Hell Difficulty Tutorial

For a moment, I try to determine if Myrra is joking, but it doesn't seem like it. Even her tail seems to confirm what she said. It's not moving nervously, just gently swaying from side to side, showing her interest.

Her fluffy tail wouldn't lie to me, right?

“That sounds unreasonable?” I say to her.

“I agree,” she moves and sits on a chair nearby, ignoring the craters around, burned walls, and holes in the ceiling. Her ears perk up slightly, and the light that falls on her face makes the scar that goes horizontally through it more visible.

“The main requirement to be able to be called a big guild is to be strong enough or have a strong member that could rival the power of an entire guild. Surprisingly, the guild master of Storm Brigade said that your guild shouldn't have a problem with that. So tell me, feral one, is it you who is strong enough that you made me sense fear even from proud Obelia?”

Her eyes glint as she stares at me, surrounded by all this destruction.

“We are not interested in becoming a big guild,” I ignore her question and answer.

Unsurprisingly, being the weirdo that she is, it only seems to make her even more curious. In a similar way as I watch her, she also continues to observe me. Myrra watches every move I make, she stares at my eyes, and she keeps probing with her mana senses, trying to get a funny response from me.

Much like a human annoying a grumpy cat to get a reaction from it.

“Very few would refuse that offer. What's your reason?” she asks.

“It sounds annoying,” I answer honestly, “We have no time to bother with politics and other guilds.”

“What if I told you it would be more fun this way?” Myrra leans backward on the chair that is made for humans, not lynthari, and it seems it's about to break, “As a big guild, there are some rules others would need to follow to bother you. Rules set by lynthari. Small guilds don't enjoy such luxury.”

Was this her plan all along?

“Why?” I ask.

“As I said, feral one, I want you to rise to the top, I want to see you shine brighter than anyone else. Through your own power, your will. And I really want to see if you will break or if you're the real deal.” She stands up, and the chair behind her instantly turns to ashes as flames roar around her.

The flames are strong enough to start melting the stone under her feet and set ablaze all the furniture or cloth around us.

Not overly bothered, I just use [Redistribution] and absorb the heat that reaches me, which would have burned me terribly if I hadn't done anything about it.

Myrra takes another step closer to me, her flames stronger and the heat is directed at me, “I want you to show me what you're capable of,” she hisses, showing a surprising amount of emotion, unexpected from someone hundreds of years old.

I don't like it.

A burst of kinetic energy explodes from me at the center. I make it more blunt than sharp, and Myrra is thrown away from me, crashing through the wall with a surprised squeak.

Immediately from my shadow, her bodyguard steps up, but I already know this skill. The moment he fully emerges, [Resonance] disrupts his attack, and with a kick, I send him flying out of the window of the manor.

I don't like how everyone here thinks they can mess with me.

I redirect more of my mana towards the kinetic mana heart and turn all generated energy from kinetic into thermal, continuing to compress it while walking slowly towards where I kicked Myrra.

Tall lynthari is already on her feet, unhurt, but blue flames blazing around her.

She is smiling.

I send disrupting mana into the room, not allowing her guard to use any shadows around, and then release all the heat I collected, pressing it all against Myrra. For a while, she fights against it, her own flames pushing against my own. The manor is melting around us, being set ablaze. The air dries, cracks appear in the walls, and furniture turns to dust.

Elydor, partially Obelia, Myrra, every single one of them wants me to move according to their will.

Just leave me alone.

My flames turn golden, devouring Myrra's flames and pushing her to her knees. The tall lynthari hisses and more of her mana is released, this time in the form of chill that fights against the flames, the temperature in the room turning ice cold.

As I sense her bodyguard dashing at me, I cancel my flames and replace them with a strong impulse of [Resonance] that I send into the room. The flames and cold disappear, the male lynthari slows down, my attack disrupting his physical boost.

Then I follow it with another strong pulse of kinetic energy that sends both of them crashing through the walls. This time I boost my body, and follow Myrra.

I reach her as she bends in the air, elegantly landing on her feet. Her eyes glow gold, and her tail twitches excitedly. She licks her lips, and more mana is released from her body, pale blue circuits appearing on her skin.

At the same time, I pull an epic-graded shortsword from the sheath, and immediately a transparent white crystal-like blade starts turning blue, absorbing the mana from the area and from the attacks.

Both Myrra and I charge at once, and with each passing second, I feel my body becoming stronger and faster, boosted by the sword in my hands that continues to absorb more mana, turning darker blue.

Myrra nimbly dodges my attacks and leaves a few scratches on my body. She is fast, barely a blur.

Her bodyguard appears as well, but just stands on the side, not wanting to ruin his master's fun.

I send another pulse of disrupting mana at her, but she seems to be expecting that and throws some weak mana attack in the way that gets canceled instead.

A mana projectile flies at me, so pale in color that I can barely see it. I only block it at the last moment to her amusement, and her tail flails. Her golden eyes follow each of my movements while her cat-like eyes glow.

Oh, so you want to play?

[Mana Domain] covers the area and I stop Mana Cycling, instead letting my mana start leaking from my body, filling the area, and getting under my control within my domain. Some of that mana even gets fed to the sword in my hand, strengthening my body even further, and I start manipulating the rest.

Mana arms start appearing from thin air, attempting to grab Myrra.

Barriers form in front of me, blocking her attacks.

Mana projectiles form behind her back that is still within my domain.

Bombarded from every side, Myrra totally lets loose and moves like a wild animal led by instincts, deflecting all the attacks, using skills to block them, and sending bursts of fire and ice toward me.

I let her play for a while as I lead her toward where I want to while reading her movements. When she shows a moment of hesitation, I boost my body even further, and move in front of her in one quick movement. My sword stabs deep into her thigh and the blade is surprisingly start absorbing mana at a much quicker rate directly from her body.

Then I cancel all of my skills and stare at her.

Her canines show in full beauty as she leans closer me, her mouth open wide as if she is about to bite me. Her face scrunched, demonic-like even.

And I just watch her and twist the sword in her wound.

She nearly hisses, her expression threatening, but after a short stalemate, she stops. Her mana calms down, and her face slowly returns to normal. Myrra takes a step back, the sword sliding from her thigh, and at a quick speed the wound on her starts healing as we look at each other.

It takes a minute for her to say, “I guess I should apologize, feral one.” This time the word “feral” is different in the way she says it. It's as if she puts a different meaning on it, “I got a little bit too excited.” she smiles.

It's not a truly apologizing smile and she doesn't seem to be in a bad mood or something. It's more as if she kept poking a cute cat and the cat got annoyed, scratching her.

Now that I think about it, I keep using this sort of comparison to understand her and they fit surprisingly well. But, Myrra has cat ears and a tail, so why is my role always so fitting to the cat?

I put the sword back in its sheath and then hold the sheath in my hand. When I check my mana, there's barely any dent in it, partially also thanks to the sword replenishing and strengthening my body.

“If you are sorry, block others from annoying us,” I tell her.

“I can do it only partially, there will be people who will want to fight the one who defeated Elydor. The items you got are also a big attraction. So expect some challengers,” she says.

As I leave, I can feel her gaze on my back, and passing by her bodyguard, he greets me with a short nod.

Out of the estate, I glance at the sword in my hand. The effect of its boosting is more efficient than I expected it to be, and the way it took mana from the air, as well as the way it took mana from Myrra's body, really fascinates me.

It probably wouldn't be that extremely difficult to do that; no, what is most difficult is the way it transforms foreign mana to be used by me, but here's where I have another idea. What if I try to use [Resonance] to change the absorbed mana and turn it into mine?

Maybe I should fight with lynthari more often. I'm getting quite good ideas while doing so.

Unfortunately, something tells me not all of them would react to it as Myrra did. She seems to be weird even for a lynthari. Well, at least I showed her that there are limits to how far she can push. But I also dislike that she still held back, her bodyguard too. I almost got caught up in the fight and took the fight seriously.

What would I do without good ol' Mr. [Focus]?

Unlike on Earth where I had more reasons to stay calm and control myself, it's a bit harder to reason such behavior here. Sure, I could do so; I was always good at that even without the skill I can control my emotions pretty well. The problem might be that I often catch myself not wanting to do it.

Venting once in a while is a nice compromise, isn't it?

As I walk through the streets, I find myself not wanting to return so soon. Lately, I was constantly surrounded by people. Talking with them, training with them, helping them stay alive down in the tunnel.

Seeing so many people pass by, and hearing them talk and enjoy their day somewhat drains me even more than usual.

I still somewhat enjoy Group 4's company; it's just that I feel like taking a break. Not a long one, just a day or two.

So instead of going back, I change direction and walk towards one of the giant trees. I've been curious about them ever since I got here. Should I check them out?

I use [Focus] to filter out the sounds of people around me, and even their presence stops feeling so pressuring. The world loses some of its life but becomes a bit more comfortable to me.

Only in my own company, I continue walking down the street.

 

---

 

POV Isabella Martinez

“What do you mean that he probably won't be coming back so soon, Izzy?” Lily asks me.

She feels funny, all these emotions she tries to hide and show at the same time.

“Pff, you guys couldn't even see it! But he was slowly getting more and more annoyed!” I explain to them. Old people are dumb so I have to.

“Annoyed?” Lily asks again.

I ignore the not-as-old-as-others but still dumb Lily and look around for Biscuit. As he often does, he is sitting on the couch spot where Nathaniel likes to sit.

Annoying! Biscuit is only mine!

When I get to him, I use my skill to connect to him and he allows me to do so.

Biscuit feels safe. Safer than anyone else. Like there is no evil in him. He must have been an angel in his past life.

I hug him and he lets me.

“Izzy, what did you mean by 'annoyed'?” Soph asks.

“You guys talk too much, are around him too often, ask him too many questions,” I pet Biscuit while talking to them, “he likes to be alone sometimes.”

“We don't know how long Myrra will take him, but he won't be gone for too long. A few days at most, so there's no need to worry,” it's Tess who said that.

Tess is… weird. She's not as dumb as the others and sometimes she feels scary. But it's fine; Nathaniel also feels scary, yet never towards his friends. And I'm his friend too!

I think.

"Are we also friends, Biscuit?" I ask.

(Food?) he says and I read his intention.

"Yes, I will get you anything you want!"

(Asshole.) he says louder so everyone can hear and I can feel gentleness from him. He even creates a purple mana arm and pets my head!

"Soph! Did you hear? He called me his friend!"