra luggage, Leon managed to fly two times faster and was back to Amanda's house at 07:00 PM. Unfortunately, Maya was already sleeping, so Leon said goodbye without hearing her cute voice.

"You look tired; you should rest for a while," Amanda said.

"I can't I have to solve this situation as fast as possible…" Leon shook his head. "The Japanese spies will offer a hand, but they can't exactly show themselves, so don't expect any flash attacks. You should use this, create an army of skeletons' knights, and make them hold the demons back while you shoot. Skeleton archers and wizards will suck your mana, so you shouldn't use them."

"Are you sure?" Amanda showed a worried expression. "We have a small army here, but you are the one who is planning to face an army alone. I think you need this scythe more than anyone else."

"I won't have time to create an army, and I don't intend to face all of them," Leon explained. "Anyway, just make sure to survive, got it? I will return as soon as I can."

"Yes, be careful," Amanda said. "Soon, we will have Maya's second birthday, and I want you here."

Leon smiled and patted his sister's head; then he looked at Hector, his eyes told him, 'if something happens to her, I will kill you.' Hector could only shrug while receiving such a threat.

"I'm counting on you, Betty," Leon said.

"Leave it to me." Betty nodded.

"Why I always get the cold shoulder?" Hector asked.

"You married his sister when she was sixteen…" Betty frowned. "You are lucky that Leon didn't kill you… yet."

Hector sighed, his best friend was too cold… Regardless, once again, Leon left Amanda's house at his top speed. He didn't want to leave his sister and niece alone while the city fights against a horde of demons and monsters, but William, Sanchez, and Alisson were equally as dangerous. Their greed could cause a war; they already proved that they would do anything to reach their goals so they can't be left alone for long. Otherwise, they will eventually cause a discord that Leon won't be able to solve.

Despite all those reasons, none of them made Leon eager to fight them. What made them eager to kick her ass was the fact they used Betty and are using Gisela as a hostage. That was something he couldn't forgive…

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Leon flew for one day and one night without resting and ignoring all the monsters he saw along the way. He was finally back in New York, but his head was in Las Vegas. The demons probably were already attacking, and his little sister was fighting them...

"Focus, focus... one problem at a time."

While Leon was away, it didn't look like things changed all that much in New York. Several teams were patrolling the borders, and the survivors of the city were using new floodlights to illuminate the skies. At that point in time, it was safe to conclude that Willia, Sanchez, and Alisson decided to stay in the main building.

"This will end tonight... five days have passed since they discovered my goals, I can't give them any more time to do as they please or plot anything."

Leon didn't know if the main building had any secret passages or underground shelters. The only way to confirm that was to check the last floor; if William and the other two weren't there, then they would be hidden under the main building. Leon couldn't believe they would run while leaving their troops behind. Besides, not a single survivor would treat them as leaders ever again if they ran away from a single person.

Since they didn't learn the lesson, Leon controlled an earth arrow, and once again, he destroyed all the floodlights. After that, he flew toward the main building and opened a hole in the wall of the meeting room, and as expected, they were there, since it was the largest room of the floor.

Leon saw dozens of archers and mages, William, Sanchez, Alisson, and two blond women on the floor. One of them was Sarah, who passed out after being hit in the face. Leon could see several punch marks in her face... it looked like since she received quite the beating in the last few days. The other blond woman was Gisela; she was a mess; her clothes and body had suffered damage from fire, ice, and sharp objects. Her face was facing the floor, so Leon couldn't see the damage she suffered, but he saw a pool of blood where her head was.

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

"Fire!" William shouted.

Dozen of magic projectiles flew toward Leon, in a single moment, several explosions happened in midair where Leon was. A curtain of smoke formed, but the attackers didn't stop. Every impact caused the noisy equivalent of a grenade when they hit the target. They kept attacking until their faces became white, and they ran out of mana. Eventually, the curtain of smoke disappeared, and in front of the Leon, they saw a steel wall.

Suddenly, above the steel wall, a fireball appeared. Little by little, a fireball grew until it became of the size of a car. Without even touching the flames, the steel wall began to melt until Leon lost control over it, and the melted steel fell. When the steel wall disappeared, the soldier saw Leon unscathed, even though he was close to the fireball, he looked pretty much fine; he wasn't even sweating. But rather than that, the soldiers saw his cold, piercing eyes; he looked at every single one of them like ants that were about to be crushed.

"This will be your last chance... leave this place now, or I will kill every one of you and all the people who are related to you guys. I won't repeat it..." Leon said.

Before Leon could even finish, half of the attackers had already left the meeting room. It didn't take long before the place was almost empty. The only ones there were three directors, Sarah, Gisela, and Leon. Despite the fact that they lost their minions, William, Sanchez, and Alisson didn't look that bothered. Soon, Leon understood why it was due to their weapons. Those weapons seemed to be of the same level as the Angelic bow. William had a pair of green gloves that emitted an energetic light. Sanchez had a golden shield. Meanwhile, Alisson had two rings, a silver and a black one.

Ignoring what those could do, Leon made his fireball move, but he stopped when William raised Gisela's body as if he would use her as a shield. Then Leon saw it... Gisela's fave covered in blood, and she had lost her remaining eye. William smirked when he saw Leon's surprised face.

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

"Why are you smiling?" Leon asked. "It looks like you are confident in your victory. I can't imagine why you guys are so confident considering that you stayed in this building for the last five days instead of looking for me."

"We are confident in our victory," William said. "We just stayed here to mess with you... we just wanted to see the face you made a few seconds ago."

Leon sighed at that point in time; there was no need to hold back. He decided to put all his mana into that fireball and destroy the entire building and anyone in it. However, he stopped when he saw Gisela's body slightly trembling.

"...Mas... ter..." Gisela murmured.

"I'm sorry, Gisela..." Leon bit his lips. "My choices made you suffer..."

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Leon had been too naive... at the moment he saw William, Sanchez, and Alisson for the first time, he should have beat the crap out of them. He didn't that; it was his first mistake. His second mistake was to trust in Betty's 'friends'... in the end, he couldn't get angry for his enemies using the opportunities he gave them. He could only get angry at his own stupid choices...

While Leon was busy blaming himself for Gisela's misfortune, William threw her away and jumped to attack Leon. At the same time, Leon felt his body moving toward him. That caught him by surprise, but using earth magic, he counter-attacked whatever was making his body move.

Leon put the fireball in front of himself, and the flames engulfed William. However, much to Leon's surprise, William crossed the flames almost unscathed and tried to grab Leon's neck... only to get hit by a massive block of earth that sent him flying to the streets of New York.

"... How can he endure the flames that can melt steel?"

Little by little, Leon's body started to feel heavy. Then he noticed, that was Alisson's works, she was pointing her black ring toward him. With his magic, once again, he endured those weird effects, but William returned. Leon didn't know how, but William managed to jump forty meters upward. The bastard tried to hit Leon, but he used the block of earth to stop him again. He avoided the direct hit, but not because Leon stopped William, but because William suddenly slowed down and changed the direction in midair... as if he was flying.

"What the... Ah... It is Alisson's work."

Leon immediately understood what those rings could do; one could emulate telekinesis, while the other could emulate gravity. Now that Leon cooled down his head, he noticed that the few wounds that William received from the fireball were long gone... the gloves had the power to heal him pretty fast, and he himself had some sort of skill that decreased magic damage.

"I see... William is the main attacker, Alisson gives him support with telekinesis and gravity. Meanwhile, Sanchez protects Alisson since she could help William and stop the enemies at the same time... a very interesting formation."

The chances of that shield having the power to endure Leon's magic attacks were rather high, so he wouldn't be able to overpower them. However, that much was fine since defeating them using brute strength alone could make him end up killing them. Makoto would be the one who would have the pleasure to do it.

Leon's fireball was useless, so he shot it toward the middle of the main building. Thanks to that, the building started to collapse, so Sanchez and Alisson jumped from the building toward the streets while William covered for them. They thought Leon wanted to distract them, but he used that opportunity to recover Sarah and Gisela. Using two earth platforms, he made them fly upward several meters where they wouldn't be attacked.

Leon could only control six objects at the same time, that also meant that he could only create six objects at the same time. Using two platforms to protect Sarah and Gisela, he could only attack with three projectiles since he was using one to fly. So, Leon decided to make good use of them. In no time, he created three steel spears and decided to attack their weak link... Alisson.

William was strong and resilient, but without the help of Alisson's skills, he was just a mad bull. So, Leon decided to get rid of her first. After creating three spears, William jumped to attack him once again. Leon fired the three spears, one toward William and the other two toward Alisson.

She made Leon's body get heavier again, and at the same time, she slowed down Leon's spears, giving Sanchez enough time to block both. Meanwhile, William tried to punch the spear who flew toward himself to the distance, but he failed. The weight and the momentum of spear stopped him even from reaching Leon... that being said, he slowly was being pushed down due to Alisson's gravity powers.

"Let's see what you can do against this."

Leon made two spears attack Sanchez and Alisson from the front and the back, William was still landing after his leap, so he could only observe. However, since William wasn't attacking, Alisson didn't feel the need to keep using gravity magic on Leon. So, he used both of her powers to slow down one spear and make the other fall with a thud. That surprised Leon; it looked like her powers suddenly got more efficient...

"... I see, the closer an object is to her, the more she can affect them with gravity and telekinesis."

Leon tried to use his third spear to attack her, but William was back and blocked the projectile. Leon clicked his tongue, conserving his mana wasn't an option. He had to keep Sarah and Gisela away from the battlefield, but they would die if he dies anyway. So, Leon had to be more assertive.

When William jumped to attack Leon one more time, he let him get as close as he could before he tried to intercept him. Instead of blocking his attack, Leon made his spear spin and attacked him by behind when William almost punched him. Leon's spinning spear could cut the dragon's flesh, yet only caused a minor would on William's back. That was troublesome, but it didn't matter, because William failed in causing damage since Leon flew to the side. Alisson was too busy keeping Leon's spears in check to help William, so Leon had a few seconds before he could be attacked again.

Leon fired an Ice Pillar, and the thunderous sound of the impact caused by Sanchez shield when it blocked the attack made that part of the city tremble. Little by little, the Ice Pillar got absorbed by the shield, and now Leon knew what that thing could do. However, that was just a diversion, Leon shot several Ice Arrows toward Alisson's head since the Ice Pillar blocked their field of vision. The attacks landed and pierced her skin, but not as much as Leon had planned. For some reason, Sanchez also received some wounds on his face... that was their plan B in case something unexpected like that happens.

"How troublesome..."

The same tactic wouldn't work twice, so Leon started to work on his next plan.

"They probably don't know how I defeated Betty's underlings, so I guess a surprised attack to damage their spine is the best option. The problem is, I can't aim perfectly from afar. If I fail, it won't work again. Not only that, but Alisson's powers also become more powerful the closer I get to her..."

Although they were quite confident of their victory, William, Sanchez, and Alisson didn't mess around with their tactics and formation. They were confident, but they didn't drop their guards, and by the look of things, they had a lot of experience fighting together against human targets, and Leon's expertise was lacking in that aspect.

"Regardless... the fact that they work so well together also means that they needed each other to become a threat. If Sanchez is willing to go to the point to receive half of the damage Alisson receives, they are probably nothing alone."

Causing damage until they collapse would be too troublesome, Leon could always find a way to cut Sanchez and Alisson's oxygen by imprisoning them in a prison of fire or ice since they didn't look like they have the power to destroy one. However, that would cost a lot of mana, and that probably wouldn't work on William.

Before Leon could decide his next plan of action, William tried to attack again. However, this time he made sure to use the walls of the buildings nearby in order to attack Leon more times. That being said, his attacks were still obvious, so Leon only had to move a little to escape from them. The buildings trembled, and little by little got damaged every time William used them to move horizontally in midair.

"What's the matter? Are you already out of options?" William asked when he stopped on the terrace of a certain building.

It looked like William wanted to taunt Leon; he could only frown at that. Despite having to deal with so many problems caused by a single person, he still tried to look as if he was enjoying himself. Leon didn't let the blood rush to his head, but couldn't let that bastard do what he wanted. So, Leon decided to make him taste a bit of his own poison.

Leon threw away his spears for a moment and looked at Sanchez and Alisson; after that, he created two magma arrows and prepared to shot. However, William got in the way. But Leon was hoping for that; he even let William grab his neck with both hands. Leon shot the magma arrows toward his eyes and then activated Mana Reinforcement in his body and let the Rage control his body for a while. The power of William's grip decreased, and Leon grabbed his sword when William started to scream.

"Let me make you taste the same pain you made Gisela feel," Leon said and tried to chop off William's arms.

Leon's strength nearly doubled thanks to Mana Reinforcement and Rage, but it hadn't been enough to cut William's arms off. However, he managed to damage the muscles and see his wounds healing at a fearsome pace. It was the power of the gloves.

Alisson tried to make Leon get away from William, but without controlling the extra spears, he had plenty of leisure to counter-attack her magic. Since she probably couldn't affect something she couldn't see, Leon kicked William until he hit the main building and entered one of the test rooms. Without wasting time, Leon followed him. William finally managed to get rid of the magma that corroded his eyes. However, the damage was already done. William was blind.

"So, how do you feel?" Leon asked.

"You bastard! I will kill you!" William shouted. "But before that, I will torment that bitch slowly in front of your eyes until she begs for her death and then…"

William talked so much that Leon had time to shot a magma ball toward his mouth and make him eat it. In the end, even those three underestimated him thinking that he couldn't take a few hits or could only attack using magic. Leon deactivated Mana Reinforcement and calmed down to stop Rage. In just a few seconds, he used enough mana to cast a magma spear, but it was the only way to become physically strong enough to damage someone like William.

Although the bastard had eaten a magma ball, he wasn't dying. The gloves were healing his wounds, and with the sole exception of his eyes, his face was back to normal. Since William's elemental resistance was also powerful, eventually, the magma ball stopped causing him pain, and he stopped from contorting in pain on the floor.

"I guess your interior isn't as strong as your exterior…" Leon smirked.

Just by listening to Leon's tone, William noticed what he intended to do. So, he covered his mouth like a scared child.

"You don't need to cover your mouth," Leon laughed. "It is not like I need to use the holes of your body; I can create as many holes in your body as I want."

William froze when he heard that, even in such a state, he was smart enough to understand that his only option was to run away and regroup. He raised his fists to break the floor, but Leon covered his whole body on earth to stop his movements. That being said, William was strong, so Leon had to cover his entire body with earth and then transformed the earth into steel. William lost the ability to move; the only thing he could do was to breathe because Leon didn't cover his nose.

Using telekinesis, Sanchez and Alisson flew and reached the test room where Leon and William were. Soon, they flew to escape at a fearsome speed when they saw William utterly defeated.

"I guess they hesitated in approaching... they could have saved you, but they didn't because they are cowards, just like you," Leon said to William.

When Leon left the building, he noticed a few soldiers that were about to enter. He shot the Ice Pillar at the entrance to warn them, if they try to get in his way, they will suffer. Leon couldn't control the platforms where Sarah and Gisela were from a big distance, so he decided to leave them on the top of a random building. While he was doing that, Sanchez and Alisson disappeared in the darkness of the night. However, he knew what they were planning just by looking at the direction they went. They wanted to use a chopper to escape.

Using earth magic and wind magic to increase his speed, Leon flew to the choppers' hangar. He couldn't let them reach those choppers by any means; even himself wouldn't be able to find them once they become invisible. Thanks to the combination of skills, Leon moved much faster than usual. It wasn't a speed he was used to moving, so he faced burned a little due to the friction against the air. However, he managed to reach the hangar in ten seconds and see Sanchez and Alisson destroying the entrance of the hangar.

"Tch... I can't let them go, but I can't destroy the choppers either."

Leon didn't have much mana left, soon he would recovery one-third of it, but he still couldn't use all his power because those choppers will be used to bring back the soldiers who were left on that island.

Leon grabbed his sword with his right hand and pointed his left hand toward Sanchez and Alisson. He could see them, but he still couldn't use magic because if they dodge the attack, Leon will damage more than a few choppers.

"It can't be helped..."

Leon charged forward and increased his related physical status using Mana Reinforcement and Rage. Despite that, Alisson still managed to slow him down with gravity and telekinesis. Sanchez tried to smash him with the golden shield, but Leon blocked the attack with his sword. He kicked the shield with all his might, but Sanchez barely moved. He wouldn't be able to defeat them so close to Alisson, where her powers were so effective.

Leon deactivated Mana Reinforcement and calmed down his nerves. Thanks to it, his body got pushed down to the ground due to Alisson's skills. Sanchez decided to join the fray, but he stopped when earth started to cover his body. He tried to get rid of it, and even Alisson tried to help, but in the end, they failed because even Alisson's body got covered by earth. As much as Leon wanted to turn the earth into a steal, he couldn't. He used all his remaining mana to chase and to stop them. So, he stayed like that on the floor, barely conscious until he recovered one-third of his mana. Instead of getting up, Leon just sat down and sighed.

"Hah... you guys sure made a mess of things," Leon said. "Still... where in the hell you guys found such useful equipment?"

Although Leon wanted an answer, he wouldn't get because he covered their mouths too. Regardless, before covering their bodies with steel, Leon took their items.

Shield of Dawn

It decreases the damage of physical and magic attacks by 50%. Endurance 80, Mentality 80

Ring of Telekinesis

It grants the user the skill Telekinesis Lv 50, Intelligence 100, Mana 300

Cost: 05 mana per second

Ring of Gravity

It grants the user the skill Gravity Lv 50, Intelligence 100, Mana 300

Cost: 05 mana per second

"What the hell... where did you get those?" Leon frowned. "Those are way too powerful..."

Angelic Bow and the Grim Reaper Scyther couldn't even compare to those. Regardless, even though Leon wanted to interrogate them, he didn't have time. Although Leon was exhausted, he had to return to Las Vegas.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Sleep Resistance.

You obtained 01 status points.

Leon wondered when that would happen, but he finally learned that skill… he just had to stay awake for five days straight... Leon returned to the main building, and there he grabbed William and his gloves.

Gloves of Regeneration

It grants the user the skill Regeneration Lv 50. Endurance 80, Mentality 80

Leon almost laughed when he saw that information; it was crazy. No wonder William was a sturdy son of a bitch, those items were stupidly powerful. Leon's worries increased, but when he saw a group of survivors in front of the main building, he calmed down. He went to the top of the main building, and there he used his gloves to heal Sarah and Gisela. In just a few minutes, they were almost completely healed, but the mental trauma…

"I'm sorry, Master… I'm sorry for…" Gisela sniffed and almost cried, but she lost even that ability.

"Don't say that… it's my fault." Leon said. "Don't worry; everything will be just fine. You should rest for a while, I have some things to solve in Las Vegas, but I will return soon."

While Leon was talking with Gisela, Sarah was looking at him with dubious eyes. It looked like she tried to protect Gisela because she was tired of seeing her suffer, not because she believed in Leon.

"So, you also think that I'm a spy." Leon frowned. " Unfortunately, I don't have the skills nor the patience to be one. Anyway, you will solve things while I'm away, send the choppers to that island to rescue the guys who tried to ambush me."

"You didn't kill them?" Sarah asked, surprised.

"No… I gave them one to chance to get out my way after I defeated them, and they obeyed." Leon explained. "Anyway, look after Gisela while I'm away, if you can, you should send some survivors to help Las Vegas. Although I don't think they will arrive on time… the demons are attacking the city as we speak. So, I will go back."

"What? They already reached Las Vegas?" Sarah asked. "Where's your scythe? Did you get the bow?"

"My sister is using them; Betty is also there to offer support," Leon answered. " But a single person can only do so much. Anyway, let's go to the entrance of the building. I have to give some warnings before I leave."

Sarah nodded, and they headed to the entrance of the building. After showing what Leon did with the three most powerful survivors of that city, a lot of people trembled like leaves when he said he would do the same to anyone who tries to cause problems in the future. He also explained that the survivors and the soldiers would choose the new leader or leaders, but they had to wait for the guys on the island. After that, Leon carried Gisela to his apartment and let her sleep there. It was better to sleep in a place she was used to, after all. In any case, without wasting time, he returned to Las Vegas.

Congratulations! The skill Sleep Resistance has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Sleep Resistance has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Sleep Resistance has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Sleep Resistance has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Sleep Resistance has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Sleep Resistance has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Since Leon had a lot of luggage, he only arrived in the middle of the afternoon of the next day. Even from afar, he could see that things weren't looking good, several places in the city were burning, and Leon finally saw them… the demons. Leon thought that they were called demons due to their crazy behavior, but no. They did look like demons; some of them had humanoid forms, horns, and dark wings. While the others had many shapes and sizes, birds, wolves, black smiles… However, the ones who had humanoid forms were the most dangerous and vicious. They were crazy enough to fly toward a group of survivors while being hit by magic projectiles only to pick a single survivor and slowly split them in half.

"Monstrous bastards… I will make you taste a little of your own poison."

Although Leon wanted, he refrained from doing so. Those monsters were destroying his sister's city, but he didn't have time to waste with them. Leon had to eliminate them as fast as possible.

"Let's see… destroy their brains and hearts."

Leon had no idea where his sister was, but the first place he was to check was her house. So, he killed those demons who could fly using his Earth Arrows. Some of them were fast enough to dodge Leon's attacks, but not fast enough to keep avoiding forever and reach him. In no time, Leon made dead demons rain over the city while he flew toward Amanda's home.

When he reached his destination, he saw her garden on fire. The house was mostly intact, but Leon saw several dark slimes inside of it. Those couldn't use magic, but they could spit acid that could melt stone walls instantly. Despite that, they froze and broke into pieces when Leon used Ice Arrows.

Suddenly, Leon heard Maya's cry. He hurried to her room, only to find Sasha protecting her against several dark slimes. Her skin had burn marks in several places, but she was still fighting vigorously using two short swords. Leon killed them using several Ice Arrows, and Sasha sighed in relief when she saw an ally.

"Le-Leon!" Sasha said."

"Use this; it should protect your arms and heal your wounds." Leon passed the gloves to Sasha.

While Sasha's mouth was wide open looking at the information of those gloves, Leon hugged Maya and patted her head to calm her down. It looked like, despite the plans, things didn't work well. Leon didn't see a single soldier nearby Amanda's house.

"Where is my sister?" Leon asked.

"She is probably fighting near the central plaza," Sasha explained. "Most of the demons and monsters came from the south, so our forces fought there. However, this morning, they also came from all sides. Amanda and Hector probably decided to retreat slowly in order to keep the formation."

"Got it, I will keep an eye on things around for a while and then offer them some support," Leon said. " By the way, keep an eye those three and don't let anyone or anything touch them."

Leon didn't want to let the steel balls, which were William, Sanchez, and Alisson, in Maya's room, but it couldn't be helped. He couldn't fight while keeping them around, and he also couldn't let them in an unguarded place.

Sasha frowned when she saw that three human beings were there, but soon she nodded. If those dark slimes could melt walls, the only thing Leon could do was to eliminate all of them before he joins Amanda… and so he did. He couldn't defeat all monsters, but he could attract them, and then the pile of corpses would lead them out of that part of the city. Leon created a huge fireball to reveal his position, so it didn't take long before the monsters and demons flew toward him like moths to a flame. Since they were stupid enough to attack Leon head-on, he burned them to a crisp and used the Ice Arrows to kill the dark slimes.

There were a few demons here and there, but their numbers were small, and Leon couldn't see others coming in the distance. He had done enough in that part of the city, so Leon flew toward the central plaza where a massive battle of humans against demons was happening.

"Come on, Leon… you can do it. After this, you can take a break for the rest of your life."

Leon said to himself in order to make himself feel a little less tired.

Leon never had any military training; the only thing he knew about the war was what he saw in movies. However, when he reached the central plaza, the only way he could describe what he was seeing was using the word war. A horde of never-ending monsters was wiping out the few survivors that were still alive. Leon saw several arrows of light flying and making demons disintegrate, but soon the arrows stopped. Amanda was an archer who uses mana, but she didn't have enough mana to stop so many demons.

To make things a bit more efficient, Leon created his steel spears. Without running out of mana, he could only control six, but it was better than nothing. He killed the monsters and demons which were trying to surround the survivors in the central plaza and opened a path for him to reach them. Carrying the golden shield was a pain, so he had to lend that to someone.

Thanks to the fact that Leon's spears were spinning, a rain of blood started to fell, making the survivors frown. Seeing a human covered in blood approaching them made the survivors feel indescribable despair, they had to kill another of their friends… However, three of those survivors sighed in relief when they recognized that figure killing demons and monsters alike as if he was a tank. Those three were Amanda, Hector, and Betty.

"Leon!" Amanda smiled.

"More killing, less talking… why I'm saying this to my little sister?" Leon frowned. "Here use this. It is a loan, so don't damage it."

Leon passed the golden shield to Hector. Although he liked to fight using his spear alone, he was only using that to protect Amanda. With a shield, he would be able to do that more efficiently and protect many more people.

"Where in the hell…" Hector frowned.

"We will talk later," Leon said.

Leon used his spear to kill three demons that approached him. The horde of monsters was still coming from the south, and Leon couldn't see the end of that battle. Maybe it was a better idea to use Hail and decrease the pressure for the survivors, but Leon had another idea. Instead of slowing them down, Leon decided to stop them using the ring of gravity. When he put the ring and decided to use it, half of the demons and monsters around fell to the ground and had their bodies almost crushed thanks to the pressure. However, Leon lost one-third of his mana.

"Ugh… it is hard to control." Leon said.

The survivors around him frowned when they saw that, he did something unbelievable. However, they didn't lose time thinking about; they used that chance to decimate the monsters.

"Leon, can you do that again?" Hector asked.

"Only two more times," Leon answered.

"Then use it to open a path for us to retreat," Hector said. "We created a stock of mana potions to use in case something like this happened, but the team who was supposed to transport stopped coming."

"They probably got wiped out; some monsters invaded the city for the other directions," Leon said.

"What? Then our home… Maya is…" Amanda became pale.

"Relax, their numbers weren't big, and Sasha protected Maya," Leon explained. "She suffered some injuries, but I gave her something that will help her. Besides, I also killed most of the monsters nearby the house."

Amanda and Hector sighed in relief, and the Leon prepared to knock down all the monsters blocking the path to retreat, when the creatures fell, all the survivors ran toward the warehouse where they stored the potions. Fortunately, the building was nearby, and it hadn't been destroyed. The door was locked, but Leon destroyed it and then saw thousands of potions, he took a shower of mana potions and then in no time his mana was full again.

"I guess I will focus on stopping the monsters," Leon said.

"Yeah, keep an eye on things," Hector said. "We already lost too many people."

It wasn't the best place to stay, but they decided to fight around the warehouse, that being said, every time a monster approached, Leon made the beast fall, and a survivor killed it. Now that Amanda also had access to a crazy supply of mana potions, the number of demons she killed increased exponentially.

Things got incredibly easy after that, without worrying about mana, Leon managed to stop the demons and monsters before they could even scratch the survivors. It took a long while, but in the end, the beasts stopped coming. After using 80% of the supply of mana potions, the battle ended on the morning of the next day. They saved the city; despite that, the survivors didn't feel like celebrating; only fifty of them were left, and they lost 150 soldiers, and they didn't try to count the dead among the civilians.

Leon fell on his butt; he was exhausted. So, exhausted that the moment the tension left his body, he fell asleep. It didn't matter that he was surrounded by corpses; he felt so comfortable like never before because he finally completed his mission.

Health: 75

Mana: 1782

Stamina: 70

Strength: 66

Dexterity: 10

Speed: 42

Intelligence: 281

Endurance: 84

Control: 117

Mentality: 97

Luck: 01

Recovery: 600

Willpower: 75

Coins: 625471

Status: 00

Skill List

Active Skills: Earth Manipulation Lv 61, Water Manipulation Lv 36, Wind Manipulation Lv 33, Fire Manipulation Lv 35, Earth Transformation Lv 38, Water Transformation Lv 28, Wind Transformation Lv 33, Fire Transformation Lv 32, Earth Creation Lv 41, Water Creation Lv 36, Wind Creation Lv 30, Fire Creation Lv 35,

Mana Reinforcement Lv 33, Ice Arrow Lv 13, Telekinesis Lv 50, Gravity Lv 50.

Passive Skills: Rage Lv 25, Sleep Resistance Lv 11,

Leon slept for three days straight, so when he woke up, he was starving. Luckily, it was time for breakfast, and he could smell Amanda's home cooking. In the kitchen, Leon saw Amanda and Maya eating.

"Morning," Leon said.

"The hero is finally awake," Amanda smiled. "You slept like a rock the past few days that we could hear your snore from all over the house."

"I don't snore... probably," Leon patted Maya's head. "Where is everybody?"

"They are cleaning the city," Amanda answered. "The number of demons and monsters is too high; if we leave them alone, the smell will cause diseases."

"Do we have enough hands for that?" Leon asked.

"Yes, fifty soldiers from New York came to help us," Amanda said. "You asked for their help, right? Anyway, we have another problem."

"What problem?" Leon frowned.

"Some survivors are questioning why you didn't help us earlier," Amanda explained. "The power of those two rings is unbelievable, so they thought they could avoid a lot of deaths if you had stayed with us. Some people recognized from the first time you came and then know that you are my brother."

"That equipment I got from William, Sanchez, and Alisson," Leon said. " If I had those before I would have let them in your hands."

"I know that, and that is why I explained that you left the Angelic Bow and the Grim Reaper Scythe when they heard that they calmed down a little since thanks to those we managed to buy a lot of time. Although I said that we have a problem, this situation should solve itself. The survivors are only upset because everyone lost some friends."

"I see… how many civilians died?" Leon asked.

"Only seven, the fact that you are also the reason that most people here can use earth manipulation is helping to calm down the nerves," Amanda explained. "Thanks to that kind of magic, people managed to create underground shelters under their homes. That is why we avoided a catastrophe."

"That's good, but that makes me wonder why you two didn't create one under your home," Leon said. "Sasha had a hard time against the dark slimes."

"We should have done that, but in the last months, we didn't have time," Amanda said. "Anyway, brother… can I ask why did you let the directors in that situation? We can't feed them, and we barely managed to give them water."

"That is more than enough; those guys are lucky to be alive," Leon said. "They used two of my friends as hostages, and they also blinded one of them. I had a tough time controlling myself not to kill them while I was traveling.

"I see… I don't remember seeing you so angry," Amanda said. "So, I guess they deserve that."

"Well, when Hector said that he had married you, I almost did the same to him," Leon smirked.

"Don't ever think of that…" Amanda warned.

Leon laughed and then started to eat. He stuffed his stomach until he got sick of it, even though Leon wanted to help, he had a few things to do. First of all, he needed to deliver the prisoners to Makoto, and after that, he had to check things in New York. Sarah sent help, but he still had to confirm things with his own eyes. Besides, he also was interested in how William managed to create magic items and choppers that used mana. That kind of information he would find in New York.

After breakfast, Leon went to San Diego to deliver the 'packages' to Makoto. Once again, he found the transporter in the middle of the day.

"Those are?" The transporter asked.

"William, Sanchez and Alisson," Leon said. "The founders of the Allied Forces of North-America. You are already probably aware, but they managed to get their hands on some powerful equipment. I think before executing them, His Majesty should 'ask' them where they got those."

"Don't worry; we will." The transporter said. "His Majesty was quite pleased when I gave him the other six prisoners. However, he was quite troubled when I said that you wanted him to forgive someone. When do you intend to visit him?"

"In three or four days, I still have a few things to solve in New York," Leon answered. "By the way… do you guys only collect information here? I don't think His Majesty would give the order to cause dungeon breaks, but is there a chance of some Japanese spy causing that even without orders?"

"… I can't deny that possibility," The transporter closed his eyes. "However, if that kind of thing happened, it should end, at least from our hands. We have information that spies from other nations are causing dungeon breaks all over the world."

"Their identities…" Leon said.

"It is impossible to identify them since they cover their faces when they are working in the shadows." The transporter explained.

"I suspected as much…" Leon said.

After that, Leon returned to Las Vegas to have lunch. He was still starving, and Amanda's food was much better than anything Leon ever made. Since Betty was probably helping Hector and the others, Leon decided to leave her behind. Besides, he would fly slower, transporting someone else.

"Considering that I will have to bring her to Tokyo no matter what, I should let her rest as much as possible. There is also the matter that her friends betrayed her… she needs some time to think things through."

Leon's job was about to end. However, he already knew a goal, and without a doubt, he will have a hard time reaching that goal. He would train to obtain the power to heal Gisela's eyes. That was the least he could do after causing her so much trouble.

When Leon arrived in New York, everything looked pretty normal. That being said, it was midnight, so Leon couldn't say for sure that nothing suspicious occurred in the last few days. He had an easy time entering the building where his apartment was. There were no guards, and since few soldiers were living there, he didn't find a single one.

When Leon opened the door and turned on the lights, he saw Sarah holding one of the two knives Leon made to Gisela train.

"Ah... it's you… don't scare me like that." Sarah sighed.

"Is there a reason why you are so on edge?" Leon asked.

"No, after you left, nothing weird happened," Sarah explained. "Two days ago, Tom was elected to be the one who would represent the soldiers while I would represent the ordinary survivors. We are working to make things decent… but I have a feeling that some people won't like how I will do things."

"Maybe I can help you with that," Leon said.

"How? You don't intend to stay here, right?" Sarah asked.

"It is simple; I just have to create a massive sword on the side of the main building," Leon said. "That should keep the troublemakers in check."

"I guess that is a good idea…" Sarah said and then walked toward the bed where Gisela was sleeping. She had bandages covering the wound in her face. "She lost too much blood, she won't die, but she needs to rest."

"How did she react after that?" Leon asked.

"… She has a thin appetite, and she doesn't talk much." Sarah explained. "She doesn't look depressed, but she doesn't have the energy to do anything. I come here every night to look after her, but I didn't see any signs of her leaving the bed during the day. Maybe she will cheer up a little with you here."

"I will heal her eyes; I will find a way…" Leon said. "Do you know someone who can heal wounds?"

"No, I have never heard of anyone who is capable of healing wounds," Sarah answered. "There are items that increase the recovery rate, but isn't the same thing, right? The best thing that I saw that could heal wounds was that pair of gloves."

"But as you already know, it isn't enough," Leon said. "However, those can give me a clue about how to learn the skill necessary to do that. I will study those."

"Well, if someone is capable of learning that type of magic, I guess that someone is you," Sarah said. "I have an early day tomorrow, so I will go to my home."

"Sarah, do you have access to the information that William and the others obtained?" Leon asked. "I'm interested in how they managed to create magic items and those choppers that use mana."

"Yes, we found those documents," Sarah said. "I will bring them to you tomorrow. I doubt that anyone would say anything against it."

"Hahaha, I'm not asking them for free." Leon laughed. "Just the copies should be enough; if you need help with something, I can help you tomorrow all day. However, we will leave the city the day after tomorrow."

"All right," Sarah said.

After that, Sarah left the room, and Leon brought the armchair to the side of the bed. Leon put the gloves and grabbed the steel knife, until now, Leon refused the idea to cause self-warm, with passion, but now to help a friend, he had to do it. His gloves could only heal wounds, and to understand the process, he had to see that with his own eyes.

Slowly, Leon made a point of the knife touch his skin. Although the blade was pretty sharp, Leon didn't felt anything, then he understood why. The gloves increased his endurance, and since the knives weren't magic weapons, it would have a hard time cutting the flesh. Leon had to strike without hesitation, and so he did it… because he wanted to help a friend.

Blood started to drip from the small wound, but after a few seconds stopped. Not to dirty the floor, Leon created an earth bucket and filled it with water. While he did that, he observed the wound closing at a fearsome speed. It didn't even leave a scar.

"I see… the wound just heals a lot faster than it should. There are no shining lights causing a miracle… the mana just accelerates the natural healing process. I wonder if that is dangerous to the body."

Although it was hard to be sure, Leon was quite certain that mana wasn't harmful even when it accelerates the natural healing of human flesh. That was because Leon used mana like a madman for the past four years, and until now, he didn't feel anything weird with his body. It was as if… mana was the purest and harmless font of energy in the universe.

"So, I should just use my mana to make the cells heal faster?"

To manipulate the basic elements, Leon had to infuse his mana in them, to strengthen them, he had to do that twice, and to create them, he had to change the properties of his mana. However, he couldn't imagine one of those steps making wounds heal faster.

"I guess I have to do it again."

Leon took off the gloves, and this time the knife pierced his skin quite easily. Leon tried to infuse his mana in the wound, but he failed again and again. Why? Because the injury was in his body, and his mana was in his body. He didn't have to infuse his mana… he had to make his mana inside his body heal the wound before the recovery heals it.