294 Pledge 1

Clear and cold moonlight slowly spilt from the sky, enveloping the entire forest in a faint and mysterious net of silver.

"Huuu."

With his feet planted on top of a thick branch, a youth tightly held onto the tusk of the tree. His cold deep blue eyes surveilled the surroundings as a small bun appeared at the back of his head, tying his shoulder-length hair.

An unusual silence prevailed over the forest.

"Rooooooar!"

The silence did not last for long as a ferocious roar soon broke it. Then, appearing from behind a couple of trees was an enormous black bear with sharp claws that extended to at least the size of a pen.

"Huuuup!"

Standing on the opposite side of the bear was a youth with hazel eyes and curly brown hair.

Holding onto a large shield, the youth glared at the bear standing opposite him. After that, crying out, he dashed towards the bear with his right shoulder protected by the shield.

"Rooooar!"

The bear once again roared.

Raising its enormous claws, Hein suddenly felt an intense force appear in front of him.

Faced with such strength, Hein's face remained calm. Stomping the ground with his foot, he let out an angry cry as a brown color began to envelop his shield.

Clank—!

A clear sound echoed throughout the forest. The sound, which lingered in the air for a couple of seconds, was piercing to the ear.

Upon blocking the bear's attack, the force of the impact resulted in the creation of a half a metre wide hole in the ground around Hein's feet.

Letting out a small groan, Hein suddenly shouted.

"Khh...Now, Ava!"

tootle-too~

Once his words faded, the melodious tune of a flute suddenly rang in the air.

—Rustle! —Rustle!

Not long after the tune rang out, three pairs of red eyes appeared from nearby bushes.

Multiple growling sounds soon rang out.

"Grrrrr..."

Then, appearing from behind the vegetation were three red wolves. The wolves did not move, glaring at the bear standing opposite them with red blood-thirsty eyes; the wolves continued to growl.

"Rooooar!"

Seeing the three wolves in the distance, the bear roared in anger. Then, standing on both two feet, the bear raised its paws in the air.

As the bear stood up, its sharp claws reflected underneath the moonlight.

A ferocious aura quickly spread from its body, and a faint red glow enveloped its paws.

"Not on my watch!"

Just when the bear was about to attack the wolves, stomping his foot on the ground, Hein took advantage of the bears' distraction and once again dashed forward, smacking his shield at full force towards the bear's back, throwing it off balance.

"Now!"

Hein suddenly shouted.

tootle-too~

Once again, the sound of a flute playing rang out. <br/><script>ChapterMid();</script>

The sound wave sent out from the short flute began spreading out in all directions as the eyes of the wolves flashed.

Following this, the wolves that had not moved since appearing finally made their moves. Howling in the sky, they quickly dashed towards the bear.

"Oooooouuuee!"

The wolves had already appeared before the bear in a brief two seconds. Bearing their fangs, they ruthlessly aimed for the neck of the bear.

"Rooooar!"

Blood spilt out, and the bear's agonizing roar rang out. Then, swinging its arm, the bear threw one of the wolves away and raised its paw and clawed towards the wolf that was biting onto its neck.

Clank—!

However, just when the claw was about to hit the wolf, the bear again lost its balance as a tremendous force hit it from the back.

"Stay down the fuck down, you bastard."

Hein cursed as he violently pressed his shield onto the bear, rooting him on the ground.

"Rooooar!"

The bear was enraged by this. However, it could do nothing about it.

Despite the bears' attempts to rise to its feet, Hein continued to press his shield onto the bear's stomach, rooting its large body onto the ground.

"Oooooouuuee!"

Taking advantage of the fact that the bear could no longer move, the wolves ruthlessly bit onto the bear's flesh.

Pu chi—!

Blood violently sprayed from the bear's body.

—Thud!

Ganged up by three wolves and one human, the bear could not do anything.

Eventually, lifelessly looking at its surroundings, the bear breathed its last breath of air before dying.

"Haa...haaa..."

Once the bear died, heavy silence descended on the forest. That was until it was broken by Hein's, who dropped dead on the ground, exhausted.

"Did we do it?"

Appearing from behind the tree was a small petite girl.

Tightly holding onto a green translucent flute, the girl cautiously looked at the bear on the ground.

"...It's dead, isn't it?"

"Let me check."

Hein walked up to the bear with his shield raised to ensure it was dead. Then, circling it a couple of times and seeing that the bear was no longer breathing, Hein smiled.

"We did it!"

Upon confirming the bear's death, Joy could vividly be seen on Ava's face as she flashed a beautiful smile.

"Ava. we did it, we finally killed a <D> ranked beast by ourselves!"

Hein cried out in excitement.

This was the first time they beat a <D> tanked create.

Ava and Hein celebrated their victory for the next couple of seconds.

Then, recalling something, they both turned their heads towards a certain direction.

"How was it? Did we do well?"

Hein asked.

Hints of anticipation could be felt in his voice.

"..."

Wordlessly staring at them from above, a faint smile soon appeared on my face.

"...Not bad."

Jumping down from the tree I was on and lightly landing on the ground; I stared at the corpse of the bear.

Walking towards it, I bent down and stabbed a dagger towards its skull.

"You guys sure have improved a lot..."

From being unable to take care of a single <E> ranked beast to now being able to take care of a <D> ranked one easily.

These past four months outside of the human domain had not been wasted.

Hein and Ava had now comfortably stepped into <E> rank range, and their experience had drastically increased.

They could now hold up against more vigorous opponents.

"A pity that there is no core."

I muttered as I wiped my dagger with a white handkerchief.

Once again, no core.

Despite having hunted so many beasts throughout the four months that I had passed in here, I was still unable to find a core.

Anyhow, core aside, the most pleasant surprise was now Ava, who could now control more than three beasts with the aid of the flute.

Although her technique was still not perfect, she was stronger than before.

The fight just now being a great example of this.

No longer could she be considered dead-weight.

"There's also her..."

If there was another individual whose strength improved, Angelica stepped onto the Count rank from the Viscount rank.

I now had another powerful asset at my disposal.

Them aside, I also didn't stand idle during those four months.

"Status."

Swiping my hand forward, a small rectangular screen appeared in front of me.

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : C -

Strength : C -

Agility : C +

Stamina : C -

Intelligence : C

Mana capacity : c-

Luck : C +

Charm : D

--> Profession :

[Swordsmanship lvl.4]

The degree of understanding of the sword has evolved to the next level. User will find it easier to understand previously harder concepts.

--> Martial Manual :

[★★★★★ Keiki style] - Greater realm of mastery

Sword art created by Grandmaster Toshimoto Keiki. A five-star module focused primarily on reaching the apex of swordsmanship and speed. Upon mastery, the sword art becomes so fast that before an opponent could even think about their next move, their heads would already be rolling on the ground.

[★★★ Ring of vindication] - Greater realm of mastery

Highly advanced sword art that creates a perfect ring of defense around the user. The ring can create a three-dimensional sphere that protects the user from all sides upon mastery. Because of the lack of offensive capabilities, the manual was graded three-stars.

[★★★ Drifting steps] - Greater realm of mastery

Movement art that progresses with each step. With every step taken, user speed will increase. Unless the user stops, speed will continuously improve until the user either runs out of mana or is injured.

[★★★✰ Quick-slash style] - Minor realm of mastery.

A sword art fully focused on speed. With one quick draw, the user gains the ability to kill an opponent without them noticing anything had happened. Created to replicate the Keiki style. After years of research, this sword art was the result.

[★★★ Full-body martial arts]

Hand-to-Hand combat technique dedicated to utilizing every single part of the body to incapacitate the enemy. It may be a 3-star art, but upon mastery, it can be used to complement other forms of martial art.

--> Skills :

A skill that enables users to erase all emotions, and act as a supreme monarch that only calculates the best option regardless of circumstance.

A skill that enables the user to instil fear into the opponents' minds resulting in them feeling like they were standing before a sovereign that overlooked everything. The skill may work on individuals who are one rank higher than them, however, if the difference between the two parties is greater than two ranks, the skill effect diminishes.

==========

A lot has changed during those four months, and most notable was the fact that I had now broken through to <C-> rank.

Not only that, but I was not close to reaching the next realm of mastery for the Keiki style.

The essence realm of mastery.

Once I learned that I would finally be able to use the fourth stance of the Keiki style, once again, my strength would shoot up to the next level.

Everything was slowly coming into place.

—Triiing!

My two-way radio suddenly beeped, disrupting me out of my thoughts.

Taking out a small device from my pants, I quickly answered.

"Ryan?"

—Ren, they're near.

A slight sense of urgency could be felt in his voice as he spoke.