"Now go, I don't have time to waste with you."
Ma?ra was about to close the door but I wasn't finished with her, so I blocked the door with my foot, I couldn't possibly just leave like that.
"Wait a little bit! Are you saying that the legendary master is already dead?"
"Legendary master? That old man was just a lunatic who was obsessed with martial arts, but in the end, that's what killed him." Ma?ra frowned as she spat these words. It seemed like she held grudge against this master, but at the end of her sentence, she seemed a little bit regretful.
More importantly, I wasn't ready for such a revelation. 'If the master already passed away, then what am I going to do?'
"He was your master?"
If this Ma?ra was the disciple of this master, then there might be some hope. I was also thinking about asking if he left some notes or books where he recorded his experiences.
"This discussion ends here, kid. Now go away!"
Ma?ra looked like she was annoyed by my question and insisted strongly that we leave.
"I can't do that, Miss Ma?ra." I looked at Ma?ra straight in the eyes as I said these words. "I traveled from the Capital to come here to learn from this master. There are too many things riding on this, I can't return empty-handed."
"That's not my problem, kid."
"Then, tell me, what should I do to convince you to teach me the skills that you demonstrated at the pub yesterday."
I wasn't expecting this turn of events but there was still hope for me to learn that technique.
"Kid, I won't say this again, go away!"
"I take the risk!"
"Don't test me…"
Ma?ra and I faced each other and the atmosphere tensed up.
Boom!
To our surprise, it was not Ma?ra or me who made a move, but someone else.
Part Ma?ra's house just exploded and the sound of the explosion echoed throughout the whole area.
"What do we have here? Two women, a kid, and a baby. Are you telling me that you guys were beaten up by these women?"
A red-skinned creature, almost three meters tall appeared out of nowhere, and he had a bunch of underlings with him.
Smash!
The three meters tall creature smashed his fist onto the face of one of his underlings.
Crash!
The poor guy flew a few meters backward before crashing to a tree root.
"I am not a bad guy. If you two accept to service me for one night, then I will let this go. I am even willing to let the kid and the baby go. These guys were weak, but they are still part of the clan you see." The red-skinned guy talked with such arrogance and didn't even care about my existence.
'Why do I feel like everyone treat me like a kid lately?' I thought, It got on my nerves.
"Miss Ma?ra, it looks like these people came for you… I will take care of them, so you'll owe me a favor. You may have excellent sword skills, but you are still giftless, you can't win against them alone," I said.
"You, how do you know that?"
There should be a lot of ways to find out about Ma?ra's power, but as for me, I just used my ability. 'She could move even when I used my power, so of course, I know…'
"Don't forget your promise miss Ma?ra," I said.
"I didn't promise anything, kid!"
*****
"Huh? What do you want kid?" The red skinned guy said as arrogantly as possible.
I ignoring his arrogance, I walked toward the arrogant the guy, and I wasn't about to start a friendly conversation.
"If you apologize to these ladies now, I am willing to spare two of your arms," I said as clearly as possible, emphasising the word 'apologize' and 'spare.'
"What? Hahaha… Did you see that? The kid threatened me… Aaaaaa, mommy, I am so scared." The red-skinned guy and his underlings burst into laughter as they mocked me.
I didn't let any kind of expression show on my face even after hearing thier laughter.
"You know, I was just saying, just in case you wanted to live," I said that, and when I said these words, they stopped laughing and looked at me.
"You are unlucky kid, I just decided that I will kill you and make these women my slave," the red-skinned guy said, and his words shocked me.
Not because I was scared, but I was thinking about the balance of power in this country.
'Does this country adopt the rules of the strong?' From the sound of it, things like slavery weren't a rare occurrence in this country. 'Still, man, I was going to take it easy on him but…'
"You shouldn't have said that…" I said, and I was saying it in a calm voice, but my patience reached its limit.
I was on the edge the last few days and I needed to relieve some pressure. 'Blame your luck…'
Fire particles gathered on the creature's palm and an orb of fire took shape.
The orb of fire grew bigger and bigger and I felt the heat emitting from it even though I was still a few meters away.
He wanted to incinerate it without leaving any trace.
"Die insect!"
A fireball bigger than my body headed toward me at full speed.
"What are you doing kid?!" I could hear Miss Ma?ra saying something behind me, but I was not concerned about a mere fireball at all.
Despite everyone's expectations, I walked straight inside the ball of fire and was engulfed by red crimson flames.
Boom!
"Hahaha! What a wonderful sight!"
The red-skinned guy had a twisted look on his ugly face as he looked at me, but I could see him and his expression was about to change.
"Is that so?" I said, as I continued walking forward nonchalantly and everyone's eyes widened.
There was not a trace of burn anywhere on my clothes.
"You, how are you still alive?" The guy asked with a dumbfounded expression, and he didn't look as arrogant as before.
"I don't know, I was just walking and a breeze of wind stroked my face gently," I replied.
The red-skinned guy's face reddened even more and it his face turned into a tomato.
"Hahaha! It seems like you can use some trick kid… But I am a level 7 gift-holder and-"
"So what? You are a gift holder, so what?!" I didn't let him finish his sentence and he was even more enraged.
"Die!"
This time he attacked me with four fireballs, and the shockwave created by the impact knocked away a few tree roots and created a huge smokescreen.
The smell of burnt was prominent in the air and dusts covered the area around me.
"I didn't expect to use that much power on small fry. I hope the women didn't turn into charcoal with him. Go fetch the women!" The red skinned guy said with a triumphant look on his face.
"Don't get the wrong idea. You are only alive because I want you to understand something." I once again appeared from inside the smoke screen unharmed.
The red-skinned guy looked at me as if he couldn't believe his eyes.
I continued to walk forward slowly, but undoubtedly. "I don't get pissed off often," I added, "but when I do, this is what happens…"
"It seems like you are not a small fry! You deserve to challenge me!" He said, looking like a wrestler who was about to finish his opponents, but unfortunately, he chose the wrong opponent.
"Challenge? Mark my words, I will count until ten, and when I reach ten, you will kneel in front of me, begging for your life," I said, with an unwavering look of confedence on my face. "Then, you will know how insignificant you are."
"Hahaha! You are a funny kid, let's see what you've got!"
Fiery flames enveloped the creature's body and the temperature within the area increased dramatically.
Some of the tree roots burned down and turned into charcoal and the ground turned into lava.
This was the full power of the level 7 gift-holder.
It was true that it would not do much against a minotaur, but it was not something to be taken lightly.
Yeah, if it was someone else…
Four fire pillars taller than five meters appeared next to the creature and he controlled them.
"It's too late even if you want to apologize, die!"
Fooosh!
The fire pillars rushed toward me one by one.
Still…
"One."
I walked through the first first pillar unscathed.
"Two."
The second fire pillar collided with me, but I continued to walk forward still unharmed.
"Three."
The third fire pillar wasn't effective as the previous one.
"Four."
Seeing that the fourth fire pillar failed to burn me to death, the red-skinned guy took a step back unconsciously.
"What is this? Who are you?"
"Five."
"Attack him! Kill him!"
Even his underlying were dumbfounded and only came to their sense after hearing the boss's order.
They began to attack me with their power two, but the result was the same.
"Six."
The red-skinned guy's expression began to change. It was obvious that he began to panic.
"Seven."
"Aaaaaaa!"
He bombarded me with fireballs, enough to destroy a small village.
But unfortunately for him…
"Eight."
"What are you? Why are you still alive?! Kill him!"
Some of his underlings tried to launch a frontal attack at me, but of course, they stopped moving once they got close to me.
I was glad that they were all gift holders.
"Nine."
I was finally in front of the red-skinned guy and held my sword in front of my chest with both hands.
Every time I took a step forward, he took a step back, until he couldn't move anymore and the flames that enveloped his body disappeared.
Then I activated the plasma sword, and the red neon light enlightened my face as I looked at the guy who couldn't move anymore.
"Ten. Now kneel, or die!"
I deactivated my power for a bit, and the guy instantly fell to his knees, as if all of his power left him.
Even when he was on his knees, his face was still in front of mine.
"I will tell you my secret. The stronger you are, the helpless you become in front of me. You didn't lose because you are weak, you lost because you fought against me."
I stabbed the guy in the shoulder.
"Don't move, or I will kill you all along with your boss!" I warned the other guys who were trying to pull off a sneak attack.
"Guuaaah!" The guy screamed in pain, but every time he tried to use his power, I prevented him.
I made sure that he understood that he couldn't do anything to me and that he was completely helpless.
"So, what were you saying again?"
"Sorry… I didn't know… Spare me, I will never do this again…"
I pulled out my sword from his left shoulder and stabbed his other shoulder.
"Guahh!"
He tried to activate his power again, but it didn't change anything.
His underling watched me with eyes full of terror.
I pulled out my sword and…
Slash!
I cut off one of his arms.
"Guahh!"
Then I grabbed his hair and forced him to look at me.
"Remember what I said. Every time you hear me count to 10 you will lose another arm, so make sure that I don't see your face when I reach 10. Now scram!"
The red-skinned guy and his underlings left the place quickly.
I sighed while looking at them.
'I completely lost my cool… I was about to cut his head off. Fortunately, I remembered that Liu and Verte were watching.'
I deactivated my sword and put it back on my hip.
'Maybe he was lucky that Liu came here with me…'
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