'Boom!'
The fire tornado clashed with the bear and exploded.
"Nice work, Sherry!" Alex exclaimed, "Maybe I should try to use the Sixth Slash."
Alex focused his mind.
"... Fourth, Fifth Slash,"
"Sixth Slash!"
The Sword Wave turned into a wind. This meant that the Sixth Slash he attempted to do failed.
"I need more speed!"
After the smoke was cleared. Alex immediately tried another Sixth Slash before the bear came his way.
But eventually, he failed once again.
The bear noticed the gust of the wind from Alex's failed Sixth Slash. He moved toward Alex again.
"Flash Step!"
Alex used his Flash Step to move around, then he suddenly recalled something.
"I still have my spear, don't I?"
Alex hesitated a bit about whether to use the spear or not. After all, his weapon was one of his highest secrets. It was a high-ranked weapon, and the demon was still there.
Alex shook his head, "I still need to do it."
Alex jumped off to get a clear range between the bear and him. Alex then took out his Piercing Sky spear. It was a beautiful silver-colored spear that came out from the system and appeared in Alex's hand.
Alex sheathed his sword and focused on his spear.
Alex looked at the bear that was already on its way toward him.
'Fleeting Step'
Alex dodged the bear easily with an unpredictable movement. While he dodged the bear's attack, he also thrust his spear at the bear.
Surprisingly, the spear was able to pierce the bear easily. Alex was surprised. He then remembered when Alicia told him the story about a man who overcame the difference in rank with a weapon. Though he denied it at that time, he now became one of the examples of the story.
Alex shook his head, that was not the time for thinking about that. Alex focused on the bear. He had already stabbed the bear a few times, which was making a few holes in the bear's body. The bear's movement started to become sluggish.
After a half-hour of being stabbed and dodged with his Fleeting Steps, Alex finally took down the bear. The bear's body was full of holes and he died because of continuous blood loss.
"Hah... hah!" Alex panted. He was exhausted because he used the Fleeting Step continuously. Used this technique nonstop really took tolls on his mind. Not only did he need to keep dodging, but he also needed to go on the offensive mode by keep stabbing the bear with his spear.
Alex used his spear to help him stand up.
"Wuu!" The fox looked at Alex with concern.
Alex stroked Sherry's head, "Don't worry, I'm okay."
Then he turned to the demon, "Oi, the bear had already died. You can go now."
The demon then came up. All this time, he kept observing Alex. He looked at Alex who saved him and helped him again and again, he finally decided, "I want to ask you something."
"What is it?"
"You are from the Acacia Kingdom, right?"
Alex nodded answering his question.
"Are you sure you will be able to stop this war?"
Alex thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Stopping this war? I can not do that. The only thing I can do is to prevent the Acacia Kingdom from going to war. But..."
"But?" The demon frowned.
"If the war goes bad and the humans are losing, Acacia might be dragged to the war. After all, we are talking about the survival of the whole race. If the two kingdoms lose, Acacia alone... sigh, though I hate to say this, Acacia alone can't protect the whole human race. If we have our strength like the past, then we probably can. But now... sigh."
Then Alex continued, "That's why I want to stop this war. Aside from that, who wants to keep fighting now and then... where your subject can't even get a good sleep because they are anxious that their home might get attacked at any moment."
After hearing Alex's answer, the demon hesitated. But once he thought for a while, he finally decided, "My name is Zhar Dias Volmion the 77th. I am the current demon lord."
Alex's eyes widened. He was speechless. What was happening right now? The random demon suddenly revealed himself as the demon lord.
"I... I'm sorry for kicking you too hard. Eh, wait. If I am not mistaken, I only kicked your stomach, right? But how come you are having this brain damage? Is it because you crashed to the wall after I kicked you? Ugh... I'm very sorry about that. You can go, no- please go now," Alex said hurriedly.
"Oi...! It's the truth!" The demon started to get angry.
"Um, okay," Alex nodded.
"..." The demon was speechless, "You mock me and now accept it so suddenly,"
"Nothing... I just want to say that line just now," Alex laughed.
"You...!" He once again got tricked by Alex.
But suddenly Alex became solemn, "Then, current Demon Lord, what are you going to do with the war?"
"If you are me, what would you do?"
Alex was surprised. "If I were you? First, I won't ask my enemies as you did just now. Because they might think I am stupid, that's for sure."
Now the demon turned to be surprised, "You..."
"Haha... I'm joking!" Then Alex continued, "If I'm you, I will try to stop the war for a long time. If the war becomes big, then the hatred will become bigger and bigger and it will eventually lead to a war involving the whole race. Not only the soldier, but even weaker subjects of your race will also have to take the weapon and participate in the war. When that happens, stopping the war will be impossible."
Zhar also agreed with Alex's opinion. He nodded.
"By the way, I want to ask you, what is the objective of Zircodina in this war?"
Zhar thought for a moment, "Well, you Acacia people might already have this kind of resource so I might as well tell you. After all, I doubt that you alone can swallow these resources."
"Hoo..." Alex was astonished. What kind of resources he talked about.
"It is a mineral mine. If the Zircodina Kingdom has it, they might become as powerful as the Acacia Kingdom in a few decades. Your kingdom already has this kind of mine, though."
Alex's eyes brightened. Now he knew the reason behind this war. "Zircodina..."
He recalled when he was summoned to this world. He thought that the king was a wise man and he summoned him and the others because he wanted to protect the human race. But now...
Now, Alex finally knew everything. Behind the king's wise mask, there was greed that couldn't be contained. He wanted the resources, so he attacked the demon, but when the situation went wrong, he summoned the hero to save him from this messed-up situation. But everything changed when Maria got involved. If Maria became a 'Priestess', the Holy Kingdom would undoubtedly be involved in the war.
Alex sighed. "Well, what are we going to do about this now..."
"I see that you are worthy of my trust. That's why I said this much. Haiz... if you are a demon, I might want to make you my brother."
Alex was surprised, then he looked at him weirdly, "Well, I'm surprised with how this is all progressing. At first, you wanted to kill me but powerless to do so. Then you suddenly want to make me your brother."
"Cough... cough... that is normal if you consider our situation. But, as I said after I observed you, I can tell that you are worthy of my trust."
Alex shook his head, "Whatever you say, man."
Zhar sighed, "What do you think we should do, from a human perspective?"
Alex and Zhar were deep in thought. After a while, Alex suddenly said, "Demi-human."
Zhar was surprised by what Alex said, "Do you mean you want to involve the demi-human as a third party to stop this war?"
Alex nodded.
"Well, that might be possible but... demi-human alone might not be able to stop this war," Zhar said sadly.
"What if our Acacia is also involved in this plan to stop the war?"
Zhar's eyes brightened. "That's right! If you two join, we might be able to stop the war!"
Alex smiled, but he frowned when he saw Zhar suddenly frowned.
"But..." Zhar was thinking.
"There is still one problem that you've missed. It might not be possible to convince the demi-human."
"What do you mean?" Alex frowned.
"The demi-human is facing their biggest trouble at this moment. That's why when the human and the demon fight like this, they won't give any response at all."
"Biggest trouble?"
"Their World Tree is dying, and there is still no solution for that problem."
Alex's eyes widened.
The World Tree was the symbol of the demi-human. It was the most important thing for their race. If the tree died, he couldn't imagine what would happen to the demi-human.
"How long?" Alex muttered.
"Hmm… I think it's around 3 years left," understanding Alex's question, Zhar answered solemnly.
Alex sighed, "If it's like that..."
Before Alex finished his words, suddenly there was a loud crash.
'Boom!'
The cave entrance crashed once again. Alex and Zhar immediately turned in the direction. They saw a large centipede was chewing the bear that Alex killed a few hours ago.
"Can't we have any peace for a moment?" Alex sighed, he took out his spear once again. But before he charged, he frowned.
Zhar also noticed the feeling, he grabbed Alex's shoulder, "Be careful."
Alex nodded.
"After this fight, I want to have a drink with you. But be careful, I feel something wrong with this centipede. I will try to support you with all I have. Though it won't be much, it is still better than nothing. After this long rest, my strength has recovered a bit."
Alex nodded again, he grabbed his spear and used his Flash Step to approach the centipede.
He arrived in front of the centipede in a flash. He then thrust his spear to its body. The spear managed to pierce the body but,
"It's too shallow!" Alex was shocked. Even a rank 6 bear can easily be pierced by this spear but this centipede was able to sustain it.
The spear only managed to pierce the body a little. The centipede noticed Alex attacked, then it turned its focus to Alex.
"Scree!" It roared to Alex, then launched its head to attack Alex.
Alex was surprised, "Too fast!"
He barely guarded the attack, but the attack blew him away.
"Sky Step!"
Alex used his Sky Step to stabilize himself in the air. Then he charged toward the centipede once again.
Alex tried to perform the same strategy as when he fought the bear.
"Fleeting Step!"
Alex dodged the attacks from the centipede. But he barely did that. Alex couldn't even let out an attack because of the continuous attack from the centipede. It could use its body nimbly and released attacks from its body. That was the reason why Alex could barely dodge all these attacks even with his Fleeting Step.