Wiley still had time to look back to see how Clyde was doing. What he saw was quite surprising; Clyde just stood there as if waiting for something, the headless corpses of the creatures lay around him, looking insignificant in front of Clyde.
"Wiley! What are you doing?!" Rosie's scream woke Wiley, who didn't realize that he had slowed down when he looked at Clyde.
Wiley faced forward again. Without saying anything he dashed after his friends.
What Maethion and Clyde had said about the bounds in their power of systems rang in their heads. If they did face Celestials, then whatever they did would be completely useless. So they just have to run as hard as they can.
While Albert, Rosie, Wiley, and Lola ran away, Clyde was still where he had been standing. He scanned around to wait if anything else might appear in this place and attack.
But after waiting a few seconds he found nothing. Clyde decided to move, the creature might appear elsewhere to intercept his party members. They might even be waiting at the portal.
Clyde put the Elderglass Sword into its scabbard and dashed backward.
~~~
Samuel and Leyan came over and made their situation reverse quickly. Leyan sniped one of the creatures from behind the trees and lodged a Mana arrow at its head. The creature fell backward and immediately died.
A moment later Samuel's spear also came from behind the trees, shot out at high speed and enveloped in Mana. The spear had an even worse impact than Leyan's arrow which pierced the creature's chest, pushed it back, and nailed it to a large tree.
Now only one of the three creatures remained, dazed and confused because suddenly its friend died before its eyes, the creature was unable to see what was coming to it.
Leon with his short sword stabbed the creature's chest with all his might. Then he immediately drew his sword, spun around, then swung the blade at the creature's neck.
*CRAATT!*
Leon managed to slash the creature's neck until he severed it. He killed the one remaining creature.
"Come on! We have to get out of here!" Samuel shouted in a tone of obvious haste.
Leon, Kei, Haru, and Kiara didn't bother to answer. They immediately ran away from that place as far as possible.
They've been found out. They also knew about their bounds and they could be thrown into disaster if the Celestials who owned this domain really came.
They kept running until they finally came out of the forest area. An earthquake was created, then the sound of a giant volcano erupting behind them was heard.
"It can't be good," said Leyan.
His voice reached the surrounding party members. Making them even more panicked.
"Fuck!" Leyan cursed to convey his frustration and fear. They haven't even found the path to the Nexus of Creation yet but they should be back already.
He and Samuel had indeed gotten a new power from the Celestial's pond hot. But is that more important than finding that path?
After a long time of running, they finally could see where their portal was. However, they immediately stopped in place, as if their feet were nailed to the ground by a large peg.
On the grass where their portal had been, stood the figure of a female with brown skin and bright red hair.
The figure stood up and her crimson eyes stared at them one by one. She gritted her teeth, clearly feeling mad.
"Who are you?" Goddess Pele asked. However, even though she only asked in an ordinary voice, immense pressure hit the ten people and made them fall to their knees.
They winced in pain, feeling that their heads were about to explode from the foreign force that suddenly attacked their psyches.
"Hmp!" Goddess Pele snorted in disdain at their suffering. She just remembered that she was using her real voice to talk to mortals. But seeing the effect she had on them, Goddes Pele was satisfied. She could put off her question for a moment longer and watch them suffer.
Suddenly a fireball shot toward her at high speed. Goddess Pele was shocked because before she didn't feel anything. Maybe because she was too busy watching these presumptuous intruders suffer.
The Goddess of Fire moves aside. Her speed is so incredible that it seems she is only teleporting instead of moving.
*BOOM!*
The fireball hit the ground where she previously stood. She stared at the direction the fireball was coming from to see who would dare attack her amid her pleasure. And why isn't he or she affected by her real voice?
And then, the Goddess found him. A man landed not far in front of Goddess Pele. It was none other than Clyde who came just in time after having that bad feeling just now.
Clyde stared at the female figure in front of him with a frown. 'Is she the Goddess Pele?'
This was Clyde's first time seeing a Celestial in person. He had to admit that their appearance was indeed quite intimidating.
When he glanced at the rest of the party, Clyde saw that they were suffering from unbearable pain. This must all be because of the power these Celestials had over them. But he didn't feel anything. This further proves that his power of the system is indeed different.
Clyde ran towards Goddess Pele. If he let this go on any longer maybe all of his party members would die.
Goddess Pele who saw Clyde running towards him with eyes as if he wanted to kill frowned. Who exactly is that man? Why isn't he affected by her voice? And why did he dare to lunge straight at her who was a Celestial.
Goddess Pele grinned. 'Let's see if you can still put on a face like that after I threw you into my volcano.'
The Goddess stretched her arms forward; sent a fireball toward Clyde. However, instead of dodging, Clyde took out his Inferno Blade and activated [Skill: Burning Hand]. He wanted to test how strong his fire power after being enhanced by the pond.
The fire on the sword is flaring bigger. Goddess Pele can't help but frown full of curiosity. 'What is that sword?'
*CLANG!*
Clyde slammed the Inferno Blade which was already covered in flames into the fireball that Goddess Pele threw.
Clyde felt a huge pressure pushing against him as he blocked the fireball. But it wasn't something he couldn't handle.
'I thought it would be worse than this.'
Clyde then swung Inferno Blade while increasing his power. And a moment later the fireball split open and exploded in front of Clyde.
Goddess Pele widened her eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing. How could he destroy her fireball?
There is only one possibility. Maybe it was the Celestial who sent them using their massive amount of Mana on this man so he could handle her power.
"Who is your master?!" Goddess Pele asked with her real voice. She added a bit of her Mana to let out the sound because she wanted to hit Clyde with a huge pressure wave.
However, Clyde was not swayed. After splitting the fireball, Clyde immediately shot toward Goddess Pele with incredible speed. That made the Goddess even more confused. She was beginning to feel that there was something wrong with all of this.
Clyde's speed also shocked her. In the blink of an eye, Clyde was already in front of Goddess Pele and started swinging his flaming sword.
Goddess Pele raised her hand to hold the Inferno Blade.
·ƈθm *CLANG!*
She could endure that slash. However, the pressure she felt from the blade was greater than she thought.
Clyde didn't stop there. He kicked the Goddess in the stomach and pushed her a few steps back.
Goddess Pele once again showed an expression of shock because of Clyde's power. But as soon as she looked up again Clyde was already in front of her swinging his sword.
Goddess Pele who was feeling furious clenched her fist and punched the Inferno Blade that was swinging at her.
*CLANG!*
Clyde was knocked back by the punch. He landed on the ground with shaking hands.
'So this is a Celestial's power.'
Clyde stared at his hands which were trembling from the punch. He didn't use all of his strength to swing the Inferno Blade, but previously that much power was enough to kill monsters and make a huge impact on Uriel's warriors. Yet now he felt his hands tremble which indicated the magnitude of the power of a Celestial.
Clyde looked back. He saw that the influence of Goddess Pele's voice had lessened as she was now focused on him.
"Go to the portal! I will hold her!" Clyde shouted at them.
"Watch out, Clyde!" Lola shouted with a grave expression.
Clyde reacted immediately and raised the Inferno Blade just as Goddess Pele's hand was about to reach his neck.
The Goddess of Fire finally wielded the Inferno Blade and yanked the sword toward her. Clyde was also automatically attracted towards him and Goddess Pele immediately shot fire towards Clyde.
~~~