'How can a small child-like being speak our tongue!?'

This was something he found very disturbing and shocking, but this was even more sudden than anything else.

[< "What are you doing, warrior? It is disrespectful to one's kind to not greet someone, right?" >]

The boy asked with a sharp eye and looked at the lizardman standing before him.

He was waiting for the greeting from the lizardman...

It was a basic norm to greet someone back when they greet you and the warriors must follow their basic traditions more thoroughly than the normal folks.

They are creatures of nature and, as a warrior, truer creatures born to fight, they had to follow the traditions of their kind.

And as the strongest one in their tribe, this one also had to instinctively follow that.

Just that he was first astonished by the sudden greeting from the boy or the small creature.

[< Zuroro of Van green lizardman, the strongest warrior greets the Axion of humans. >]

He was surprised, but he also followed the same greeting the boy had shown.

He first touched the surface of the water, tapped his thighs, punched his heart with his big right hand, opened his big palm with sharp claws, and splashed the surface of the water, which created a wave that collided with the small intruder.

But the water just passed from around him without touching his body and he nodded at him.

[< "You look miserable, Zuroro of Van green lizardman." >]

His voice contained pity, warmth, and a strange superiority.

He was looking up at him with his sharp, glowing red eyes, but it seemed like he was looking down at the big creature.

It was strange... even more because the threat his senses were telling him about had suddenly grown even more than before.

He felt pressured by his own senses that had always been right as well as the best.

He had lived for a long time and fought countless wild battles, but never in his life had he felt a similar threat from any strong creature as he was feeling from this small creature.

It was strange, but a true warrior like him was feeling large to submit to this small creature... and it was unacceptable!

[< You...! You small weakling! I will- >]

[< "Weak?" >]

His eyes narrowed as he asked the question. His voice contained genuine questions.

He was looking at him with his red eyes that seemed like the eyes of a bird of prey, eyes of a warrior that had fought more battles than him, and he could clearly see the 'experience' in those clear eyes deeper than any lake he had seen.

[< "Does your heroic senses, the senses of the greatest warrior, also say that I am weak?" >]

There was weight behind those simple words. But it was even more surprising how he knew about his great senses.

He was just a small mortal. A small creature with a simple weapon in his hand. A child he could crush at any moment.

He tried to convince himself of these things, but however many times he tried, he couldn't go against his senses.

[< You!! What are you?! >]

And in the end, he just gave up on underestimating the opponent and took a defensive posture. Pointing his sword at him, even his senses heightened far more than before.

He was ready for anything this weird creature would throw at him.

He was small, but maybe he was one of those formidable beings that would disguise themselves as weak creatures so that creatures like him would put their guards down.

Maybe this small-looking creature before him was another great being who even knew the traditions of their kind.

Maybe he was the warrior of another lizardman tribe...!

[< Yes! You must be a mystic from some other lizardman tribe! You have a special ability to change forms! But I won't be fooled anymore! >]

The warrior started thrusting his sword, slashing, striking, and waving at the intruder without thinking.

He was using a sword passed down through their tribe to the greatest of warriors and it was something he had cherished the most ever since he was tricked by that wicked being.

He was the greatest warrior, a special being that even that evil bastard acknowledged..

But he didn't simply bring him here to guard this place, and it wasn't even of his own will.

He was here after the destruction of his family and tribe. And he couldn't do anything to protect them. Neither could he do anything to that bastard that put him here.

He was weak and dumb to fall into its trap and actually miserable to be in this place.

He was bound by the task of protecting this place and fending off the intruders that ever step into this place until the day he dies.

He was miserable... he was truly miserable...

And the one that reminded him of his misery, this small-looking strong creature... he had to kill him!

He had to at least defeat him!

Those were only his thoughts, though...

[< "No. I said I'm human. A different species from you all. This is my true appearance.

Warrior. Remember.

If the opponent is smaller than you doesn't mean that they are also weaker.

Small ones could sometime possess power far greater than giants.The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0/v3l-B1n.

Just think about the small round furball-like creatures that dominated one part of your island. >]

The lizardman warrior's green eyes widened in shock as the small-looking creature reminded him of the past that he had almost forgotten.

[< You are... right. >]

But his sword still continued its fierce attacks.

He slashed, trusted, stabbed... but there was no damage to the small intruder.

The small looking 'human' avoided the one-meter-long blade. Even the sharp winds generated by the brandished blade.

The lizardman was just randomly swinging his blade, but there was still great pressure behind his attacks and there was also the strong wind that flowed from the blade's edge.

The normal attacks were enough to obliterate any normal opponent, but this small 'human' avoided all of his attacks.

The way he avoided every single attack was also something that clearly told the experienced worrier that this being before him was used to avoiding fiercer attacks than his movements.

This wasn't his actual power and technique, but this was still something that normal beings couldn't avoid.

It was surprising, but even more surprising thing was the dead-calm expression on the face of this small human creature.

He didn't even feel pressured by the strength, anger, and bloodthirst oozing out from the enormous body of this lizardman warrior.

The evasive actions were also impeccable... something he could tell was instinctive from his experience.

He was trained for this. He had already experienced many sudden attacks like this one, maybe even more dangerous than this one, but the small human boy, Axion, knew how to fight.

[< "Do you want to be freed from this misery, warrior Zuroro?" >]

The boy, the small human, Axion, asked with a small smile while still evading his continuous barrage of attacks.

His simple yet confident voice that suddenly strangely echoed throughout the cave... unwantedly created a spark of hope in his dried heart.

He felt an instinctive reliability from that voice... something he himself couldn't explain.

It was strange... but once again, his senses told him that what he said could actually come true.

There was a mysterious certainty in this voice that can't be explained with simple words.

He had absolute trust in his senses, but he wanted to deny them at this moment.

He wanted to refuse. He wanted to keep attacking and take a proper position for his real attacks.

He wanted to use his actual strength at this very moment, but... he couldn't.

He just stopped attacking after hearing him say that.

He himself didn't know why he stopped, but he stopped. And that was enough for the small boy, Axion.

[< "A worrier's place should be on the battlefields, by his close ones, among his own people. And yet, a special one like you is here, rotting away in these stagnant waters.

I know it is all because of the bastard evil spirit.

That leash on your neck is more than enough evidence for what I wanted to know.

Past is something that has already passed, so thinking and talking about it would be more of a waste than anything.

So worrier Zuroro. I can free you from those shackles. But as you know... there's nothing free in this world.

Hmmm... Nah. This won't do." >]

The boy had a dark smile on his face when he was talking about the free things in the world.

It was really dark and even the lizardman warrior suddenly felt chills down his scales while seeing that creepy expression.

But then he suddenly stopped.

He shook his head and just moved back and... looked at the lizardman before him with an approving gaze and a wide smile.

[< "You are a warrior..." >]

It was confusing, even for the lizardman himself.

This baseless question came out of nowhere, but from the tone, he wasn't actually asking it like a question.

He was thinking something while saying that, and the confused lizardman grasped that fact.

He truly was more intelligent than his previous opponents.

Anyway, the boy nodded at him with a smile and looked around the open area.

There was light, but it was lacking in many ways.

He was going to get this lizardman in all the ways. So he needed to defeat him first. He was a warrior with a strong pride after all.

A fight was inevitable in most of the simple scenarios he had thought, so a proper fight was better than a lone, boring fight, right?

[< "Apologies but, please wait for a moment, great warrior." >]

[< What...? >]

But without even listening to the startled warrior's confused cries, the boy took a few steps to their left side and then used a movement skill to move to the end part of the open area.

Then, he used some kind of earth magic and erected a big platform some meters above the water level.

[< What are you...? >]

The warrior was surprised by the small 'human' creature's sudden behavior, but even at this moment when it looked like the boy was relaxed and had left his guard down, his senses said something different.

They told him to be prepared to receive any surprise attacks from the ferocious boy who actually had no openings, even while showing his back to the opponent.

He stood before the platform, looked around, selected some spots around the cave, and nodded with satisfaction.

Then he closed his eyes for a moment, covered his hand with a strange white light, snapped his fingers, and... suddenly, blue flames lit up all over the cave one by one.

-Sub! Burrr..

-Sub! Burrr..

-Sub! Burrr..

Flames. Something that shouldn't be easily possible in this humid, water-covered area.

And these flames had lit up without any dry wood in this place...

Was this even possible!?

[< You...!? >]

His belief that this small 'human' creature, Axion, was a mystic lizardman in disguise, was getting stronger as he saw the pale blue flames calmly burning on the walls of this wet place.

His reflexes, the mysterious strength that his senses warned him about, and now this bizarre magic...

As if this much wasn't enough, this small person did something even more fascinating.

He summoned creatures out of nowhere!

And the creatures he summoned...

[< Yei~! Master Eon's house~~! >]

[< New home. New home~! We can see the sky now~! >]

[< Sky! Skyyyyyy~! Where's the endless, ever-changing blue sky~? >]

[< Master Axion~! How are you~? >]

[< Brother Axion~! How long were we gone~? Did you defeat that bad creature~? >]

[< Hmm? Eon? Where's this place? >]

[< Mama~. We arrived~. >]

They were some colorful furballs.

Small, round creatures with a row of sharp teeth and blessings of elementals.

The lizardman worrier knew of these creatures.

At least their kind.

And never in his life... had he thought that he would be able to see these creatures once again.

Especially a particular one among them...

[< You... >]

His eyes fixed on one particular golden blob of fur as he recalled the old days of his glorious past and the fall of his home.