Talking while running is a complex thing, for the first few minutes you would hardly feel anything but if you happen to talk and run for around forty minutes then it’s a different scenario altogether.

 

First comes fatigue, second the lack of breath and finally the mental and physical exhaustion. Akira has been running away from Brian while ‘trying’ to explain that he is as innocent as it could be and in no way could he collaborate with the cultists.

 

“Haah…. Haah… do yo- you understand?” He asked while panting.

 

If this was an ordinary run then he wouldn’t be breathing this hard but to outrun Brian? He poured all his mana in his legs and even used the Blitz boltz spell to drastically increase his speed and yet Brian was somehow able to follow him.

 

“Now that you say those things it kind of makes sense.” Brian was also tired but it was miniscule, utterly miniscule in comparison to him.

 

“Finally you get it.” Akira said and gulped down a stamina potion from his storage ring.

 

Running for almost a quarter of an hour has made them come a lot far away from the place where they fought against the cultists and now they were in some sort of a swamp jungle which was half drowned and half afloat.

 

The swamps were one of the diverse terrains put into this game by the developers and a lot of detailing was put into making it. Detailing the flora and fauna to make the surrounding extremely challenging for the first timers.

 

“We should get out of this place.” Akira said to Brian as he knew the hardships that could be here.

 

“Huh? Why should we leave? The sun is setting down meaning that in just a few minutes it will be dark here and isn’t this a good place to stay the night?” Brian asked.

 

He was partially right as the place they were currently at was one of the best you could get in a swamp, elevated ground that was far away from water sources, area shrouded by trees making it somewhat closed and the best thing for Brian was plenty of space to sleep on.

 

“The monsters and plants here are a lot more dangerous than the other places and there is this fact that at night the topography changes in an alternate dimension.” Akira explained to him.

 

Brian couldn’t understand it as he and his group had the experience of living in a swamp and yes it was dangerous but nothing that they couldn’t face. 

 

But since the artefact that was used to create this alternate dimension was a legendary one the information regarding this space was severely limited and often hidden by big powers from the general public.

 

Dark Swords were surely a mithril ranked group, a great name in the adventurer society and had a good rank among all the groups on the continent but did they knew about alternate dimensions or the things that happened inside of it?

No they didn’t, neither did 95% of the population but Akira knew about that and there was no way he could stay at that place which was going to be switched with something unpredictable.

 

“Look Brian I know it doesn't make any sense but the space in an alternate dimension changes at night meaning that in a few minutes we would be teleported to somewhere else.” 

 

“That’s more the reason to not change the place if we are going to teleport somewhere randomly.” Brian argued and sat on the ground.

 

“The teleportation radius is not bigger than 10km so if we run fast then maybe we could leave this swamp and get back to that city which would be much safer.” Akira explained to him hoping that something would go inside his big head.

 

“You are still a junior Akira and there are a lot of things you don’t know about, so relax and leave it to me.” Brian said lazily not taking him seriously.

 

‘Sigh’ 

 

Given the law of this world where power is everything no one will take you seriously if you are weaker than them and that was the reason Akira was trying everything to become stronger as quickly as possible.

 

But right now since Brian wasn’t in a mood to listen to him all he could do was to stay with the big guy, there was a big risk in staying here but to leave Brian was a bigger risk as there were cultists roaming outside and he knew they were definitely stronger than him.

 

Staying with Brian at least gave him a better chance in staying alive and getting out of this dimension. He stayed like that for almost half an hour when the surroundings began to morph into one another and both of them teleported.

The first thing they felt after the random teleportation was their legs being submerged into knee deep water, they were somewhere in the same swamp but the scenario had completely changed.

 

Earlier they were on land but now? All that their eyes could see was stagnant water and vegetation around them and to Akira it was problematic as first they were surrounded by a lot of monsters and second was the deadly poison of the plants.

 

Brian who saw this smirked and said,

 

“This is what you have been so afraid of? Just some water and low level mana beasts?” 

 

Akira didn’t bother replying to him and quickly covered his face and the open areas of the body with the mud and then climbed up a nearby tree, he knew Brian’s smirk wouldn’t stay for long as he had already heard the incoming danger.

 

“Yes I am afraid of them, aren’t you?” 

 

“Why would someone like me who has ascended the first tier be afraid of some low level pests? And why have you covered your face?” Brian asked.

 

Buzzz……….

 

Buzzz……..

 

“Here they come.” 

 

“Hey Brian wanna make a bet?” Akira asked.

 

“What bet?”

 

“Since you are so almighty and not afraid of the low level pests in here then you wouldn’t mind staying there, would you?” 

 

“I don’t care about this bet of yours but to teach my junior a lesson I would do it. What will be the prize of your bet?” 

 

“Easy if you win I will follow your orders and if I win you will do the same.” Akira devised this method to take some control of the situation and Brian before both of them ended up dead.

 

“I am already stronger than you and could make you obey my commands without this bet.” Brian replied.

 

“Oh so you wanna take advantage of that, just accept that you are scared.” Akira tried to provoke him.

 

“I am not scared by anything but to amuse you, I just have to stand here?” Brian asked confusedly.

 

“Yup just stand there and don’t move.” Akira clarified.

 

“Watch me kid.” Brian grinned while saying that.

 

The buzzing sound became more intense and soon a swarm of mosquitoes which engulfed the entire sky came forward and began looking around. 

 

These mosquitoes were called ‘Stor mosquitoes mana beasts’ which were found only in alternate dimensions and in comparison to the normal ones they were truly massive in size, their pointed proboscis were sharp enough to inflict pain even on someone like Brian.

 

The beasts were hungry and their food was blood, blood of stronger beings so they targeted the strongest presence i.e. Brian who watched all this and didn’t think much of these mosquitoes but that was his mistake.

 

At the very next moment he was bombarded by those blood hungry Stor mosquitoes who were now sticking their proboscis all over his body. Brian used his aura to flare to scare them but that didn’t work on these bloodthirsty beasts.

 

Being a physical brawler he didn’t have much mana reserves nor did he have any significant spells so to make the beasts go away he tried to kill a few of them but that also didn’t work as the mosquitoes were too much.

 

At first his skin was tough enough to resist the biting force but after attacking the same place over and over again it had started to soften and that was a big problem, since he couldn’t move away from the place the mosquitoes kept attacking him incessantly.

 

His skin had started to bleed and blood was slowly dripping in the water underneath which invited the gator mana beasts who preyed at night. 

 

Meanwhile Akira who’s scent was muffled by the applied mud which made him technically invisible to the mosquitoes was having a hard time controlling his laughter at this situation.

 

“Hahaha, what happened to the all mighty Brian?”

 

Brian wanted to reply but couldn’t as both of his hands and focus was currently on killing the seemingly infinite mana beasts that were attacking him. All this situation somewhat makes him think that Akira was right all along and maybe just maybe he should have followed his advice.

 

Stinging pain, impending danger and frustration made Brian snap, he moved out of his place and uprooted a nearby tree which he then hurled to create a wind vortex and sucked all the mosquitoes in it.

 

Akira, seeing that he had won the bet, came down from the tree and gave a healing potion to Brian who without looking at his face took it and drank it in one go. Brian who even though had lost the bet wanted to show himself as the responsible senior said,

 

“We should move from this place.” 

 

“Yes, All Mighty Brian.” Akira saluted him.

 

Brian gnashed his teeths at this remark but moved forward without saying anything. They moved through the swamp marshlands and didn’t stop even once and the reason behind it was Akira as according to him,

 

“This place is the absolute worst so no stopping here.”

 

After walking for a few hours during which they were attacked by a whole lot of mana beasts who became the punching bag of an enraged Brian they managed to reach the outskirts of the marshy jungles.

 

Just outside the jungle was a big cave with intricate markings on its outer walls, the cave and the forest was divided by a well maintained city road meaning that they were near to a devastated city or to the ruins of an empire.

 

Due to walking and fighting for all those long hours both of them were tired and wanted a place to take some rest, the cave appeared to be a good place but it had to be checked beforehand as they couldn’t afford to lower their guard and commit mistakes, mistakes which could prove fatal.

 

When they stepped into the cave their expectations were to be attacked by something or the other but surprisingly it was empty. No signs of life whatsoever heck even the spider’s web were still intact. Brian went forward and sealed the cave’s opening with a big rock.

 

Akira used simple water and air spells to clean the surroundings and then both of them slumped down on the ground with him saying,

 

“Man, sometimes I wish to become OP.”

 

“OP?” Brian didn’t understand the term.

 

“Over powered, a being who could do anything and is not limited by anything.” Akira explained and brought out a bed from his storage ring.

 

Okay, why in the world does he have a bed in his storage ring? Brian thought that and looked at him.

 

“I like being comfortable.” He said and shrugged it off.

 

“I wouldn’t want that.” Brian replied, setting himself on the ground even though there was a lot of space on the bed.

 

“You don’t like being comfortable?” 

 

“Not that junior, I don’t like that OP thing of yours.”

 

“Why not? Isn’t it what every living being dreams of? To have everything you ever wanted without any problems.” Akira said.

 

“Do you know why we named our group ‘Dark Swords’?” Brian questioned him, his tone being serious.

 

“Enlighten me.” Akira replied lying down on the bed.

 

“You know Calvin is obsessed with swordsmanship right?”

 

“Hmm.”

 

“And that he is the wielder of Kusanagi, the cursed sword.”

 

“Hmm.. Wait, he is the owner of that sword?” Akira already knew that but had to feign ignorance in order to not cause any suspicion in Brian’s mind.

 

“Yes he is and that sword is basically the reason behind our group’s name. You see all of us were good friends back in the academy and even formed a group with Calvin as its leader.”

 

“He was obsessed with finding the Dark Sword Kusanagi, Kazuya was obsessed with finding and using dark magic, Ben wanted to use the techniques of Dark God.” He said with a reminiscent look on his face.

 

“Okay and?”

 

“You know why they wanted to achieve those things? It was exactly because of the desire to become OP. The stories, the legends and the tales of weapons, skills and artifacts associated with the Dark element are told to be the strongest, but what’s the truth?”

 

“Great powers demands great sacrifices and unless you are a God which both of us are not you will have to make those sacrifices, give away things precious to you.”

 

Akira closed his eyes and began thinking about things Brian said as they were quite heavy and intense, he needed some time to process that which Brian didn’t give.

 

And when he thought about it Brian was somewhat right as didn’t every other Superhero back on Earth lose something precious to them because of their powers?

 

Spiderman lost his dear uncle Ben due to his arrogance earlier on, Batman became a hero only when his parents were killed, Thor lost his family, his home and everything else heck even Villains lose something after getting those powers. 

 

But in Akira’s mind ‘Isn’t it better to have powers and then lose something rather than having no power at all and losing everything? Of course you can’t do something after you have lost it permanently but you would make sure that it doesn't happen again.” 

 

“Calvin loses some part of his sanity while using the sword, Kazuya loses his life force while using the dark magic and Ben too makes great sacrifices while using dark skills.”

 

“Then why are you guys using them?”

 

“Do you think that we like to do it? Those things  have binded themself with their souls making it a lifelong relationship. Being powerful is great but can you say the same thing about the price you pay for that?” Brian didn’t said anything after that.

 

Akira also got quiet, there was nothing coming up in his mind to retort the musclehead as for the first time since they have met Brian has said something profound and intriguing.

 

“Hey, I have a question.” Akira said after half an hour.

 

“What?” Brain asked with an annoyed tone.

 

“You didn’t answer the question of why you guys named your group ‘Dark Swords’.”

 

“Oh that was Kazuya being a chuunibyou.”

 

“Eeeh?? YOU MUSCLEHEAD what was the point of asking that question then??” Akira shouted.

 

“It sets the mood and tempo.”

 

“Mood my ass.” Akira got annoyed and decided to sleep.

 

And since his body was already worned out he quickly fell asleep. Brian wanted to ask him about the night watch but after seeing his condition he called it off.

 

He also wanted to sleep but in an unknown place and among unknown creatures he had to keep his guard up meaning that he had to stay awake for the night watch. 

 

Something that is shared in a group but with Akira sleeping he had to do it alone.

 

“Things we do for juniors.” He sighed and began the night watch.

 

Some time later in the night when Brian was on the watch for danger he felt someone approaching him from behind and his natural reaction was to attack but after hearing,

 

“Yo it’s my turn now.” He relaxed and had a slightly shocked face.

 

“No need junior, go and rest.”

 

“Jeez just stop Brian, it’s already 3 in the night and I had my quota of sleep so stop arguing and rest.” He said and sat near him.

 

“But what if-”

 

“Remember the bet?”

 

“Fine.” Defeated Brian dragged himself onto the bed.

 

“Tomorrow I no, we will get out of this place.” Akira said to himself and began the nightwatch.