Boom!

"Keuk!"

Kruff grimaced as he gritted his teeth. His chest had just been struck by the hilt of Mark's sword and the shattered bones were piercing through his lungs. Taking a distance, he let his superb regeneration fix what was broken. A huge amount of Mana was used to make it happen and it taxed him quite heavily.

Spitting out the blood in his mouth, he clicked his tongue bitterly. They had only been fighting for five minutes yet it was already clear who was going to die in the end—him, unfortunately. Mark had an incredible defence and bewildering power. He could always predict what Mark would do and what area Mark would attack, yet he still got hurt.

The discrepancy between their power was simply unfair. If it wasn't for the fact that Kruff had an absurdly honed Instinct—though, it was failing—he would have been dead a few minutes ago.

"You are a quite nimble Monster, aren't you? It is tricky to catch you off guard," Mark remarked, earning a smirk from the said Orc.

"Heh..don't you want to consider that you are just slow?" Kruff retorted.

"Hoh? You still can tell a joke in this situation? Surprising."

Swish!

Mark disappeared like a screen of smoke being blown by the wind. Kruff's Instinct screamed at him, prompting him to immediately turn his body to the right.

Clank!

He managed to block Mark's sword but he still attained an injury. Two of his fingers fell to the ground, cut by the fierce pressure that Mark's sword was emitting.

"I thought you had lost your sense of humour when I struck you for the first time."

"You can't beat someone's sense of humour out of them. Haven't you heard that?"

"I mean..you have stopped smiling."

Mark's retort caused a solemn gleam to appear in Kruff's eyes. Indeed, compared to his usual expression, his current expression was unfamiliar. The easygoing smile that he always showed off had disappeared. It was replaced by the grim look of someone who knew he was in a huge predicament.

Mark smirked at his success in silencing Kruff. He put more force into his sword, forcing the bigger Kruff to bend backwards. The battle was getting boring for him. He had thought that Kruff would be enough to make him sweat but he was wrong. Since he had grasped his power now, he was eager to fight Layland.

Swish!

He jumped back when Kruff's foot shot up into the air. The sheer power behind the kick blasted the air it struck, so he would have died had it managed to hit him. As soon as the Orc retracted his foot, the Hero charged forward. He didn't hold back any longer, so his speed was three times faster than it had been.

Kruff didn't show any gestures which indicated that he was trying to dodge, which means he couldn't anticipate the attack at all. It made Mark smirk gleefully as he thought that he had won; therefore, he was shocked when it turned out to be merely his misunderstanding.

Schluk!

"Keuh..this thing burns hotter than Lady Valeria's criticism," Kruff groaned as he caught Mark's sword between his armpit.

"How..is it..possible?" muttered the bewildered Mark.

"Fuck, kid—you left me with no choice. I will let someone on your level fight you."

Looking up at Kruff after his remark, Mark frowned. Clicking his tongue in irritation, he was about to swing his sword upwards when Kruff choked him with his arm and shot to a certain part of the battlefield with him.

Mark tried to free himself of the choke but to no avail. His raw physical strength was still lacking compared to the Orc's. He didn't only have one way to free himself, though. Reversing his hold on his sword, he stabbed Kruff's stomach.

Kruff grunted but that was it. He still kept his hold on Mark despite the excruciating pain that spread from his abdomen to his whole body due to the Divinity Mark's sword was injecting into his body.

'Just a few more seconds..' he muttered mentally as sweat trickled down his forehead.

"This fucking Monster doesn't want to let me go, huh?"

The irritated Mark had had enough. He was planning to use the new Skill he had learnt on Layland but he changed his mind; he needed to let Kruff know his place badly.

"How dare—"

"Bye-bye, whiny brat!"

Mark couldn't help clicking his tongue in annoyance as Kruff suddenly separated from him. He was just about to blow the Orc up, so he was quite disappointed by the development. Moving on quickly, however, he observed the place he was about to land. His eyebrow quirked as he wondered how there could be a forest in the middle of the battlefield.

Thud!

When he landed, the first thing he noted was how gloomy and dark the forest was. A repulsive stench of blood was overwhelming the air, making him involuntarily gag. Moving one of his feet slightly, he found it hitting something metallic. Looking down, he could see a dried-up corpse clad in damaged armour.

Whoosh!

The wind blew the leaves of the trees, making them rustle eerily. Mark couldn't help frowning as he noted how different it was from the outside despite still being in the same place.

"Welcome to my humble abode."

Mark's mental alarm went off the moment he heard the heavy voice that reverberated through the whole forest. He looked around in extreme vigilance, yet he could tell where it came from, making him panic.

"Now, my guest, there is no need to be vigilant—you know who I am." The voice chuckled in amusement. "I know why you came here, so let us get straight to business, shall we? Look to your left. That is the west, in case you don't know."

Following the instruction of the voice, Mark found a path that wasn't there before.historical

,m "I am at the end of this path. Walk the path and you shall find me."

Mark gulped his saliva in nervousness—he knew whom he would meet at the end of the path. He had been confident before but this moment made him doubt his capability.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

The heart of the deceased Hero that was beating in his chest beat faster. Even the heart of the fearless Hero who had killed two Demon Kings by himself was nervous. Quickly enough, though, Mark managed to calm himself down. Whether he won or lost, he would still die. He had determined himself to die, so it was amusing to him that he became afraid of it now.

Stepping his foot into the path, he walked through it confidently. He could sense something was watching over him from behind the trees decorating the side of the path, yet he remained unfazed. He ignored the unknown and focused on the path. He still breathed a sigh of relief when nothing ambushed him, though.

After some time, which felt like forever for him, he reached the end of the path. There, sitting on a throne made out of human bones under the tree with his cheek leaning onto one of his fists, Layland gazed at him with his uninterested eyes.

Mark's grip on his sword unconsciously became tighter. His new heart beat just as fast as it did when the original owner faced his adversary, the two Demon Kings whom he managed to slay. He tried to swallow his saliva but he found it already dry. His eyes darted around, looking for an escape. At this moment, he realized that he was still afraid of dying.

"It took you long enough to be here, Mark," Layland remarked. "4 Warlords and 17,193 soldiers. Those are the people I killed while I was waiting for your arrival." Turning to the side, he continued, "I doubt that you would even come here without my senior bringing you here."

This was the moment when Mark registered Kruff's appearance. The said Orc was leaning on the tree not far away from the throne with a delighted smirk on his face. Mark gritted his teeth; he was equally enraged and humiliated. His hands trembled as he held his sword. He wanted to kill both of the Cursed Creations before him, yet he was afraid.

He had determined himself to die but knowing that Layland might not even be harmed by the end of this made him feel reluctant. He didn't want his death to be in vain.

"Why don't we settle our grudge once and for all here?"

Mark's heart sank to the bottom of his stomach when Layland's hand landed on his shoulder. He couldn't even register when the Demon appeared before him.

"This forest I made myself should be the place where everything ends. I encourage you to explore this place, so you can make the game—I mean the fight more interesting." Layland smiled with his eyes. "Show me how hard a mouse will bite when cornered."

As Layland retracted his hand, Mark immediately dashed away.

Swish!

He threw everything away—his pride, bravery and his vow to the King. He didn't want to die in vain. It was better for him to keep running away for the rest of his life than to die young. There were still a lot of things he wanted to try in this world. As long as he could save himself, he didn't care if Antares was flat with the ground.

"Where is the exit? Where is the exit!?"

His eyes darted around as he looked for the end of the forest. He had seen the entirety of it from the sky earlier and it wasn't big; he was sure he should've exited the forest by now.

"Here is news for you, my guest," Layland said as he came out of nowhere, turning Mark's gaze solemn. "Only the winner sees the exit."

Seeing Mark tremble in horror, Layland grinned gleefully.