Chapter 42

That’s what Zarda thinks. And Drova was not against that idea—unlike before when she was still wary of him, now Drova truly sees Rain like her precious little brother.

The time she had spent with him became one of her most precious memories in this hell-like place, especially the happy moments they shared when they are training together and her being called a teacher or elder sister by him. Although she couldn’t understand Zarda and the others deep feelings when they planned of chaining him down on the Tribe, never letting him go, nevertheless, Drova also has some reasons not to let Rain go.

And most of them are personal reasons.

Just like usual, Drova started coaching Rain. She showed him thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, Rain got a little more battered and bruised. "Keep your guard up, Rain," she'd say, then whap him in the ribs with the flat of her blade. "No, not that far up!" Whap! "Lunge!" Whap! "Now, back!" Whap! As usual, she looks like a Spartan teacher from hell.

As Rain was swinging his sword like he was taught, suddenly his alarm kicked in and he hurriedly jumped from the side.

The familiar sword swept past his former location, and when he turned towards the culprit for the sudden sneak attack, he saw Drova grinning while holding the sword. Rain was not surprised. Sometimes, when he least expected it, suddenly he would be attacked by her. According to her, always never let your guard down—enemies can be anywhere, anytime.

Rain was grateful for her teachings, but sometimes, he just can’t help wonder if Drova just wants to fight him. Rain didn’t say anything and just let out a wry smile while going into a stance himself. This kind of thing had occurred several times already, hence, he knows what would come next.

When he did, she came after him. As usual, she was fast, despite having a tail-lower body, she appeared in front of him before he knew it. Furthermore, due to the constant swaying of her curvy body, like a snake, it’s as if there are several afterimages appearing whenever she moves, confusing her opponent and taking them off-guard.

Blurry speed, as if she moves like an illusion. Powerful strength that can break even the best swords in one slash and sharp battle techniques that you can’t help but get dazzled. Even though Rain knows that she lowered her power to match him, she was still beyond his match.

Rain raised his sword defensively as Drova came up close. Feigning a sideward movement to draw Drova into an aggressive attack, Rain dropped his sword low. Drova should have been tempted to move in for a strike and in response, Rain would have quickly raised his sword and dug go for a hit into the Lamian's chest. Drova, however, moved unexpectedly.

Instead of taking advantage of Rain's opening, or perhaps already realizing what he had planned in the instant he made his move, Drova tried to strike Rain's shoulder. Alarmed, Rain quickly raised his right arm and swung defensively, blow clashed, but he was quite delayed and his balance turned awry. Rain gnashed his teeth, and his expression turned serious and solemn. Somehow, he had managed to keep her from getting a shot through his defenses. Then, another blow--fast and quickly, Drova moved like a snake in a jungle, blurry and illusory, that Rain was having a hard keeping up.

His senses opened up and with Sylphy’s support to keep track of the Lamian’s location, Rain barely saw her attacks coming. With an opportunity opened, he countered but failed, and once again, stepped forward and tried a thrust of his own.

Again and again, and again, Drova deflected it easily, but he saw a change in her face. Her eyes slightly narrowed and her smile becomes even wider. She started to press him with more force. The sword grew heavy in his hand.

[Master, I suggest an unexpected weapon break!]

The balance wasn't right. Rain knew it was only a matter of seconds before Drova took him down. Then, suddenly he heard Sylphy’s advice. [Weapon Break] is a technique that focused on attacking the opponent’s weapon to break it, or if not, at the very least, cause the opponent to let go of his weapon. In short, it was like a disarming technique.

Rain’s mind focused, and in an instant, Drova’s movement seemed to have slowed down. It was not like any precognition or time-slow ability or something, instead purely science, or at least that’s what Rain thought.

With Sylphy acting like a computer, she would try to analyze the opponent’s behavior and predict their next movements. Like some sort of simulation inside Rain’s mind and vision. Normally, this chance of succeeding would be perhaps extremely low. However, due to their constant practice, Drova’s ability, habit, fighting prowess, etc had been recorded and analyzed by Sylphy this entire time. Hence, there’s a high chance of her prediction to succeed.

Drova wouldn’t be able to see it, much less expect what Rain would do. When Drova attacked, as if being marionette by invisible strings, Rain’s movement turned sharp, startling Drova. And before she could snap out from the sudden surprise, Rain’s blade hit the base of Drova’s and he twisted, putting his whole weight into a downward thrust.

If it was a direct attack on the Lamian, surely with her extraordinary superhuman reflex and instinct, she would be able to counter, or at the very least, block it. However, the attack didn't go for her, and it was also too sudden, she was at a loss on what to do.

Clang. Drova’s sword rattled against the stones. The tip of his blade was an inch from her undefended chest. And the Lamian could only stare at her hand with wide-eyes. Not believing what just happened.

“Excellent,”

A voice appeared as a figure broke through the underbrush and entered the clearing they were in. The figure was clapping her hands with a bright smile on her face, though astonished and pleasant surprise colored her beautiful face just like Drova.

A beautiful Lamian wearing beautiful blue body armor with studied jewels. Her gleaming azure cloak rippled. Unlike a normal Lamian, she has a head full of countless slithering snakes that move in every direction, bursting in liveliness. Her face pale as snow and red serpentine eyes that seemed to seduce you every time it looks at you. Although she had a somewhat horrifying visage of a monster in the myths of Greek Culture, to Rain, her strange monstrosity only added her charm and allure. It didn’t even matter to him as he had gotten used to her strange appearance.

“Sister Zarda,” Rain called out with an embarrassed smile while scratching the back of his head.

“That was a great move, Rain. Don’t you think so as well, Drova?” Zarda muttered as she walked over.

“Indeed, truly marvelous. I couldn’t see that coming,” Drova praised as she picked up her sword. Her face lit up in excitement; “Although I know that weapon is a very important factor for battle. However, I actually never thought of trying to disarm my opponent. It was simple logic, but it never occurred to me that it is possible. Furthermore, the execution of your attack and the timing, they are both excellent that I wasn’t able to properly react in time.”

“Beginner’s luck,” Rain chuckled in embarrassment.

However, a proud look appeared in his eyes. Despite his humble attitude, he was obviously happy and excited by the praise. No one disliked being praised.

Zarda laughed in amusement. She walks closer to Rain, cupping his cheeks between her palms; “Be that as it may, Luck is also a part of a person’s greatness. It seems like your training has been progressing extremely well, which pleased me well,” She caressed his cheek as she whispered with a voice like a bell, penetrating his brain, he almost backed off.

“But do remember to rest as well. You’ve been training for a long while now,”

Rain stared into her beautiful red-colored eyes and saw no guile. Rain wondered why Zarda had been quite intimate these past few days. As much as she could, she would get close to him and act intimate, hugging him, touching like this as if they were lovers, and she’s been looking at him with a gentle and affectionate gaze. Sometimes, Rain would even feel awkward.

Was she looking for a mate? Rain often thinks as such. However, since he just had a confession with Lafetti, Rain wanted to stay away from committing any sin against her… at least for a while. But Zarda has been challenging his endurance, and he’s very close to breaking it.

“What is it, Rain? Maybe you wanted a kiss?” noticing Rain's expression, Zarda said with a teasing smile.

“No, nope, not at all!”

Seeing Rain’s panicking expression, Zarda was amused. She leaned her head much closer again, stopping only at a distance at which the tip of their noses, almost touched.

“—I don’t mind if that’s what you want,”

“——————!!!!”

Momentarily, Rain’s blood started boiling,

Scarily enough, Zarda’s pupils seemed to clearly saw through his inner thoughts. The long red snake-like tongue crawling over the glossy red lips dulled his ability to think, and he almost surrenders to impulse.

“Blushing like that… our Rain is still so cute,”

A finger that was like white porcelain stroked his cheek. He was strongly hugged and his lips were almost stolen, but fortunately, his reason kicked in in a timely manner. He grasped her shoulders and hurriedly separated himself from her by force.

“Please, do, don’t make fun of me too much, Elder Sister,”

Rain was incredibly shaken. Drova who was watching in the distance couldn’t help but started laughing in amusement upon seeing his blushing expression. She and Zarda couldn’t help but felt their maternal instinct rising up upon witnessing it, though, the urge to tease him more was much stronger.

After teasing Rain, Zarda looked satisfied as she found it interesting how he was shaken up, like an innocent child. She pulled her body away; “Well, you might really faint from blushing too much, so let’s stop the teasing at this,”

“It’s too much for my heart, so please don’t do it again,”

“Fufufu, I will try,”

“An, Anyway, I want to train with Sister Drova for a while. I don’t have much to do for now anyway,” said Rain trying to change the topic.

“If that’s what you want, but only one last sparring. After that, you’ll be coming with me, okay?” She stroked a hand over his shoulder.

Rain nodded his head, no other options to take. Zarda is someone he can never refuse or reject. He doesn’t know why, just that he doesn’t want her to feel rejected or something…

With Zarda watching the two, Drova and Rain resumed their training. However, this time, Drova became even harder to hit, knowing that her sword arm can also be detrimental in a battle, while Rain became a punching bag. She made it as if Rain defeating her a while ago was nothing but luck. In fact, Drova also started trying to attack Rain’s wrist and disarm his weapon. She seemed to be quite interested in the technique. By the time she called a break, Rain was soaked in sweat, and panting as if he had just run a marathon in summer.

… …

The land around the temporary camp was not good.

The weeds ran rampant, the soil was not flat, and the fence put up near the forests was in poor condition. It was hastily done to Rain’s opinion. However, that can’t be helped as it was just a temporary stay, at least until the plan of attack is started. After all, this is already the best place they could make camp, with better terrain for defense.

This might be late to mention but, Rain was quite surprised when he saw several Lamians started glowing all of a sudden, and then when the light faded the Lamians become much stronger than they originally were. It happened one night when Lafetti and the others went back from their usual scouting. Although appearance-wise they barely change anything, if one looks closely aside from their aura that had turned stronger, they seemed to become a bit taller, more beautiful and also their tails become somewhat longer by several meters. In regards to magic power—their enormous magical power can sometimes cause physical changes along with several special abilities.

One with an enhanced Fire-power, one much stronger in terms of strength like Drova, and etc. In addition, in regards to physical changes, when Rain tried to look closer on them, they did change, just a minimal amount. For example, there were several Lamians who grew horns on their forehead or their arms covered in scales like a lizardman and the likes.

They call it [Rank up (evolution)] apparently.

Human beings have Class/Profession, which defines their skills and abilities. With proper training and fighting battles, they gained experience values, leveled up, and becoming stronger. Indeed, Rain was not mistaken—for him, this world is truly like a game.

Humans are fundamentally less powerful than monsters. This is common sense. Because of that, with the blessings of the Gods, there are a large number of [Classes/Professions] they can take. So to strengthen themselves they carry many [Skills] and [Arts] each with their own requirements, and the requirements become more strict as the skills become stronger.

They can also enhance their physical attributes through leveling, and that is by absorbing the magical essence from the world through arduous training. Though, stealing from other beings by killing them is a much better and most commonly used method by people. Hence, fighting monsters was a common profession for any warriors.

In this kind of way, they become a powerful force to be reckoned with.

According to Sylphy, when a monster had finally reached Level "100", their growth stops there. However, those individuals with the potential to grow even further do not stop there, but can instead grow stronger by going through an [Evolution].

[Rank up (evolution)] was only the privilege of the monsters and demons in this world.

Like human beings, an individual's strength among monsters and demon humans is measured by levels as well, with the max being 100. The only major difference between them and the Human Beings is that the growth Monsters can attain through leveling is much lower than that of a Human through their Class System and they increase their level extremely slow as well. Almost double that of the effort human beings needed for theirs.

However, when Monsters reach level 100 they can [Evolve] to a higher species, giving them an incredible boost in stats and power, much greater than human beings. Furthermore, specialties that the individual Monsters demonstrated prior to [Evolution], or conditions they might have cleared, may influence what type of monster they evolve into. It is even possible for a Monster to reach level 100 and be incapable of leveling up since it has not fulfilled all the conditions.

To put it in really simple terms, a monster’s [Rank up (evolution)] is influenced by its characteristics, but they grew ever so slowly. However, they can dramatically increase their powers all at once after their [Evolution] whereas a human’s [Leveling] grows much faster, but weaker in terms of power growth. This is why high-level or evolved monsters are so much stronger.

The amount of Experience Values required for [Evolution] differs largely between species, but the fact that these cases are few and far between is a trait shared between all of them, as despite reaching Level "100" most are unable to Rank Up.

The stronger the species, the less the number of those who can fulfill the requirements to evolve. Due to such harsh requirements, those who can evolve into a higher species appear only as one in a hundred. If it had been that easy for non-humans to evolve, humanity would have been chased to the corners of the continent by now, and they wouldn't be living leisurely like they are now.

Most demi-humans evolved drastically in their appearance. But it seems like most humanoid would not. Lamians are among them. The promotion can only be seen in their magical power and abilities. Though, high-level ones are different.

From what Zarda had said, Medusa was one of the highest possible evolutions of a Lamian, and this change Zarda who was once an ordinary Lamian had turned into her current form because of this evolution. It seems like her Medusa bloodline was much denser.

For additional information, Lamian underwent several evolutions to reach her level. Hence, Zarda was actually the strongest Lamian in the Amani Tribe. While Drova, and Sarete came second as they had already gone three rank ups, followed by Stagna, Lafetti, Miyabila and several others with two rank ups.

… …

After washing his body on the creek near the camp, Rain then heads towards the large tent where Zarda and the others were having their planning discussion. Apparently, Lafetti and the scouting group had returned. However, when he got closer, Rain’s brows furrowed as he could hear quarreling inside. His pace naturally quickened and he entered the tent.

“Then what!? Wait for them to attack first? That’s absurd!”

Suddenly, Lafetti’s angry voice roared throughout the tent, taking Rain by surprise. Lafetti had a passionate attitude as her bright red eyes glared at Zarda. On the other hand, the Lamian Chief remained calm as usual as she sat down on her chair, tapping with her fingers with a rhythmic melody. Within the table, there was the usual group consist of Zarda, Drova.

Stagna and Lafetti along with Grethia and two other Lamians which if Rain was not mistaken should be top warriors of the Tribe; the Fire Lamian Mage Alcaran and the one who always holds a towering shield, and acted like a tank among the warriors; Granite.

For additional information, Granite was one of the newly ranked up Lamian of the Tribe, and Rain witnessed her invoking her newly acquired ability to cover her entire body with rock and earth, further enhancing her defense. It was incredible. She looks like a large rock serpent, like an Onyx in the Pok*mon Universe!

“What's wrong? I can hear you even outside.”