For some weird reason Teras woke up early, his friends were still sleeping
'It's time to fight huh? The time sure flew by fast but right now I can't do anything about it, so at least I will make sure to use my training to its fullest, I bet that the bandits won't expect us to fight them'
Teras thought as he got out of bed, Teras then took some time to fix his armor and then went for a walk outside, a small fog surrounded the forest, Teras noticed a figure standing beside a tree, he slowly got closer to the figure, it was Zak, he simply was standing and staring at the tree
"Couldn't sleep either?"
Teras asked as he stood near Zak
"I'm just looking at Julian"
He said as he continued looking at the tree, Teras was quite confused
"Didn't Julian die? Did you drink too much or something?"
Teras asked jokingly
"This is where we buried Julian, this is his tree?"
Zak answered with a serious expression, Teras felt a bit silly laughing at a man's grave
"You never told me about Julian, is it okay to ask you about him now?"
Teras asked as he sat down
"Julian was my brother, we didn't have the same mother but we had the same father, Julian's mom left the village and left Julian behind when he was younger so our family had to take him in so we basically grew as brothers, we did a lot of things together but something I enjoyed the most is when we fought, Julian was 5 years younger than me, but he was way out of my league but I still challenged him over and over again, the years pasted and Julian became a gold-ranked adventurer and was aiming for a ranker but before he could do that those bandits came by and started abusing us, Julian was away when the came but the moment he was informed about us he came back, he and I then got into a fight with the bandits but we lost miserably, Julian was killed by the monster you fought, after his death he was asked to burry his body on this hill so a beautiful and strong tree can grow out of his corpse, so that's what we did we buried him here and as you can see a beautiful tree has bloomed"
Zak said as he gently touched the leaves of the tree
"That's crazy! He wanted a tree to bloom here and it did! What are the odds?"
Zak looked at Teras with a very confused look
"Well that's common sense, if a person dies a tree grows out of its corpse"
Teras was mind-blown by the information, after a moment of silence Zak spoke up
"I was useless in the fight against them then but in this fight, I will try as hard as I can to kill those monsters! And I'm glad I can do it with people like you kid"
Zak said as he patted Teras's head, he then left the place swiftly
'What's his problem?'
Teras thought as he was fixing his hair, he was annoyed by the messy head pat Zak gave him
Time then passed quickly, all of Teras's friends woke up, they looked ready to fight the enemy, the villagers woke up too, everyone seemed alright but a certain group showed uncertainty, so Teras approached them to comfort them
"What's the matter, guys? Are you not feeling well?"
Teras asked them
"It's not that, we simply feel a bit awkward fighting real people"
Tom said as he was playing with his fingers
"Come on guys! You have way more quests under your belt than us so I'm sure you are going to do alright, plus you did amazing on our training sessions so you don't have anything to fear"
Teras told them as he patted Tom on the shoulder
"It's not that either! It's about killing... will we even be able to take a life?"
Tam told Teras, Teras felt a bit bad hearing that
"I know that it's hard to take a life away but you can't do anything else, sometimes you have to kill to survive, think of it like that! If you don't kill them, they will kill you, so what do you prefer? Plus you don't have to kill if you manage to disarm them"
Teras said as he left them alone to think, Hermie remained silent the whole time, he then got in front of the huge group that everyone formed
"TODAY IS THE DAY WE HAVE BEEN ALL WAITING FOR! WE WILL ALL FIGHT FOR THE FREEDOM OF THIS VILLAGE, OUR ENEMY WILL SHORTLY ARRIVE SO WHEN THEY DO I WANT ALL OF YOU TO DRIVE THEM BACK WITH EVERYTHING YOU GOT, AND IF IT IS POSSIBLE TRY TO CAPTURE SOME OF THEM"
Teras said loudly
"NOW FOLLOW ME I HAVE A PLAN ON MY MIND!"
Teras said to them then everyone followed
'Since we weren't strong they will probably think that we left so our best chance is to surprise attack them, and judging from our last encounters I can tell that they are not very organized so attacking them while they are on low guard will surely guarantee us a great start'
Teras thought as he settled in deep in the forest, and after some minutes Teras's plan proved to be a success, he saw the bandits walking to the village, everyone seemed more than ready to engage in combat
"When I signal you we will all engage together"
Teras whispered to them, he then raised his hand, he waited for them to be the perfect distance from them, but before he could signal Hermie ran out of their hiding spot screaming
"They are here! They are here!"
'Did this fucker sell us?'
Teras thought as he watched him run at the bandits, everyone then slowly got out of their hiding spot, Teras stared at Hermie with killing intent
"I did as you told me so please spare my life"
Hermie said as he fell to his knees, Marco started laughing when he saw him
"You did good kid, I didn't think you would actually do it, but I also think that those losers would stay, it's glad seeing a familiar face again, isn't it Teras?"
Teras didn't reply he simply looked at Hermie
"Now if you don't mind I will be going"
Hermie said as he slowly started walking away but Marco had other plans, he started burning Hermie with the power of his card, Hermie quickly fell on the ground to put out the fire but Marco didn't let that happen since he continued to spray him with fire that eventually burned him to death
"That's what you get for betraying your land"
Marco screamed intensely at Hermie's corpse, everyone was disturbed by what they just witnessed
"Sadly for you your little friend sold you and now this incredible plan of yours is ruined, so how will you react to this tragedy? I wonder..."
Marco said as he slowly took out his weapon
"Release the mon..."
Before Marco could finish his sentence Teras attacked the monster shattering the cage it was in, the monster was launched at the forest from Teras's punch that was enhanced by mana overflow, Marco and the other bandits couldn't believe their eyes
"ATTACK!!!!"
Teras screamed, everyone initiated an attack and a full fledge war began, Teras then followed the monster inside the forest
'Looks like my training didn't go to waste so...'
"Let's dance monster!"
Teras said with a smile of excitement, he then used his strong legs to get closer to the monster and with the movement, he had built he once again punched the monster but this time it wasn't launched away since the monster had used mana to defend itself, the monster then stuck Teras with its tail launching him away from the forest to an open area near the village, Teras quickly recovered and was ready for another attack, the monster then swiftly charged at Teras, Teras charged at the monster too, the two of them clashed with a powerful punch, from this punch the monster was the most damaged and that was not a surprise, Teras had been punching a bolder for days now so his bones had become like steel, unbendable and unbreakable
When Teras noticed that the monster struggled to overpower him he became cocky
"What's up bit*h? Are you not fighting at your best?"
Teras said as he grabbed the monster's hand, he then slammed it on the floor, the monster quickly recovered and backed down, Teras tried to take advantage of the monster's move but the monster turned the tables when Teras got close, the monster slapped Teras with its filled with horns tail, Teras spat some blood from his mouth because of the attack and also was launched at a wall of a nearby house, Teras tried to recover but before he got up the monster had already prepared its next attack, it was a powerful punch from above but Teras thankfully managed to dodge it, the attack destroyed a big part of the wall
'Turns out this fight isn't going to be as easy as I thought'
Teras thought as he punched the monster in its ribs
Meanwhile back in the forest, everyone was fighting with a big risk of losing their life, almost everyone had a wound on their body but they were doing better than what Teras expected them to do, all of this was thanks to Har's, Lia's and Cara's attempt to hold off the stronger members of their team, Har fought Marco, Lia and Cara were fighting Sot and Tristan, Sot was a bad match against Lia and Cara since he can both deflect their attacks and also make them lose balance with his air powers, and Tristan was there too, with his super strength he could punish any mistake at once so both of them had to be cautious around them
Har had cleverly drove Marco away from the others since fighting with them close would have resulted in a disaster, Marco had realized that was the case but he still rolled with it since he was beyond confident in his power and strength
"So here we are again, me and you all alone, just so you know this time I won't hold back, so make sure you don't die too fast kid"
Marco said as he was heating up his body, Har let out a small laughter
"You should be the one that has to be careful, I'm not the same I was then Marco, this time I fight for my lover, my friends, and my pride, so I will not be going down as easily as you like to think"
Har told him as he hardened his arms with a rocky cover, Har had practiced this technique every day since he arrived at Yuka, so now he the hardening could reach a part of his shoulders
"Looks like you have something new to offer me so let's not delay this any longer!"
Marco said as he started running at Har, Har charged at Marco too, and the first strike landed on Har, Marco used a low kick to hit Har on the side of his legs but Har didn't budge, he simply counter-attacked with a punch on Marco's head, even though Marco was heavily damaged he managed to boost his leg with fire and kick Har's head, Har was then punched on his stomach multiple times from Marco, Marco's overheated body was way faster than Har's rocky body but Har could still be in par with Marco, Har with a sudden move hit Marco on his shoulder with a falling blow, the attack dislocated Marcos shoulder so he backed down to fix it
"Not bad for a kid like you"
Marco said as he was adjusting his shoulder
"Not bad for you either for a coward that relies on a monster for all of his works!"
Har told him as he was getting ready for another attack, Har then threw a sharpened piece of rock at Marco that managed to scratch his legs, Har then ran up to Marco and attempted to punch him with a mana enhance punch but Marco managed to dodge the attack by jumping over Har using his fire powers, Har's attack broke the whole tree trunk, Marco was very surprised to see the destructive power of Har
"Damn it, if I had landed that then you would have been done for"
Har said as he stared at the broken tree, he then turned his look at Marco and said
"How about we go all out on each other, only then this stupid fight will end"
Marco laughed hysterically
"Whatever kid bring it ON!!!"
He yelled as he launched himself with the power of his card, Marco then punched Har in the face breaking his nose, and then followed with a kick on the side of his head that made him fall down, Marco also fell down from the attack but when he landed his back was damaged because in the last second Har had raised a layer of small stone spikes, Marco quickly got up and shook the spikes off his back, Har got up slowly after, he then hardened, even more, his body
'This is my time to shine so I have to use all of my power now, I will not hold back any longer, I'm sorry for breaking our promise mom but from now on I will have to stop holding my power back because if I do I will fall behind by amazing friends'
Har thought as he got ready to destroy Marco...