The Author's POV

Chapter 174: Igniting the flames [4]

"What's going on!?"

Feeling the tremendous explosion in the distance, the orc guarding Zornaraugh house looked towards the direction where the explosion originated from.

Because of the heavy rain, it was hard to discern what had happened. Glancing left and right, the orc suddenly took a step forward to get a better look at what had happened.

"huh? Who are you!"

However, before he could find out what had happened, an obscure figure appeared a couple of meters from where he was standing.

…in a slow and steady manner.

Repeating once again, the orc shouted.

"I said who are you!"

"…"

He was once again met with total silence.

Feeling that something was wrong, raising his weapon a large double-edged axe in the air, the orc once again shouted as his voice shook the nearby surroundings and a powerful pressure exuded from his body.

"I've warned you already, state your name!"

Stopping ten meters away from the orc, the figure took a stance as blue streaks of light appeared on the tip of his sword.

"Huh? E rank?"

As he stared at the figure before him, the orc was taken aback. That was because he was able to sense the person's strength.

…and what he found out shocked him, but not in a negative way.

He found out that the figure before him was only rank.

Something that was almost on the level of cannon fodder in this world, especially for him since he was already borderline .

To him was like swatting a fly.

…how could someone as weak as him actually think he could harm him?

"You think you can harm me with that pitiful amount of strength?"

Lifting his double-edged axe and pointing it towards Ren, the orc glared at him who remained still throughout the whole time as he gathered energy towards his sword.

Annoyed by the fact that he was once again being ignored, the orc decided to make amove.

"Since you won't talk, I'll make you talk"

Tensing his muscles, the ground beneath the orc cracked as his body propelled forwards towards Ren's direction. In a swinging motion, the orc swung the heavy axe towards where Ren was standing.

"Die!"

Apathetically staring at the orc that was approaching him at extreme speeds, raising his left hand, Ren suddenly snapped his finger.

"Khh…hu?"

As soon as Ren's finger snapped, the orc suddenly found his body abruptly halting for a split second. Following that the world around him became dyed in white and the figure he was looking at disappeared.

A subtle clicking sound followed his disappearance.

-Click!

The third movement of the [Keiki style] : Void step

Appearing on the opposite side of the orc, was Ren's cold figure. Behind him, a blue trail of light appeared as the muffled sound of thunderbolts continuously resounded across the area.

A couple of seconds after the exchange, an arm suddenly flew in the distance as blood spilled everywhere.

At the same time the arm flew in the air, taking a knee, the orc supported his body with his axe.

"khhh…h-how could someone as weak as you harm me?"

He a rank orc actually got injured from someone that had just entered rank?

Humiliating.

…if the others found out what had happened, he would become the laughing stock of the city. Thinking along those lines, his deep voice resounded across the area as he shouted.

"Unacceptable!"

He couldn't allow such a situation to happen!

…He must kill the weakling that was before him in order to wash the shame away.

"huuu…"

Unaware of the orcs thoughts, exhaling as turbid air escaped from his mouth, feeling a slight stinging sensation on the left side of his body, Ren's cold eyes looked towards where the pain was coming from and he soon noticed his left hand missing.

No anger, pain, resentment, or any emotions were displayed on his face as he looked at the left side of his body which was bleeding profoundly.

Ignoring the missing arm and turning his attention back towards the orc in the distance, Ren softly mumbled.

"…pity"

This was the first time he couldn't one-shot his opponent.

Although the orc before him had a small hole on the right side of his body and was somewhat injured, he had still not killed his opponent in one shot.

In order to kill the orc, Ren had made ample preparations with the twin gargoyle artifact and his strongest move, the third movement of the Keiki.

This was supposed to be his strongest combo…and yet his opponent was still not dead.

He had failed.

…but this was within Ren's estimation.

His opponent was an orc and was around two ranks higher than him.

Their skin and defense were far stronger than that of a human.

Had his opponent been a human, they might've died in one move, however, sadly his opponent wasn't as they specialized in defense and raw power.

Fortunately, although he hadn't killed him in one shot, he had still injured him.

…this was enough for Ren.

"You!"

Clenching the right part of his chest, the orc glared towards Ren's direction as his deep voice echoed across the surroundings. Shortly after, as the features of his aggressor became more discernible, the orc was taken aback as his deep voice resounded across the space.

"Human? A human? What is a human doing here?"

As he looked at the feature of the individual that had attacked him, the orc was able to identify the fact that it was a human.

Although he had never seen a human before, he was aware of their existence. Therefore he was able to quickly identify the fact that his aggressor was human due to the fact that they weren't short and had no pointy ears.

Staring at Ren's figure in the distance whose arm was missing, the orc slowly stood up.

"I thought humans were smart, but it looks like you're stupid. I can tell that you're weak…how dare the likes of you try to kill me with that pitiful amount of strength?"

Pausing for a second, lifting his axe in the air, and putting it on his shoulder the orc continued.

"I don't understand why you would try to fight me, but soon reinforcement will come and if you're not dead by the time I am finished with you…you will die by the hands of the others"

Coldly staring at the orc before him, Ren slowly said.

"You talk too much, but your thoughts are unnecessary. The perimeter around us is sealed, no one saw nor heard anything"

Having set up the dimensional space around them beforehand, no one knew of what happened here.

Although dimensional spaces weren't hard to discover, now that everyone's attention was towards the explosion in the distance, Ren knew that he didn't have to worry about people discovering what had happened.

…at least not for a short period of time.

Glancing around and noticing a transparent membrane covering the area he was in, the orc glared at Ren as he shouted

"You think it matters? With your strength what does that pitiful trick of yours matter?"

Picking up his weapon, the double-edged axe, the orc was about to once again attack Ren.

However before he was about to move, to his horror, he suddenly found himself unable to move his body.

"khhh…what?"

Weakly looking down on his body, the orc soon found a hand piercing through his chest as green blood splattered on the ground. Using the last remaining energy he could muster, turning his head to the side to see who was responsible for killing him, the orc soon saw two eyes coldly looking at him.

"…demon?"

Those were the last words that escaped from his mouth as he found himself slowly losing consciousness.

Staring at the orc that had just died, Angelica had a complicated expression on her face as she looked at Ren in the distance.

"…did you really have to sacrifice your arm to kill him?"

Staring at the pool of blood that was leaking from where his left hand was supposed to be, Ren watched as the rain carried his blood away removing all evidence of his presence. Glancing at Angelica, Ren indifferently said.

"Yes, this was the fastest and quietest scenario that I had envisioned. Any other plan would've taken too long."

Hearing Ren's response, Angelica only had one word in her mind.

Ruthless.

In Angelica's eyes, the current Ren was absolutely ruthless.

In order to have her appear behind the orc to sneak attack him, Ren had purposefully sacrificed his arm.

The one that had her in her ring form.

…Taking advantage of the moment when the orc was busy looking at Ren, Angelica turned into her original form and snuck up from behind him.

With him unaware of her existence, she stealthily killed him without causing too much of a commotion.

Fast and swiftly.

This was the first time Angelica had killed someone whose rank matched her so swiftly and quietly.

Ren's plan was indeed the fastest and most efficient plan, however, it came at a cost of an arm.

"What about your arm?"

Hearing Angelica's question, staring at his severed arm in the distance, Ren indifferently said.

"I can reattach it"

Frowning, Angelica nodded her head. She understood this part as there were methods out there that could help regrow limbs…but what really baffled her was the fact that Ren was showing no signs of pain despite the fact that his arm was missing.

"…okay"

Turning around, sensing something, Ren looked towards the door of the house opposite to him which shortly after abruptly opened revealing the features of a young orc.

"Ortus, what happened!?"

Opening the door of his house, Zornaraugh called out for his bodyguard.

However, he was soon left speechless by the sight before him.

First, a massive explosion resounded across the distance, shortly after he suddenly heard noises coming from outside the house. Not even a minute after he heard the noises, as he went out to check out what had happened he found his bodyguard dead coldly lying on the floor.

…Standing on top of its corpse was a slim pale figure with deep blue eyes whose arm was missing. Next to him, a beautiful woman with two horns on her head appeared.

"What's going on?!"

Coldly staring at Zornaraugh who was in a daze, Ren glanced at Angelica and indifferently said.

"Angelica it's your turn…"

"…yes"

Suddenly appearing before Zornaraugh, Angelica's enchanting figure coldly looked at him. A majestic red hue shrouded her body as Zornaraugh suddenly found himself unable to move.

Finally realizing that Angelica was a demon, Zornaraugh shouted incredulously.

"What?! A demon?"

Ignoring Zornaraugh, turning around and looking at Ren, Angelica asked.

"Him?"

Apathetically looking between Zornaraugh and Angelica, Ren nodded his head.

"Yes, kill him"

With Angelica having regained most of her powers back, Zornaraugh was as good as dead.

Especially since she was a rank higher than him.

…even if he was a genius, without preparations, bridging the gap in rank was something that couldn't be done. Not even Ren could do it.

Unless he had planned a lot beforehand, Ren couldn't defeat someone whose rank was higher than his.

…just wasn't possible.

Turning around as he walked towards the direction of where his hand was located, Ren coldly said.

"…kill him"

Pausing for a second, picking up his arm from the ground, Ren took out a green potion from his pocket.

Uncapping the lid of the potion, Ren placed the arm back towards where it was supposed to be and downed the potion. Once again staring at Angelica, Ren indifferently said.

"Kill him and let the world know of your existence and your presence. Kill him and let Immorra be engulfed in the flames of war"

"Yes"

Nodding her head, turning her attention back towards Zornaraugh who was paralyzed on the spot due to her skill, Angelica raised her hand and channeled her demonic powers.

Soon the surroundings shook as a reddish-black hue emanated from Angelica's body.

"Who are you! Khhh…"

Reaching her hand forward and grabbing Zornaraugh by the face, Angelica channeled her powers, and soon, to Zornaraugh;'s horror, he found his body rapidly shrinking as his energy was quickly getting sapped away from his body.

Struggling with all his might, Zornaraugh shouted.

"Noooo! Release me! Do you not know who I am? I am the next ch-"

"Shut up and die"

Increasing the intensity of her absorption, Zornaraugh soon found himself unable to speak as his resistance decreased with each passing second.

Soon his body shrunk completely as he started looking more and more like a mummy. Not long after, taking one last breath, Zornaraugh died.

"Khhh…"

Throughout the whole time, he couldn't even put up a fight.

Throwing Zornaraugh's body away, Angelica knew…

She knew that today marked the beginning of the end.

On this day, the flames of war shall envelop Immorra leaving nothing but devastation in its wake.

…and this was all due to one man.

Ren Dover.

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