Thinking about it just makes me mad! Al! You dummy!

 Yesterday, Al abruptly left… I was so worried. I thought he’d disappeared, and then… I found out later through a letter that he’d be leaving for an adventure! A letter, I say!

 …Bu-but the contents were sweet… ‘kyaa~ ehehehe~’ ah…! I-I suppose I can forgive him for now~

 As I puffed my cheeks, still dissatisfied, I glanced at the moon. I wonder… what is he doing now? Is he safe? Has he eaten? Did he fall asleep already?

 I… I’m thinking about him so much that I’m going crazy! Al, you dummy, dummy! I miss you already!

 As I roll around in bed, feeling both lonely and… lonely, I glance at the moon.

 …I wonder. Is he watching the moon as well?

 “Argh!” I groaned and held my head.

 I can’t stop thinking about him!

 Burying my face in the pillow, I keep thinking about him. I want to see him! …We’ve only been apart for two days….

 “Al, I miss you….”

 …

  …..

 …

 Looking at the very same moon, Alum glanced at the corpses around him as the moonlight gently shone through the window. He clenched his fists, calming down and looked at the people around him.

 The boy and the girl were holding tightly onto his coat, realising they were saved. They felt terrified at the thought that if Alum hadn’t appeared, they’d meet the same miserable end as some.

 He gently patted them, saying, “It’s alright now.” and said some comforting words.

 He öppled at the others, and they were not as fortunate as these two… their eyes were empty, lifeless—they’d given up on everything. And… Alum couldn’t say anything to them. All he could do was to heal their wounds, cleansing them as well. He then gave them some clothes, and some started to regain their senses.

 Though….

 “Ah…Ahhh!??!?”

 Some would break down in tears and despair as they cried.

 (They’ll be left with psychological trauma for the rest of their lives…) Alum thought as the only thing he could do was watch.

 But that was fine… they could all let it out now, and… well, only for a while, since they’d need to move, and he couldn’t maintain [Abyssal Depth] for an infinite amount of time….

 (I should probably get out of these robes…) Alum thought, trying to relieve them.

 After all… when they saw him, they’d curl up and cry. So… after removing the robes, they seemed less panicky, and while it was hard for them, they understood that Alum had saved them and that they’d need to move as quickly as possible.

 And… staying there will only resurface the memories of their despair.

 As Alum tries to safely guide them through the hall, a spear infused with electricity heads their way. Alum could easily dodge it, but that’d kill everyone else. He had no choice and quickly materialised an [Mana Blade] to try and cancel the attack.

 And as the attack was about to connect with his [Mana Blade], he had a very bad feeling, so instead of cancelling, he deflected it.

 (It was a mistake not to have Depth cutter out,) he thought as some of the bones in his arm had fractured when he changed the spear's trajectory. The wall beside them exploded, creating a massive hole.

 “Tsk, you’re the pest?” a man said, “These useless good-for-nothings.” he later said, menacing looking Alum’s way.

 His gaze was filled with scorn as he smirked, saying, “Oh? You’ve rescued the coupe’s toys?” he inquired, taking an interest in the young man. “To that, you have my gratitude,” he said, laughing. “Really, those idiots! I have absolutely no clue why fools such as them would hold a position more prevalent than mine!”

 Alum didn’t listen to his rant as he analysed the situation and tried to find the optimal way out. He sensed through [Static Field] that cultists had surrounded them. And judging by their mana, they’re more capable this time around. Alum was in a bind….

 (…In that case.) Alum created and manipulated water, condensing it into a dome, throwing the survivors outside the giant hole along with his Depth cutter, and activating a powerful barrier.

 The man who’d been ranting watched his actions with amusement. “Playing hero? Now, are we?” he asked in a scornful manner.

 Taking a closer look, the man was covered in armour and was blond.

 “I’m impressed you’d still protect them, being aware you’re surrounded and all,” he said, commending Alum’s stupidity.

 “....” Alum didn’t say anything as he waited for them to make a move so that he’d be able to use that and break free and get a better position.

 “Oh? Pardon, how rude of me! My name is Ulos Arkej. Nice to meet you.” Ulos said, faking a polite smile. “What’s your name? Oh, great hero?” and mocked Alum. “...Tsk, staying quiet, are we?” he seemed fed. “Well! Don’t blame me if you die nameless!” he cried. “Idiots! What are you doing!? Attack!”

 Ulus then commanded his underlings to attack Alum. Bracing for what’s to come, Alum enchanted himself with magic. But Ulos didn’t see that as a problem. Though… Ulus did notice that the shortsword Alum had thrown down was something special.

 But now that Alum had thrown that away, he wouldn’t have anything to worry about.

 (Tsk… pathetic fool playing a hero.)

 However, despite being surrounded, Alum created blades of ice surrounding him as they levitated and moved at his wish. The blades blocked incoming attacks, and as they broke, Alum would replace them.

 This, however… did not sit well with Ulos. “Useless! What are you doing!?” he cried. As he, too, joined in.

 Ulos materialised his divine spear and relentlessly attacked Alum. While being aimed at by spells and relentlessly attacked by this dangerous individual. Alum managed to scrape by only blocking fatal attacks, which was most of them.

 But this was good, too. Since they started their attacks, they left some gaps, and Alum would try to escape. But as agile as he was. They’d already landed multiple amounts of hits, dulling his movements.

 (Crap… they’re not going to let me try, huh?) Alum thought as he tried to escape.

 He was running and dodging, and it was pretty doable with the help of [Static Filed]. A cultist appeared in front of him, trying to cut his head off, but Alum blocked the attack by crystalising his hands into a blade. He used liquefied ice strings to pull the cultist away from him as he finished them off with a [Drop bullet], or so he thought.

 (Seems like they have pretty tough [Mana Armour]) Alum thought as his water droplets didn’t kill them.

 But… he wasn’t going to go out of his way to try and kill this specific cultist as many more cast spells at him and attacked him at the same time.

 And as he ran through the halls, many more appeared, but he’d just easily deal with them. The problem was that his mana was running low.

 Although he had a fast mana recovery, he still didn’t fully recover. And by using condensed water to kill his enemies. He’d run out of mana sooner or later.

 As he starts to feel exhausted. He ran into a dead end. Guards were in front of him; they had their weapons ready, and unlike the cultists, he couldn’t kill them as they were innocent….

 (I’m screwed… aren’t I?) Alum thought as he tried to find a way out.

 As he got closer to them, they dashed toward him, bracing for the incoming attacks. He dodges them, but… they aren’t aiming at him as they run past him and start to slice down the cultists.

 “Kill them!” the guards shouted. “Don’t leave a single one of them alive!”

 (…..)

 Alum was a little surprised but softly smiled. (I see… Jan did it,) he thought as he caught his breath again.

 Approaching him was a man who looked like a leader of sorts, “Thank you,” he said and dashed into the fight as well.

 Then, a tired Jan approached him. He was covered in blood, but… he didn’t seem injured.

 “How’re things on your end?” Jan asked.

 “...It’s decent,” Alum replied and said, “I’ve encountered some survivors, and they’re currently inside a barrier. But… some cultists are still behind, trying to break the barrier.”

 “I see…. We’ve saved those in the big hall. And… why would they try and break inside the barrier? Isn’t it easier to catch the caster?” Jan comments.

 “...They probably want my sword,” Alum said.

 Jan tilted his head. Seeming to ask, “Why?” and well… Alum had a feeling, but Ulos definitely knew that it wasn’t a divine blade, but some sort of advanced magi-tech.

 Still… before he entered this village, he put a considerable amount of mana inside the blade, so… it shouldn’t be an issue.

 “...It isn’t a divine blade,” Alum confessed. “It’s a very advanced magi-tech… he probably wants it.”

 “I see. Well, we should hurry in any case.”

 “Agreed.”

 …

  …..

 …

 As Alum and Jan ran toward the remaining survivors, they noticed that Ulos and the other cultists were trying to break into the barrier. But they stopped as they noticed Alum and Jan approaching.

 “Tsk,” Ulos clicked his tongue and shouted, “What are you doing! Kill them!”

 “...Can you handle the big guy?” Jan asked as cultists approached.

 “I’ll manage,” Alum replied.

 Jan smiled, and his eyes turned red, filled with bloodlust. His fangs grew, his ears twitched, and in an instant, he’d put a knife through one of the cultist's neck.

 The surrounding ones were momentarily disoriented before yelling and gathering around Jan. A surprise attack like that wouldn’t work again, but… he was still able to penetrate their layers of mana by instantly closing the gap and striking where the armour was at its thinnest.

 With his enhanced senses, he cut through them as they tried to stop him. Jan knocked the approaching cultists’ heads against one another and used their momentum to get deeper stab wounds. Another one threw themselves at him, but Jan elbowed them in the stomach and knocked them in the chin with his head to later use them as a shield from the incoming attacks.

 Then, from a blind spot, a cultist almost had it in for him, but before they’d manage to land it on Jan, Alum had staggered them by hitting their joints. Even if his [Drop Bullets] weren’t able to penetrate their [Mana Armour], it packed enough force to momentarily stun them.

 “Thanks!” Jan shouts with a grin on his face before using that opportunity to grab the airborne cultist, throwing him into the other ones.

 “Shitty brat! You’re taking your eyes off me!?” Ulos cries as he tries to stab Alum.

 Alum had little mana left, but he was efficient with his spells and only used them when necessary, as he’s currently using [Static Field], [Mana Armour] and [Physical Enhance].

 Ulos was relentless with his attacks. A swing came from the left, leading Alum to dash forward and run [Mana blade] along the tip, redirecting its attack upwards as he crystalised his other hand with mana, trying to penetrate Ulos’s heart.

 Unfortunately for Alum, Ulos was a veteran and stepped to the side so that Alum would miss by a small margin before kneeling him in the back. He was covered in armour, and the steel plating enhanced with magic sent Alum flying in the air.

 “Aaargh!” Alum groans in pain.

 “Annoying little shit!” Ulos yelled and infused his spear with black lightning, then threw it at Alum.

 Alum quickly regained his composure mid-air and made a [mana blade] on his leg, infusing it with ice magic to change the spear’s trajectory before crashing into a tree.

 Ulos was impressed by Alum’s agility, but… he wasn’t less annoyed by the fact. “Annoying! Annoying bastard!” he yelled.

 He instantly approached Alum and went for a kick, his legs infused with dark lighting and hardened by [Steeled Armour].

 Alum quickly realised he wouldn’t be able to direct or block the attack, creating strings to pull him away from it quickly.

 Ulos's attack connected with the tree, splitting it and sending the top part flying a few meters.

 (… close one,) Alum thought as he wrapped Ulos in [Liquid Ice Threads]. But… Ulos freed himself since most of Alum’s spells weren’t fixed. This meant they only used the amount of mana distributed and not a fixed amount like most spells.

 The reason most of his spells work this way is that he has very good mana control to adjust a spell on the spot. But… sometimes, that can backfire since spells usually have an optimal amount of mana required.

 So… running out of mana has weakened his movements and his spells. Ulos noticed this, too and became even more aggressive.

 He ran toward Alum, tearing up the ground and forming a gauntlet, but Alum avoided the attack by jumping backwards. However… Ulos smiled.

 “Got you,” he ominously said as his attack connected to the ground, sending cracks through the land as spears spurred out of the soil.

 ‘Gasp!!?!’

 Alum realised that Ulos spread his mana through the ground with that attack and created spears out of rocks beneath to penetrate through the cracks.

 Alum abandoned all defence and used [Permafrost] to instantly crystalise the ground, covering it in ice as he managed to stop the earth spears.

 He crashed into the ground and tried to get up. Parts of his skin were frozen, and his feet were stuck to the ice as he pants from exhaustion. He looked up, and Ulos stood in front of him, saying, “Rest well!” and kicked him, sending him flying through the frozen rock spears, shattering them and giving him cuts as he collided with a distant tree.

 Ulos smugly smiled, seeing that Alum coughed blood as he was in extreme pain and lost consciousness.

 (A mage without mana, well… I’ll deal with him later if he’s alive. That is.)

 Ulos then shifted his attention to Jan, who was relentlessly slaughtering his gang.

 But that was a mistake… as he turned his back for only a split second, the hurt and defenceless Alum burst mana, sending an electrical ray toward him. Ulos dodged the attack, but… the heat from the beam alone penetrated his mana armour and melted his actual shoulder plate.

 “FUCK THAT HURTS YOU, LITTLE SHIT!” he groaned in pain while furiously cursing Alum.

 He stared at Alum and noticed that his eyes were glowing as he later fell unconscious, “Tsk! What an obnoxious skill,” he scuffed, giving Alum a scornful look as he changed his mind about leaving him for later.

 …

  …..

 …

 Meanwhile, while Alum was struggling with Ulos, Jan tore apart his opponents, cutting, slashing and stabbing the cultists to pieces.

 While in his transformative state, all his senses were heightened, and he’d be as ferocious as a mad beast. But… the drawback is that he’d get tired a lot faster in this state, and he’d need to finish things quickly.

 As he was throwing them around, he noticed that Alum flew straight into a tree, injured as he coughed blood. He panicked and got caught off guard as an attack was about to hit him. A guard showed up to block the attack.

 “We’ll take over this front! You can go!” the guard said as he knocked away the cultist.

 Jan nodded despite his extreme exhaustion catching up. He mustered all of his powers to instantly leap onto Ulos, who was heading toward the unconscious Alum and appeared before him as he aimed for the neck—but… Ulos wasn’t such an easy target and was more experienced in close combat than the other fools. So he caught Jan in mid-air, slamming him onto the ground.

 ‘Argh!’ Jan cried in pain as the ground below him trembled.

 Right after the slam, he summoned his divine spear and tried to stab Jan, but he rolled to the side, avoiding the lethal attack, and kicked Ulos’s leg, making him stumble, distanced himself and got up on his feet again.

 “Tsk… stupid awakened beastkin!” Ulos scoffed at Jan., insulting him for his race.

 And with sucking a snarky remark, he launched himself at Jan. Jan also increased his speed and infused his blade with the little mana he still had. He wasn’t hoping to take Ulos down per se, but… he hoped it would be enough to buy time.

 Ulos stabs at him, while Jan dodges with a minimal error, countering by trying to pierce through his thick armour.

 Jan was too close, and it started to annoy Ulos as he intentionally took a hit, thinking it couldn’t do much, but that was a mistake on his part since Jan sensed his intention and went in extra hard. Tearing through his armour and slicing into his flesh.

 ‘Arghh!’ Ulos screamed in agony as he still followed his initial plan to create distance and kicked Jan on the side with a tremendous amount of force, sending him away and leaving him to gasp for air.

 Ulos used this as an opportunity to infuse his weapon with black lightning and threw it at Jan while he was stunned.

 In a beastly manner, Jan twitched in the air and used the spear to reposition, sending him crashing onto the ground.

 Ulos came at him with a giant gauntlet as he tore up the ground, but Jan had seen this attack and avoided every spear that stuck out of the ground.

 “Fuck! Why are all of you so damn annoying!?” Ulos exclaimed as he kept relentlessly attacking Jan.

 Jan wanted to avoid directly blocking his attack and just avoided them. He couldn’t afford to shatter his divine weapon since it had already taken a bunch of punishment.

 Getting very frustrated, Ulos stomped on the ground and bent the earth at his will, creating stone pillars and making the ground unstable for Jan. It made him lose balance and unable to dodge the next incoming attack.

 Struck by immense pain, after blocking an attack and being kicked in the stomach, Jan flew into the air and became unconscious. Not letting him escape, Ulos was about to throw his infused spear but felt a surge of mana from behind.

 He turned around and glared at the youth, “You never—” and in that instant, his instincts told him to move, so he did, but… the beam of electricity tore through all his defences and melted off his arm.

 …

  …..

 …

 While Ulos and Jan fought, Alum recovered some mana and used it to heal his internal wounds. He was able to stand again, but his vision was blurry, and he panted heavily as he got up. He was grasping for air and felt dizzy.

 He closed his eyes, using [Static Field], which allowed him to sense his surroundings. He originally developed this as a means to react to Amethely’s attacks, which he couldn’t properly follow with his eyes. But… the spell was still incomplete, however, thus making things a little iffy.

 The voltage was low and pretty natural, making it hard to sense and disrupt, but… he was still able to determine the location of people and used [Plasma Ray] on Ulos. This time, it directly hit, melting his arm away.

 And as Ulos screams in agony, he throws his infused spear at him. But Alum sensed it, calculated its exact trajectory, dodging it by a small margin.

 His movements were clunky, but he still managed to dodge the barrage of earth spears that popped out of the ground.

 Ulos was in extreme pain and wouldn’t engage in close combat, leading him to cast spells instead, crying, “Stop moving around, you scoundrel!” as he chanted magic through the soil.

 As he was relentlessly attacking Alum, he charged up another black lightning spear, this time, way intenser. He didn’t need to hit the target directly. It would melt the surroundings as it passes them, predicting Alum’s movement and throwing the deadly attack. He cries, “DIE!”

 Alum already knew that a powerful attack would come his way. After all, the patterns of the ground spears led him in a certain direction; thus, he sacrificed one of his legs to stay as far away from the attack as possible.

 “WHAT!?” Ulos cried.

 Alum fell onto the ground and surged his mana, freezing all the ground moisture so that the earth spears wouldn’t penetrate.

 ‘Tsk,’ Ulos clicked his tongue again.

 He didn’t want to engage in close combat due to his sorry state, and Alum was a sneaky rascal, so he wouldn’t risk it.

 He observes his surroundings and that his men are losing in combat, and the mages that controlled the guards have been killed by Jan.

 (If I go and try to kill him now, I’ll probably end up dead…) he thought as he carefully considered his options.

 “Fuck…” he uttered.

 It was either die trying to kill this scoundrel or flee with his life. Of course, he isn’t dumb and chooses the latter, escaping into the forest.

 Seeing Ulos flee, Alum finally relaxed as his mana was utterly drained, thus losing consciousness.