Alex and Shizuka arrived at the soldiers' side, they looked at the quantity of the hellhounds and impressed by the soldiers' sheer of tenacity to hold the monster at bay, Shizuka landed on the wood's blockade and began to throw the barrage of kunai at the monsters.

"Go, climb the tree, the mission's over!" Shizuka said.

The tired eyes of Dick, Damian, and Jason immediately refreshed, they didn't hesitate to stop firing and began to climb the wooden ladder Momo had produced before.

"Thank you guys, I really appreciate the effort," Alex gently smiled, he even extended his hand, offering a handshake.

The soldiers exchanged glances, they grinned excitedly as Dick approached Alex, accepted his hand and squeezed softly, his spirit couldn't help but soothe.

After all, someone just appreciated their work, it's like working on a construction or did some assignment, then your superior or your teacher expressed their appreciation, let alone complimented directly...

'So that's the secret to become a successful person...' Dick secretly thought, then their hand separated.

"Mr. Star, how about Ms. Alexis, is she fine?" Damian between curious to know and somewhat afraid of the answer, but looking at Alex's expression, it should have been not bad... maybe...

"Well, she's fine... as strong as an ox!" Alex chuckled, but quickly said, "don't... let her know what I said, I am still not ready to die yet..."

The soldiers laughed, despite they still trapped inside the darkness, no one could prevent the jolly they felt, Damian at this moment said, "Mr. Star, I have a thought!"

"Sure, what is it?" Alex said without even doubting whether it was a good one or not, Damian was slightly flattered.

"Mr. Star, you level up and gain points by killing monsters, right?"

"Half true, anything I kill will earn me something to gain strength, except my own summons, or something that came out from my power," Alex nodded.

"Mr. Star, these hellhounds are an undead creature that appears in this forest without someone's calling them, basically, I think, no matter how many of these SOBs we killed, they will reappear again and again, they are infinite!"

This saying, Alex's inside as if had been struck by lightning, an infinite quantity of enemy to kill?

What're the most essential thing about resources that usually caused a headache? They were not limitless...

From coal mine to crude oil, tree to an animal, they were a resource that at some point in time would extinguish, but of course, sometimes it took centuries, decades, or millenniums, in short, they will run out eventually.

But if one somehow had a limitless quantity of resources, then no matter how they greedily wasted it, it would never be gone.

Only, there were two kinds of a problem; first, how effectively one can utilize the resource, second, how much the worth of that resource?

In this hellhound case, how Alex could keep killing the hellhounds when he had to move around the world? The clock was ticking, and he had no idea when the dragon would rise, maybe tomorrow? Or a week later? Maybe a month? He certainly couldn't lolly-gagged killing hellhounds unless he precisely knew the deadline of his task.

Another way for him to gain exp was through summoning function... just like Dick, Jason, and Damian, he summoned a large batch of a group to provide him with the killing.

And this was certainly the most advised option!

"Damian, that is brilliant, you're a genius!" Alex tapped the man's shoulder, hearing the praise, Damian appeared slightly bashful, then Alex said, "despite it's still an assumption, but you just give me an infinite potential to grow, that alone deserve a good reward!"

"Mr. Star, you don't have to, I... this just my cent of thought... I'm not really sure yet..."

Alex smiled then he opened the menu, Shizuka had stopped killing the hellhounds and returned to their side, now the undead dogs appeared lost and once again just wandered the ground.

One thing he knew about his level up mechanism was that it first accumulated the exp, point, and coin of his or his summon killing before giving the reward to him.

This actually gave him time to write down his last exp and resource, before knowing how much he gained afterward.

"Alright, next level is 17502, points 122,920 P, money: 1,001,115 G 91 S 70 C..." Alex wrote it down on his phone, then he waited for about five minutes before suddenly the number on his status changed, "now... next level is 15502, points 123,120 P, money: 1,001,115 G 93 S 70 C

"..."

"The total worth of killing all the hellhounds was 2000 XP, 200 P, and 200 C..."

That's... not really much wasn't it? Alex was sure he and the others had killed more than 30-40 hellhounds; if these were the goblins, it would be enough to net him at least 6000 XP, 600 P, and 600 C...

Let's assumed one hellhound worth 50 XP... that meant he had to kill about 310 hellhounds to achieve the next level...

Alright, that's not actually bad... if he could summon 30 people, one just had to kill 12 hellhounds for him to level up...

But if one hellhound actually worth less than 50 XP, maybe just 20 XP... that meant 776 hellhounds... in 30 people, one had to kill 26 hellhounds...

Not bad... not really bad... although this became less effective as his exp got higher, at least he could earn free profit...

As for the type of summon he would call? There were many options, but people who worked for money certainly would be easier to be employed.

Gun was good but the used ammo couldn't be recovered, a group of archers without superpower would work (grade D, the cheapest was 1000), shinobi would certainly expensive (Grade C, the cheapest of them are 20,000 P).

...

Why need archer when you can have a group of mercenaries who were trained? And let alone you can save them from their miserable fate?

"Band Of Falcon - [ Berserk ] varied from 3,000 - 10,000."

"Survey Corps - [ Attack on Titan ] varied from 2,000 - 10,000."

"The Persian Army - [ Legend of Arslan ] varied from 2,000 - 10,000."

(***)

Momo and Alexis traveled through the forest by connecting the branch, every time Momo activated her ability, Alexis noticed she took out something from her bag, she clenched it within her hand, and a green light manifested between the gap of her fingers, last she slapped her palm onto the branch below them. Under Alexi's shocked face, a new branch would spurt and make its way toward the next tree, thus allowing them to travel safely.

"What sort of magic is this, Ms. Bella?" Alexis said, genuinely curious.

There was a spell to control leaves and manipulated plants, but never she knew magic to grow something anew...

"A secret~" Momo winked, "by the way, you can call me Momo, don't need formality."

"Ah, I see..." Alexis nodded, "Ms. Be- oh I mean Momo, what else can you do with this magic?"

"Oh, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I understand," she quickly said.

"No, no; if this, I can tell... let's see... I can use it as a weapon... either making it completely dulled to smash my enemy... or sharp like a sword so I can stab them..."

"I can manifest the tree in many places, well maybe not a steel-based surface..."

"I can also use it as transportation, although there is still the limit of the length I can grow..."

"That's so handy, both in the tactical and direct fight..." Alexis said while amazed.

Momo smiled, said, "How about you Alexis, how long you have been training swordsmanship?"

"I started my training at the age of eight, under a titular of my family's swordmaster, I entered Lunar Knight Academy 3 years later and had been part of the academy till today."

"Lunar Knight Academy? Was that like this Cathedral Knight Academy you mentioned before?"

"Yes, there were 4 Knight Academies on Moonlight Continent; Cathedral, Lunar, Luthor, and Baraqiel."

"Cathedral was the strongest Knight Academy among the four, they were not just existed in Moonlight Continent's, but also in other continents as well, the difference among them could be categorized into three; first, the mission, second, the cadet, third, the affiliation."

"Cathedral accepted a mission even related outside of the Moonlight continent, the three others only operated in the Moonlight Continent."

"Cathedral accepted all kinds of men as long they had a talent, Lunar only accepted a noble family, Luthor accepted others too as long you can pay for the tuition and Baraqiel accepted even different races..."

"Cathedral didn't under the influence of any kingdoms, Lunar was pitted between the Lionheart and Knightwalker kingdom, Luthor connected to the merchant's association, and Baraqiel had the support of the Beowulf Kingdom."

Momo knitted her forehead, said, "This Lunar Knight Academy... what do you mean when you said 'pitted'?"

Alexis said, "The control of the academy had been long changing hands, in one period was someone from Lionheart kingdom, in another period, was on the hand of Knightwalker kingdom."

"What happened when the academy under the control of one of the kingdom?"

"Blatant racism and unfairness," Alexis shook her head, "the rule; we are the leader now, you should obey us became effective immediately."

"Although they didn't reject the opposite party's acceptance into the academy, they will immediately direct to the lowest class; a class that got the least attention and development."

"The academy didn't allow fighting, let alone killing outside of a duel challenge, with a reasonable reason, one could demand a duel to the death with the opposite party, and as for the reasonable reason, it was clearly 'reasonable' under subjective view, so absolutely unfair."

"No bully allowed, but that's only under the pretense, even if you got punched or kicked, they would pretend didn't see anything, and on the contrary; they will make a fuss despite you didn't do any physical injury..."

"What?!" Momo startled, "what kind of academy is that? That's a stupid rule! That's literally, someone's fortune is other misfortune!"

"Why any people wanted to go to school like that?"

Alexis bitterly sighed, "Because they didn't have the choice, some didn't have enough talent to enter Cathedral, some didn't have enough money to enter Luthor, and some had big prejudice against other races, thus unwilling to enter Baraqiel."

"Ms. Alexis, why do you enter such Academy?"

"At my time of acceptance, it was the people of the Lionheart Kingdom who in control, I was... recommended to enter..."

"But the chain of command changed five years ago, the people of Knightwalker's kingdom won the vote and finally become the current leader of the current period..."

Momo could hear the grievance in her tone, pondering what kind of hell she had been through within those years till now...

"Why don't you quit?"

Alexis smiled, said, "If I quit, I won't be able to learn any swordsmanship, become useless far more than the current me today."

"Ms. Alexis, you are not useless..." Momo shook her head, calmly said, "you are the one who can get us out of here, therefore, never think yourself as useless."

"..." Alexis widened her eyes, then gently nodded, said, "I hope it'll work."

"I believe it'll work!"

Soon, the two women arrived in front of the Old Woodland's entrance, Momo erected one big trunk to rise their ground level to where the hellhounds became helpless.

Alexis took a deep breath, she glanced to Momo on the side, the latter gave encouraging smile.

She lifted the sword and placed it before her face, then Alexis slowly closed her eyes.

"Ancestors please forgive me..."
"In many years of your rest..."
"This descendant disturb it for the first time..."
"If not for the crisis on hand..."
"If not for the lack of resolve in heart.."
"If not for the lack of discipline in mind..."
"If not for the lack of will in spirit..."
"if not for the lack of strength in body..."
"You shall not be awakened today..."
"O, the brave Argent Lionheart..."
"Your courage inspires to brave the danger..."
"Please lend me your strength..."

*Ding!*

The blue gem on the sword lit, the blue blade suddenly glittered.

"O, the arduous Claudia Lionheart..."
"Your courage inspires to endure the pilgrimage..."
"Please lend me your strength..."

Lion... heart?

Momo immediately gasped, couldn't believe looking at Alexis.

She's... a lionheart?!

"O, the cunning Myrddin Lionheart..."
"Your courage inspires to keep the anger..."
"Please lend me your strength..."

"O, the benevolent Allen Lionheart..."
"O, the powerful Richard Lionheart..."
"O, the sacred Ardent Lionheart..."

"..."

Every name she muttered followed with a small twinkle from the blue gem, the sword's glow became stronger and brighter, Momo had to squint her eyes to see clearly, she even placed one hand above her eyes.

Momo stared at Alexis with a complicated heart, never expected the people Alex saved was the prince and princess of the Lionheart itself...

What happened now? Should she keep this secret from him? But if Alexis must have been prepared to expose her identity when using this ability, then she shouldn't be mind for Alex to know.

5 minutes passed...

Finally, Alexis said, "I, Alexis Lionheart, the 35th generation of Lionheart family, entreat the ancestors, please grant me your strength!"

"Memoria Odysseus!"

*Bang!*

The sword blew up a brilliant blue glow as if soared to heaven, the glow struck the black dome above, immediately the entire place as if let out a loud cry.

From the distance, Alex and the others could see the light, in the place of darkness like this, the sun as if just rose from the East.

Somewhere in the Old Woodland, someone was about to sleep due to exhaustion suddenly got woken up, seeing the same light that struck out of nowhere.

Alexis snapped open her eyes, she slowly brought down the sword, every time the blue glow dragged its light toward the dark surface, the black dome shook and trembled, it's like a ceiling or roof that slowly crumbled.

This was under Alexis's prediction, the strength of the sword didn't seem to achieve the Saint Rank, but close to, she didn't know whether this would work or not.

She roar, gritting her teeth and clenching her hands, she must not waste Alex and the others hope and trust to her, she must not fail, not now, not again.

Momo grasped her hands, silently prayed, she didn't know whether God existed or not, but she hoped for a miracle.

Finally, the blue glow had been lined up straightly toward the black dome before them, the entire place cracked and fractured, Alexis slowly pushed the sword, despite the energy slowly drew her body back.

At this moment, she felt someone held her body from behind, she glanced over her shoulder and saw Momo encouraged her in both physical and spiritual.

The young woman regained her confidence, she faced the black dome again, and slowly moved forward, with the support of Momo, the blue glow became more and more condensed toward the black dome, the entire area even shook fiercely now.

Alex looked intently at the crumbling dome, he could see a small glimpse of light shone through the crevice.

"Break..." Alex said.

"Break..." Shizuka said.

"Break..." the soldiers said.

Both Alexis and Momo clenched their teeth, with the final push toward the black dome, they together screamed, "BREAK!"

*Bang!*

At the same time with the blue glow disappeared, the entire black dome also broke to pieces, the once very dark place now brimmed with vague light, the sun unleashed its golden ray and shone through the dense trees, the warm also returned to the Old Woodlands.

The hellhounds from one corner to another corner immediately vaporized, burned to ashes...

It was also the same with Lionel Sidonis, the once sword that accompanied her journey, now cracked and finally broke to pieces, but she didn't care about that.

Because as the black dome disappeared, a familiar face once again entered her eyes, he was stunned for a bit, before exposing the goofy grin.

"Told you will not die..." the young man said with the relieved tone, his nose slightly became sour.

Alexis smiled, softly said, "I am back."

The young man nodded, said, "Welcome home."