Huh ? once again the men in black was stupefied. Is this guy had a touch in the head or something ?

Ignoring Lyle's strangeness, the little man sneered at Lyle. "Hero ? Just you alone, what can you do?"

"YESSS!!! You really have some good sense there!!!" The smile on Lyle's face become even more brighter. He then raised his hand in the air and said: "Now then ... Time to show off my acting skills!” Lyle was laughing on the inside, but he appeared very serious.

"Ahem! ... Do you think so ? But unfortunately ... " Suddenly, Lyle turned his back around and said: "... I'm not alone. I had my friends believing on me ..."

Seeing the weird actions of this masked Hero-wannabe in front of them, the four black clothed kidnappers don't know how to react. Is this guy really an idiot ?

But for some reason, the man who was talking until now seemed to feel something amiss. He felt that this strange guy in front of him wasn't that ordinary.

Lyle ignored the kidnappers reactions and started singing,

" ... Oh Yes I said it

I said it

I said it 'cause I can

Today I don't feel like doing anything

I just wanna lay in my bed

Don't feel like picking up my phone

So leave a message at the tone

'Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything

Nothing at all

Ooh hoo ooh hoo

Hoo ooh oo---"

... ...

"Tsk! You two, kill this idiot!" Seeing Lyle dancing while singing, the black clothed man which seemed to be the leader of the group lost his patience and immediately instructed the two men behind him.

Upon his orders, the two men immediately rushed out towards Lyle.

“Great earth that we stand, we offer our ---” One of the black clothed kidnapper yelled out and began chanting. "[ Stone Armor ]"

Immediately a large amount of black light began condensing under his feet into some type of fog. It then rapidly rushed out to form an enormous and dark-skinned stone man that opened its arms and ‘embraced’ the kidnapper's body.

Within a blink, it merged with his body and it then reflected the resultant transformation.

His body had gained the same dark shade as the stone man and evidently his skin had transformed into armor.

Lyle stopped his fun and looked at the two kidnappers. His face still had a smile Even though the two black clothed men began their attacks, his face had still its usual calm expression and not even a ripple was present.

He realized that this kidnappers were really not simple.

The Magic Eyes had estimated the two men to be a B-ranked mage and the other was a warrior. The two behind them was also mages but aside from the B-ranked Mage, the man who looks like a leader, was surprisingly an A-ranked Mage.

Two B-ranked Mages and One B-ranked warrior. Most importantly, there was one A-ranked Mage ... ...

If it was anyone but Lyle, then it would have meant an insurmountable difference. Ostensibly it should be an uneventful battle not throwing up any surprises; considering the difference in number, it should be a straightforward victory for the higher number with high level ranks.

“Die immediately weirdo!” The B-ranked warrior sneered, pulling out his axe.

Activating his body strengthening, the B-ranked warrior's body had become invulnerable, and he was a 100 times more confident now.

Even one strike from his axe would mean a fatal blow for his opponent.

An ordinary group of kidnappers wouldn't usually possess such strength but it seemed like these four had some unknown goal much different from just mere kidnapping.

"Master ... should we kill them ?" One of the black sword dangling on Lyle's waist trembled.

Lyle shook his head. "No, I want to try something~"

... ...

The two black men moved closer and closer. Seeing this, Lyle's playful eyes changed and looked as sharp as a knife. His mouth curled up and formed a cold smile before moving his mana.

Lyle wrapped his entire body in magical power in an instant and activated his own [ Body Strengthening ] but this wasn't an ordinary body strengthening.

He added something on his mana and fire immediately enveloped his body.

A cloud of raging flames that was a few times larger than before rumbled loudly. In his hands, it formed into a giant blazing ball that looked like the sun, floating motionless above Lyle's head causing the two black men to halt their advances because of shock…

Lyle then flicked his hand, conjuring a great blaze of flames. Those flames seemed to have life, riding the hot air currents and enveloped his body.

In the sky, the sun-like blazing ball of flames suddenly turned into mysterious rings of fire. And after a few seconds, the ball of flames turned into three rings of fire in the sky and then floated down, surrounding his body and mysteriously revolving. Under Lyle's controls, these rings of fire looked extremely calm and docile, as if it was not going to explode at all…

The appearance of these flames caused the four black clothed men's expression to change. Everyone suddenly had the impulse to run away ... even the leader, the A-ranked Mage suddenly felt frightened as he slowly stepped back in fear.

Smiling mischievously under his mask, Lyle didn't stop his experiment. Closing his eyes, he manipulated the rings of fire and slowly absorb it on his body.

The moment the three rings of fire touched his skin, his whole body suddenly ignited in fire. His hair began to lit in flames and his body's color became dyed in crimson red. His deep black eyes turned bloodshot and his black clothes burned in flames but unexpectedly didn't turned into to ash, but instead turning Lyle into a blazing man.

Suddenly, an illusory image of a massive Flame Dragon appeared behind him.

It was a piece of flame slowly coagulated and become a giant flame that looked like a Fire Dragon. There was a dragon’s head, body, wings and tail, and every single part of the Fire Dragon’s body was equipped with raging flames.

It was huge, several hundred meters in length, and it erupted with a domineering air of profound superiority. It was a sovereign of the sky!

The four black men suddenly let out miserable, desperate shrieks. Now that they saw something unimaginable, they couldn't help but trembled, and their expressions were those of dread. They wanted to flee, but it was too late.

They could only stared with wide eyes, panting, their faces covered with shock.

“Wh ... What's that ?!!”

“An S rank! He’s definitely an S rank!”

The four men, everyone was staring at the scene, their minds reeling. The Flame Dragon behind Lyle lifted its head toward the sky in a soundless furious roar,before slowly dissipating.

The blazing flames dancing on Lyle's body shined in the dark night, illuminating the usually dark alley.

Raising his head, Lyle a dejected sigh. It seems like the experiment is a failure.

What Lyle experimented was integration ...

An ability to intigrate the body to become one with an element like fire, water, earth lightning, wind and other kinds of existing elements. Making the [ Body Strengthening ] as the base, Lyle called this magic; [ Elemental Strengthening ].

In these past few days, Lyle was thinking of making new abilities to add on his arsenal. He can't just rely on his [ Sword Release ] and [ Demi-Dragon Form ] because this skills required too much mana.

Although it was without no doubt the strongest skills he had, but if he were to fought for a long time, he will be the one who will be defeated ... worse ... killed.

These skills were not suited for long battles as it drained almost his mana and stamina. That is why he was looking for a skill he can use that required less mana consumption but still possess a huge firepower that won't lose to his existing skills.

However, all the skills he thought of until now always required a huge consumption of mana and stamina. Although not as exhausting as the [ Sword Release ] and the [ Demi-Dragon Form ], they were still not enough.

The same as this one's experiment; [ Elemental Strengthening ], One-third of his mana was depleted immediately just to control the fire and intigrate it to his body. It was also too flashy~

Letting out a wry smile, Lyle faced the kidnappers in front of him. "Well, well, the night is nigh, shall we begin?"

At this moment, the four kidnappers were utterly shocked. Lyle's sudden power up has intimidated them.

The four men felt a wave of hot air rushing towards them. It started to become difficult to breathe as well. Causing them to immediately secretly increased their alertness.

They suddenly realized that their skins felt hot and scalp tingling from the blazing flames. Those who were not powerful enough even realized that their skin were burnt. They couldn’t help but be fearfully surprised…

They still held a considerable distance away from the him yet they still managed to receive some damage ... ? If they were hit directly by his fists, wouldn’t they be done for then?

Seeing Lyle turned into a blazing man, even the leader of the four felt a shiver down his spine.

It wouldn’t be good if he allowed this weird man to release all of his power.

“D-don't tell me ... you're an S-ranked Mage !?” One of the kidnapper suddenly muttered out, his voice trembling.