Before Adhara was attacked at the foot of the hill-

Nora and Mehr were moving together when Nora noticed that Mehr had halted. He was looking down at the ground with his brows creased forcefully. His expressions showed he seemed very uncomfortable at whatever idea had just popped into his mind.

“Is something wrong?” Nora asked.

Mehr turned his head towards Nora and shook it gently.

“No. We should continue moving.”

This was not the time to think about questions that didn’t have any answers. Mehr put his thoughts aside forcefully and dashed along with Nora. He wanted a distraction from the unneeded swirling thoughts popping up in his mind. And to him, what could be a better distraction than the heat of the battle. Mehr hastened his legs and closed much of the distance in little time. Just as they reached the foot of the hill, Mehr caught several people scurrying around the boundary like rats. His influence over mana was in an extensive area, and he could easily tell all the minute activities taking place.

Without wasting a single moment, Mehr jumped right in between the survivors who had laid a trap. Nora, who was a beat slower than Mehr and had positioned herself a little further away, opened her book and got ready to attack. However, she stopped immediately after hearing Mehr’s words.

“You can relax. I will handle them.” Mehr said while amplifying his voice with mana. He was not only telling Nora to not butt in but also telling the survivors that there was never any need for a trap.

Nora looked at Mehr with a curious gaze. “Are you sure? I can sense their number is very high.”

“Has a beast ever cared for the ants in its way?” Mehr slowly unwrapped the giant spear he had been carrying. The spear was a head longer than Mehr and looked absolutely elegant. With the black sheen on the staff and the sharp blade with long wings on the side, the spear was a beauty to behold. And this beauty was going to be drenched in blood soon.

Mehr pushed the ground with his legs with so much force that the land broke beneath his feet. He crossed the distance between him and the survivors in an instant. The survivors who had only heard Mehr’s moniker of Lunatic and never encountered him in the forest were taken aback. They had been expecting Mehr to be defensive and stretch the time so that Nora could grab the badge. However, Nora was sitting on a tree, kicking the air while watching the minor scuffle.

As soon as Mehr got close to the survivors, he swung his mana clad spear horizontally with one hand. The mana, in the shape of a curve, travelled far and cut apart people who were slow to even utter ‘I withdraw’ in time.

Mehr changed direction after swinging once and went for the nearest group. Once again, he closed the distance and swung his spear horizontally, but his attack was stopped. The survivors were already ready with mana barriers and several mana projectiles were approaching Mehr. Mehr pulled his spear back and created a mana barrier in his left hand. He only protected his head and chest and kept moving forward.

Mana projectiles came and hit his shield squarely and for a moment, Mehr struggled to keep his shield up. However, he soon started dodging many of the incoming attacks. He would parry or block only when it was extremely necessary and mostly avoided the attacks. A few of the attacks had managed to land on his body and injure him, but only shallowly.

As soon as Mehr reached the barrier, he stabbed his mana clad spear into it. With the motion of the spear stabbing, the mana in the air also rushed to attack the barrier. It soon shattered akin to glass and Mehr grabbed one of the survivors.

“Try to create a barrier now,” Mehr spoke softly as he hung the poor survivor while grabbing him by the back of his neck. Incoming attacks bombarded the survivor, and his body soon turned to fleshy and bloody mush. Mehr had gotten drenched in blood, but he didn’t care for his appearance.

The warriors had already taken a stance and the long-range sorcerers were getting ready behind them.

“Haha.. it looks like I’m rusty.” Mehr chuckled as he looked at the group, getting ready for another attack. He took a deep breath and started hopping steadily. He looked at the survivors and waited for their attack while also keeping the ones behind him in check.

In the forest that had suddenly gotten quiet, only Mehr’s footsteps rang. His feet were covered in mana, and they would make a popping noise every time he touched the ground. The survivors in front of him shook their hesitation off and attacked him from a distance. However, Mehr didn’t move a single step. He kept hopping up and down, waiting for the projectiles to get near him. All the attacks had funnelled towards his spot and as soon as they got near him, Mehr crouched his body low and kicked the ground behind him. His body shot ahead like an arrow as he threw his spear away.

He moved towards his enemies at a speed unimaginable for a boy as young as him without a weapon. He tackled the person closest to him and threw him down on the ground. Mehr moved ahead without stopping and punched the next closest person. He was already standing in between a group of six people, weaving around and dodging their attacks. His focus had reached the extreme when his perception related ability kicked in.

Time around him seemed to slow down, and the attacks moved at a speed slower than a snail’s. While Mehr’s body had also slowed down, his thinking capacity had increased several-fold. He ducked under an incoming attack and stabbed the person’s eyes with his fingers. Due to sudden shock and pain, the person buckled down and flailed his weapon around to stab Mehr in anger. However, Mehr had already moved on to someone else at that point. He grabbed the arm of the person attacking him and punched the back of his elbow.

Crack.

Even amidst the battle, the sound of elbow breaking was heard clearly. However, Mehr didn’t stop. He put his leg on the chest of the person and pulled his broken arm towards himself. Mehr’s hands were clad in an immense amount of mana, and the strength he applied was truly monstrous. The sound of flesh ripping was heard, but the scream of the person drowned it out completely. Mehr had forcefully ripped the arm off.

Mehr jumped over the guy, who was kneeling while grabbing his torn shoulder and created some distance. His perception ability stopped and a sharp pain assaulted his mind. However, he controlled his body and stopped himself from reeling from the shock of the sudden pain.

Out of six people, three had been incapacitated and the rest of the three people had started backing away slowly. The words ‘I withdraw’ were almost at their lips when they saw Mehr moving again.

“Dagger,” Mehr spoke softly, and a dagger materialised in front of him immediately. He threw the dagger towards the right of one of the guys. The guy dodged the incoming dagger to the left but found his head in the grasp of Mehr.

Mehr supported his body with the guy’s weight and jumped up while twisting his body.

“Dagger,” Mehr said again, and a dagger materialised in front of him. Mehr’s body was mid-twist when he kicked the dagger straight into the head of the person standing to the right. His kick pushed the dagger all the way in and the guy’s head opened like a watermelon. Mehr grabbed the neck of the person he was putting his weight on and twisted it to the back. He had killed two of the three people in less than a couple of moments.

The last person looked around for help but realised that the rest of his party had either died or was running up the hill away from the lunatic. Before the battle had begun, the guy was quite confident in not only stopping one of the four monsters but also killing them. And yet, the delusions ended within an unfortunate moment. The corpses of his group had started to turn into specks of light, a view that looked beautiful if the context was removed. And amidst the beautiful view stood a monster drenched in crimson. His clothes were black, hiding the colour of atrocities he had committed and only his bloody face was telling the true tale. And now it was his turn. The monster was approaching him slowly, with a smile on his face that drilled in the fact that there was nowhere to run.

The guy shivered with deep fear but couldn’t bring himself to withdraw. He had an inkling that as soon as he opened his mouth, his head would leave his body, and he still wanted to spend a few more moments alive.

However, the Heavens took pity on him and he coughed up blood and passed away suddenly.

Mehr looked towards the side, at Nora who was standing not too far away with her book open.

“What are you doing?” Mehr asked in a bitter tone.

“No, what are you doing? Are you some sort of sadist monster who gains pleasure from others’ pain? Why do you have that big smile on your face while killing others so inhumanely?”

Unbeknownst to him, a smile had crept upon his face while he was enjoying the battle after a long time. Nostalgic feelings had sprung up in his heart, and he couldn’t stop smiling. He missed this feeling. The thrill of enemies almost killing him every time they swung their blades, and him coming out on top by the end. It was a feeling he hadn’t remembered for over a decade. Now that he got that chance, he had let go of himself a bit too easily.

“I was smiling…?” Mehr touched his face with his hands and noticed his curved lips. He slowly put his hand down and sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t notice.”

“You were so engrossed in killing people that you missed the guys who ran uphill. They will reach the badge before us.”

Mehr turned around and noticed the people scurrying away. They had reached quite close to the badge, and that wasn’t good news for Mehr. He needed that badge for something important.

“Well, let me make it up. Clad your body in as much mana as you can.” Mehr said as he held Nora’s hand tightly. She didn’t understand what he was going to do but did as he asked anyway. Mehr noticed the thick clothing of mana around her and pulled Nora in a circular motion.

“Get ready. And please don’t touch the badge while you’re there. Wait for me.”

He picked up speed, and the rapid wind hit Nora’s face like a wave.

“W-wait! You’re going to throw me there?!”

“Is there a better way?” Mehr, after swinging Nora around at an extremely high speed, let go of her hand and she bolted across the sky like a shooting star.

“I will kill you if I don’t land properly!!” Nora’s amplified screams were heard by the poor survivors climbing up the hill, who would be forced to withdraw soon after.