“Why are we walking outside of the forest, Bro?” Xavic asked. It has been almost a day since they took off to hunt the spiders, yet they were still a distance away from their destination. It would normally take around 16 hours if they were to walk directly, but Miles made them walk from outside of the forest.

“The forest is bizarre, and there are some monsters that come from the F-Circle to hunt from time to time.” Miles said as he remembered the Cloud Eagle with anger and trepidation, “It is safer to walk outside of the forest.”

“Monsters coming from the F-Circle?” Xavic shivered as he looked at the forest border. The inside of the forest couldn’t be seen from the thick flora, but the fauna was still audible.

“Have you encountered any, Bro Miles?” Zall asked as he gazed at Miles. From Miles's tone, he could tell it was something he experienced.

“Yeah. When I first entered, a Cloud Eagle chased after me.” Miles answered superficially. After all, without Maroon armor, it would be impossible for him to outrun the damned avian, but he didn’t want to explain that to the duo.

“Aren’t Cloud Eagles famous for their speed? How are you even alive?” Xavic asked with his jaw hitting the ground.

“Just some luck and smarts, nothing big.” Miles smiled cheekily.

“Haha! Bro Miles sure is smart.” Zall answered as he changed the subject. He was more sensible than Xavic. “Alright then, let’s keep moving on.”

As they were about to keep on moving, a scream reverberated from the forest. The trio stopped and looked at the source of the noise. Miles could barely see three silhouettes, chased by giant monsters crawling with many feet.

“Centipedes!” Miles gasped with a heavy expression.

“What should we do?” Zall asked. From his face, Miles could see he was about to jump to save the hunters, so he stopped him before he would kill himself.

“Too many of them. It is too dangerous.”

“But— they will die.” Zall had an agonized face.

“If we go, we will die. Centipedes are poisonous,” Miles murmured. Zall still looked hesitant, so he fished out an orb purple in color. It formed a sword with lightning twirling around it. He raised it at the top of his head and swung it with as much force he could muster. The violent helical violet left the sword as it traveled in the air while creating music composed by an endless number of birds.

Miles panted as he sat on the ground. He looked at the lightning attack. In no time at all, it arrived in front of the monsters chasing the hunters. Centipedes had a durable exoskeleton, but lightning was the most destructive element for a reason. They felt the danger approaching and formed a wall of flesh by closing on each other. The skin-crawling abomination looked like a ball made of meat.

Centipedes hid their heads at the center while their outer shells protected the weaker parts. When the attack arrived, it hit the exoskeleton, and a few of them screamed in pain, but the attack Miles had sent with his full power didn’t even kill even one of them.

But this attempt saved hunters. When monsters were busy defending, hunters left the forest, and one of them turned to spray fire from both of his hands. The trees started to burn, and a fire started to advance faster and faster. Centipedes could still pass through it, but they wouldn’t dare to leave the forest on a whim.

When hunters arrived where Miles and others were, they too fell to the ground and panted.

“Thanks for your help, friend.” One at the lead said as he looked at Miles. His eyes were avoiding Zall and Xavic. It was hard not to notice Zall even from a distance, but he never ever looked at the duo. He had black eyes and black hair with a pale face.

“The name is Akiyama Takeji, and they are Jack and Morimo.”

Jack had blue eyes and blonde hair, while Morimo looked just like Takeji. Probably siblings.

“Take, what happened to Christine and Jessi?” Xavic asked. He looked devastated.

“Who are they?” Takeji said as he looked at the purple-haired man. “And who are you to call me Take?”

“What are you saying, Takeji?” Zall looked at the man with an almost angry face. “Before you left yesterday, we wanted to join you, but you rejected us by insulting us. At the time, Christine and Jessi were on your team.”

Miles looked at the trio with a squint. He long realized how Takeji was avoiding Xavic and Zall, but not remembering the duo? It was impossible. No one on Earth could forget 3 meters tall Zall after seeing him once. With his red skin and horns on top of his head, he looked like a devil incarnation.

“Stop spouting bullshit! We said we don’t know those people.” The one who looked like Takeji, Morimo, said with anger. Although it looked like anger, Miles could see guilt in those eyes.

Takeji and others knew Zall and Xavic but didn’t know Miles. The last attack was too strong, so they were a little afraid. After all, they were well aware of the weird powers of the duo. With Miles in tow, the duo could kill them without any effort. Lucky for them, Miles was panting on the ground, looking like he used most of his juice.

“It is nothing new for people to abandon their companions and let them die. You probably used them to open the distance with centipedes.” Miles said as he looked at the face of the trio. Takeji had no reaction, but Jack and the girl shivered with guilt and fear.

“Stop!” The girl shouted again, but Takeji raised his hand to stop her.

“It’s your word against ours.” He said with a cold smile. “And I can assure you, my words weigh more than yours.”

“Oh?” Miles looked at him with one of his brows raised and turned his gaze to Zall.

“His mother is the minister of power. She is one of the strongest figures in Unity.” The latter answered.

“Right, Akiyama Aoi.” Miles nodded in understanding. “And?”

“I can make you all vanish from the face of Earth.”