CH 25

Zel finally saw the abdicate. It was tall, about 10 meters tall, and looked like a wet bird. Its beak was a dark yellow while the rest of its body was pink and covered in a slime-y liquid. It was running forwards while its featherless wings flapped while an anxious look was plastered on its face.

Zel didn't care though and after analyzing the abdicate for a while, he compressed the mana into a cone while he took out the Liger's Shield and held it in front of his body. When the mana had condensed to a degree he liked, he burst forth into the back of the abdicate while holding the Liger's Shield in front of him.

"Bang. Thud. Thud."

The abdicate died not knowing what happened. Its body split into two from the impact while it's head dangled in one on the two halves. The insides of the abdicate were lying around the surroundings and a putrid smell wafted over Zel's nose causing his nose to scrunch a little. He was about to release his cloak of mana when a feeling of danger came from behind him.

"Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh."

A group of silent blades slashed over Zel's body, or what they thought was his body. Having felt no resistance as well as the absence of the usual sound of meat being cut, the trio realized that they missed and went into a defensive posture.

It was then that Zel saw what his would be ambushers look like. The blade wielding trio wore outfits benefiting their assassin methods as their costumes were made for stealth. Each one was wearing something along the lines of a black cotton long sleeve top and a pair of similarly black pants with minor deviations. The thing that made them easier to identify was their heads which were covered by a black cloth that was open on the lower face revealing their profiles and a hole that showed their eyes.

The one on the right was a rather voluptuous woman who black eyes only enhanced her charm. She was holding a dark blade with no hilt that was placed by her side as she seemed to be looking for Zel who had gone so fast that they couldn't find his hiding position.

The one on the left was a bulky man with a pronounced jaw line and was scanning his surroundings as his cold emitting sword was placed in front of his chest parallel to the ground. The man in the middle was the calmest of the three as he sheathed his blade while holding it's handle. The man's mana was beginning to spread out to search for his target when they felt a small shock wave pass through the air.

Zel had found his target.

The one in the middle of the three was only able to raise his arms to defend his head while the two hadn't responded to the attack that seemingly had no killing intent, which was only because they were not on Zel's kill list. Not yet. It was only when the three had finally gathered their attention towards the middle where Zel had appeared that the man he felt his arms become lighter than usual.

The two others were able to see what happened to their comrade as lines of blue light appeared all over his body and it seemed to break apart along them as blood followed soon after. They didn't even get to cry out in alert when the sound of meat falling to the ground was heard. A silence lingered as they tried to comprehend what just happened. Only when the final piece of his body fell that the two cried out.

"No! Brother!"

"No way! He died just like that?"

The two seemed to realize that they have bitten more that what they could chew as they moved to a back-to-back position to cover all sides. But it only proved to be for nothing when they saw that Zel was not going to move from his position.

Little did they know that Zel was scouting their surroundings to look for other ambushers. After a painful silence, Zel looked towards the left where only the shadows of the trees lingered.

"Pangea? Come on 'Rockhard' Leno! I'm all alone."

"..."

"Pussy!"

"Hahaha, I thought that a King would be more regal. You sound more like a ruffian!"

"At least I'm no pussy!"

"Motherfucker! Get him!"

Zel's nonchalant appearance caused no small amount of vigilance to the experienced Leno. His many years in the army had made him see more than enough to understand that man's gaze. That smug look of a predator that seemed so natural on his face had been causing him to regret ever choosing to accept this mission, but what can you do?

If he goes back empty handed then that bastard Max will kill him and even if he does escape Max, what kind of life would he live then? His whole life was in the USM, he couldn't stand back and surrender so Leno's eyes sharpened as he went into the fray and try his luck. After all, his friends were still waiting for him.

A layer of orange mana burst out of Leno's body, though not as impressive looking as Zel, it was still a fantastic display of mastery. His clothes were ripped off by the glaring muscles that seemed to ripple due to the outstanding flow of mana. His orange-ranked talent was to commend for that, the 'Boulder Body'. He lowered his head to hide his eyes as his knees bent to a running position. At the same time his body burst into motion, three others went towards Zel's direction along with him.

"Should have brought more."

"!!!" Leno hasn't even arrived close to Zel when he saw how his friends had stood still after showing themselves.

Rex the Flower Hands whose skill set was centered around throwing hidden weapons, Jen the Black Sword whose skill set was drawn over the Drawing Sword style and Lobo whose orange-ranked talent, One Punch, made even his defenses strain with a single clean hit. All three of these otherwise elites have stood still for a few seconds until their body collapsed to bizarrely familiar slices of meat.

"AHHHH!"

Leno looked towards the right where the rest of the team who were to standby for an opportunity watched on as their comrades were instantly defeated, no, utterly and completely destroyed. Zel was still standing with his arms crossed over his chest while that smug look remained. He had no remorse for those who just died, after all, they were aiming to harm him and his family. This only made his apathetic smile make Leno remember the feelings he had earlier.

'That same annoying look. No, it looks more irritating now.'

Though Leno had no shame when he thought that he was a brave man, his quivering legs were given signs that something in him was breaking. However, it was true that he was still better off than the three people who had fallen to their knees and tried to beg for Zel's forgiveness.

"Please! Don't hurt me! I'm a father! My wife, she, she's waiting for me back home!"

"Don't come near me! Momma! No, please!"

"Sniff. Sniff. Ahhh!"

Leno's mood seemed to bottom out. He knew that his enemy wouldn't let them go, hell, if he was in their shoes then he also wouldn't let them go. But the eyes that didn't seem to be bothered by their actions caused more dread than he had ever felt before. If he showed even a trace of emotion, then they might have had a chance at survival. But this man, this beast, was not someone they should have messed with.

"Kill him!"

The black clothed woman from the three who ambushed him before came to his side while she focused her mana on the blade she held. Her face seemed to grow older and her skin cracked. Signs of mana overload that occurs when the user handles more mana than their vessel can handle. This proved to be good for her because Zel's arm has been hit by it, though only a small gash appeared before the woman turned into mincemeat.

"Agatha!" The other black clothed man fell to his knees while hugging the mincemeat.

She was his wife, the woman who held his life together. She had been in anguish as her brother had been murdered right in front of her but this. Why is she like this?

"AAAAAHHH!" Henry's scream drew everyone's attention but when he laid down and stopped moving, no one bothered with him.

Leno was now focusing everything he had to his talent "Boulder Body" that he had even before he got the system. It was something he had used frequently due to his boxing background from when he was younger. Even when those with the strongest punch had to think twice where they hit him. The greater the force they used, the more their hands would hurt. After all, you can't expect to punch a wall and not get hurt.

Leno was confident of his strong body that could be used for both defense and offense. The problem was that he couldn't even see how Zel was moving. That cloak of mana he had was also making him realize how much potential mana could have had he practiced it more. He didn't realize that Zel's masterful display was something he had spent years to hone, compiled from his many dreams.

"Who was it?" Zel's question seemed to trigger something in Leno as he didn't answer. His head was now wracking in pain when he remembered who sent the order. Who was the person who sent him to his death?

'That fucking bitch Lily! She was the one who was so focused on bringing down this monster!'

"Whoever it was, I'm sure you were not the only choice. Makes you wish that someone else was sent, eh?"

"Does it matter? Anyone else would have died anyway!"

"But it wouldn't be you who'd die right?"

"..." Zel's reasoning made him feel worse, the unfairness of the situation made him realize how foolish he had been to go through with this mission.

No, it wasn't unfair. He chose to go here. He chose to attack this man's home.

'Maria...'

His beautiful wife even asked him not to go. In all fifteen years that they had been married, never once had he denied her request. But this time he didn't follow her. The truth was that even if the mission was classified, he had told her.

Why?

Because he promised her that he would never let her down and hiding the fact that he would go to a dangerous mission was the same as letting her down on his mind.

But he only let her know, she had no say in the matter, at least not this one. Even when she begged him not to do it, he didn't relent. If he was to become a better man, a better husband, he had to go.

After all, he was doing this for the both of them. If he gets this done, he would be promoted to a council member and he could move his family to Mayt, the capital city of the Engsea.

'I made a mistake!'

He was regretting ever coming here. He was regretting leaving his wife behind. Most of all, he was regretting dying here, in a land where he had no one to even bury his corpse. Then it happened, while he was wallowing in his misery, a bright light that covered the surrounding area in frost appeared. A blade of frost headed straight for Zel, freezing everything in it's short-lived path.

"Die!"

Henry didn't care anymore. His life was over when she died. He had taken the time when no one cared about him and used his System Watch to upgrade his skill "Frost Blade" forcefully. A level 6 Frost blade was used and with one swing of his blade, an area the radius of fifteen meters was cut in half parallel to the side of his blade.

"Ding!" The blade made half the arc of a circle before it was forcefully stopped.

Zel's Liger's Shield had protected him from the attack, but his cloak of mana was forcefully disrupted to handle the blow. Leno, not missing this chance had used his body as a weapon and flew towards Zel like a speeding bullet.

"Bang!" Zel's body flew along an arc as it landed twenty meters away.

His right arm was broken, with even his ribs taking a few fractures. But the rest of his body was unharmed as it was his right arm that took the brunt of the attack. An injury like this was something that healed in less than a minute should he use his stock of potions.

'You've hurt the man who took everything away from you, I hope you know that.'

But when Zel looked towards the direction of Henry who was now a pile of bones, he showed a sign of guilt in his heart. He felt it was good enough for him to take this pain to give the man some kind of closure.

"You arrogant fuck! Serves you ri- Boom!"

Before he could even have the liberty of appreciating his success, Leno's head burst from his shoulders and only pieces of it landed on the ground as his now headless body dropped lifelessly. It was only then that Zel saw an outstretched hand appear on his side, though he already felt his presence a few seconds ago.

"You should have handled that better King, you're much more important than you know!"

"Yeah, well, I can't waste a lot of mana. I was pretty much at my spending limit there. Thanks, Matty."

"No problem, Zel."

Zel took the hand and raised his body to a standing position. The exhaustion he felt was making him dizzy and he wanted to lie down for a long time, but he can't. Time was running out and he had no room to spare when it comes to time.

A clear bottle filled with blue liquid suddenly appeared on his hand. He took off the lid and gulped down every drop of it. His breathing slowed while he wiped his mouth with one hand as the bottle disappeared in a similar manner to how it appeared. He closed his eyes for a few seconds until a wave of mana came out from his back and spread throughout his entire body.

"Let's go!"

He looked at the waiting Matty while the mana surrounding his body condensed to a visible armor and a crowned helmet covered his head.