Boom! Boom! Boom!
Pant! Pant! Pant!
"Commander, there's a man who keeps killing our soldiers!"
"What?" Hearing this, the commander, Bron, one of the Top Fifth Tier IB Masters on the continent, grabbed his sword and rushed outside where the commotion could be heard. Looking at the man wearing the same outfit as his people, Bron already guessed who he was. "So you're that weird man from the rumors."
Kael looked at him and said, "Are you the commander? Why did you only come out now? Are you scared?" Kael smirked.
Even though Bron had anger issues, he could still tell if someone was deliberately provoking him, which is why he didn't react. "I don't know who you are or where you are from, but attacking us openly like this in the middle of the day is suicide. Do you even know how many of us are here?" Bron looked into Kael's eyes to see his reaction, but only saw him yawning as if bored. (Would you look at this guy).
"You think I'm joking, huh? Brony, blow the horn!" The commander who reports to Bron, named Brony and one of the Ten Elites, blew the horn. Not long after, all kinds of presences could be felt side by side. There's no escape route, Kael thought, of course, only for others, not him.
"How was it? Are you scared now? HAHAHAHA!" Bron looked at Kael, but still, there was no reaction; he looked bored. Bron couldn't take it anymore and signaled an attack.
Eight people using IB lunged forward. They were members of the Ten Elites under Commander Bron. Then Brony, the captain of the Ten Elites, shouted, "Formation!" After that, as if in sync, eight of them circled around Kael. Four of them thrust their swords, but Kael easily deflected them. As soon as their attack was deflected, another attack launched toward him—this time a vertical swing—but Kael still deflected it easily. Another attack came, a thrust, and then another after another.
Bron then said, "You're cornered now. That formation is meant for ten men, but since the other two aren't here, I can consider you taking care of them. So, even though there are only eight, they are still far stronger than those two." Bron then walked away with both his hands behind him.
"Ah, right, don't worry, they won't kill you. They will only cut your arms, and then you will be interrogated. We will find where your family lives—your mother, your sister, your entire family. We'll play with them in front of your fac..." But before he could finish talking...
Boom!
All eight elites were now headless. "You talk too much. Is this it? They're pretty weak for me, though. But a kid said that you're the strongest here, being in the position of Top Fifth Tier Master." After seeing all his elites killed in a single move, Bron's entire body got goosebumps.
(I can kill those eight too, but not in a single move. Those guys are Top One Hundred IB Masters, so how?) Bron's entire body was nervous. Then, out of panic, he signaled an all-out attack. Even the soldiers who weren't IB users rushed forward, because if they didn't, they would be the ones to die.
Seeing this, Kael spoke. "What a coward." He put his strength into his entire foot, then into his arms. He increased his IB and let it flow into his sword. Then he took a stance where he was ready to draw his sword. Kael started counting backward as if waiting for the perfect time: five… four… three… two… one.
Kael then swung his sword in circles, and all the rushing soldiers' bodies were sliced. The entire battlefield was now soaked in blood.
Witnessing this massacre, Bron then said, "I don't know who you are, but there's only one guess I could make: You're one of the Top Ten IB Masters in the entire world. Ha, what shitty luck." Bron then drew his sword, activated his IB—the color of his IB was purple—then let it flow toward his sword, arm, and foot. Kael only observed what he was doing.
Bron then said, "I will give my all from the start." Since Kael didn't fully know how IB worked, he only thought this commander was only slightly above those ten elites, but he was wrong. Bron's entire body disappeared, then Kael's neck got a scratch. Kael reacted late; he didn't know how, but for sure, now he needed to be serious. Just like how Bron controlled the IB, he did what Bron did.
Kael launched a thrust towards Bron, but to his surprise, Bron could still react to him even though he was fighting seriously. Bron then swung his sword up towards Kael's head. Kael deflected it and counter-attacked, thrusting his sword toward Bron's thigh. Then he rotated the stabbed sword and swung it. "Argg," Bron screamed, then counter-attacked desperately and staggered backward.
(Damn it.) Bron knew he was going to lose; he just didn't expect that he was going to lose easily like this. Bron then concentrated his IB towards his thigh. The wound healed a little, then the blood stopped. Bron then breathed heavily. As if trying to use his ultimate attack, he released his life force, then released his IB at the same time, putting his strength to his arms and foot as if ready to swing his sword.
Kael jumped straight to him, then put his arm in Bron's face, smacking it toward the ground. "That's enough. I'm not the one going to kill you." Kael then sliced both his feet, then pressed down on Bron's arms, and then he gave a signal to Nor. "Come out, it's your turn."
Seeing this, Bron laughed. "PUWAHAHAHA! So this is it. My karma has come."
Nor looked at Bron and said, "You will die in the most painful way. I will start by cutting your arms, then plucking your eyes. Next is your dick—I will cut it. Then I will stab you more than you stabbed my father, so please don't die on me." While talking, Nor was crying because now he could take revenge for his mother and father, and for his sister who was raped every day because of this son of a bitch.
Kael watched Nor do something he saw for the first time—how cruel it is to die like that. Though it's deserving since that's karma. If you do wrong things, evil things, you accumulate karma. Of course, there's karma for doing good things, too.
"Huu," Nor looked at Kael. He was full of blood. Then he said, "Thank you, thank you so much. I won't forget what you did for us. If there's ever a time that I gain power, I will pay this debt even if it costs my life." Kael just nodded and said, "I think you forgot someone. You need to run." Hearing this, Nor's eyes lit up, then he ran into the commander's house. There he saw his sister with dead eyes, as if she didn't want to live.
Seeing this, Nor hugged his sister, saying, "We're free now, so please don't be scared anymore. It's okay, I'm here. I'm your brother." Reina, the sister, hearing this, slowly looked towards her brother, then cried. She cried as if feeling a warm feeling after a long time.
Kael looked at this and just smiled. Then he went somewhere else.
The Mine
Underground, all the slaves were working—girls, boys, kids, old people. They all worked; if they stopped, they would be beaten. So, even if they were tired, they couldn't stop. One of the slaves, the oldest woman, staggered down. Seeing this, the nearest girl helped her stand up, but the guard saw them.
"Hey, you insect! What are you doing resting when it's daytime?" He kicked the old lady in the face and slapped the girl. All those working saw this but didn't do anything because they might die. The guard kept doing this as if just to satisfy himself, but he didn't know someone was standing behind him, smiling.
Pack!
The guard's head got smacked. Looking behind him, he saw a man smiling—it was Kael. The guard then shouted, "Who are you?" After saying that, the guard drew his sword and rushed towards Kael, but Kael caught the sword, then he destroyed it and kicked that guard towards the center of the mine.
Clap! Boom!
"Everyone, listen! As you can see, he's only one, and there are so many of you who have a pickaxe. You outnumber him! Even if he's trained in combat, when there are so many small ants, even a giant frog can be eaten!" As if understanding what Kael said, one of the kids who looked like twelve years old threw a rock toward the guard.
Seeing this, the guard shouted, "Hey, you bastard! What are you doing?! I will kill you! Do you even know there are so many guards besides me outside? Do you guys want to die?!" But then Kael said, "Don't worry about those guards. Just enjoy this."
But even if Kael didn't say those words, all the slaves here were already trying to kill this guard because of how he treated them. Even though they worked hard, even a small mistake could lead to death.
One after another, they threw a rock. Then the guard stood up, trying to defend himself. Then one of the slaves holding a pickaxe rushed toward him, intending to kill him, but he easily dodged it and countered towards the slave's face. "HAHAHA! An insect is an insect, even if there are so many of them!" But he didn't know that more were rushing towards him. Someone smacked a pickaxe into his head. Staggering down, he looked up only to see the girl he slapped. "Sto…" Before he could finish talking, the girl already smashed his head. Then all the slaves did the same. Now it looked like a feast.
Kael whistled, then left. "I guess I'm finished here. The next destination is… Hmm, I don't know. I can just ask Nor."