Me and Myne left the city after finishing our meal. We kept going south on foot.

[Hey, where are we heading for?]

The barren land spread into the horizon. If we continued at this pace, wed ended up by-passing the border and entering Gallia. I kept asking for our destination since I had a bad feeling about this, but Myne also kept ignoring me.

The day grew dimmer as we proceeded. But Myne still didnt show any signs of stopping.

Suddenly, looking eastward, I noticed yellow light in the distance. Probably another fortified city. The base at the most forefront that stops the monsters from overflowing. Its also the place where Roxy will be stationed in for three years.

I really want to go to that place soon. While thinking so, Myne elbowed me in the gut. The pain had sobered me up.

[Dont think about anything else. Focus your mind.]

[Yeah, sorry.]

[Gallia is just around the corner. Heads up.]

There was no apparent sign for what Myne had told me just now. But judging from the cracks and creases on the ground seemingly caused by battles, I could at least tell that we are pretty close already to Gallia.

Alongside Myne, I took my first step toward Gallia.

Eh!? What the. The atmosphere changed!?

I felt cold. Moreover I could smell the scent of blood and death drifting gently in the air.

Just one step, and the difference is this huge!?

I tried walking back to test it out, since I still can feel fresh air just a moment ago. Inhaling the air from both sides. It really felt different.

Something like a invisible wall separated the kingdom and Gallia. Its even fitting to say that here is a different world altogether.

[Lets go, Fate.]

Since I was still hanging out at the edge, Myne decided to call me out.

I replied as I finally moved on,

[Kuuuuuuu.]

Dammit why the Gluttony skill awakened at times like this? Ive repeatedly trained to suppress it, and yet it suddenly flare up just like that? Greed then told me throughMind Reading

Fate, thats the cause. Look far south toward the sky

[That. Could it be?]

Right. Its the Tenryu.

Under the bright sunshine, a white dragon that could be mistaken as flowing clouds gracefully fly in the sky.

Its too big just how big exactly is it? With how I can still perceive its size even from this far of distance, I might look like grain when standing next to it.

I wanted to investigate the Tenryus capabilities, but it was over the effective range.

Myne offered her hand to me who was on my knees.

[You alright?]

[I feel better already.]

When the Tenryu finally faded in the horizon, the Gluttony skill settled down on its own.

Even so, I didnt expect that Gluttony skill will be attracted this much to the Tenryu. The stronger the skill became, the more ridiculous its appetite. This was really troublesome.

While I wiped the sweat on my forehead, Myne gave me an advice.

[Tenryu is too far ahead for Fate. Even by glance, the result is already obvious.]

[Ahahaha..I cant refute that.]

I also thought the same. Tenryu turned out to be much bigger than what I had heard before, and seemed to be incredibly strong too. No wonder people called it a living natural disaster. If a push came to shove, I mightve needed to fight it, but how far I could goI truly had no idea at the moment.

I checked my own stats with Appraisal.

Fate Graphite Lv1

Durability: 12256100

Strength: 11234600

Magic: 12312200

Spirit: 11284400

Agility: 13378000

Skill(s): Gluttony, Appraisal, Mind Reading, Concealment, Night Vision, Martial Arts, Snipe, Holy Sword mastery, One-handed Sword mastery, Two-handed Sword mastery, Bow mastery, Flame Bullet Magic, Dust Magic, Illusion Magic, Durability Strengthening (S), Durability Strengthening (M), Durability Strengthening (L), Strength Strengthening (S), Strength Strengthening (M), Strength Strengthening (L), Magic Strengthening (L), Spirit Strengthening (M), Spirit Strengthening (L), Agility Strengthening (S), Agility Strengthening (M), Auto Recovery, Fire Resistance.

If with all this Im still incapable of even reaching the Tenryus feet, then I dont know anymore how much stronger I need to get.

While staring at the direction where the Tenryu had disappeared to, Myne told me

[Area E. Fate should go there first.]

[Area E?]

What was that? Greed suddenly interjected.

Thats too muchtoo early

[Greed, what do you mean?]

I dont care anymore

Again like this! Greed kept the information to himself. I do want to know about it, but why wont you tell me anything!? Staring at the black sword in my hand for a while, Myne then said with a sigh.

[Tenryu is in that area. Fate might be able to rise up in power very fast there, thanks to Gluttony skill. But currently, you wont be able to hold on to yourself from being swallowed by the skill.]

[Does that mean Ill lose control and fight only based on the urge from the Gluttony skill?]

[Un, thats right.]

Myne said that lightly, but judging from Greeds reaction, its most likely true.

The current me cannot afford to go to Area E. In other words, fighting Tenryu is a no go.

[If I start preparing from now on, can I eventually go to Area E?]

[Un, I think itll take 10 years since its Fate we are talking about.]

Oi oi, thats far too long. I cannot afford to spend 10 years. We never know when the Tenryu will pass the border and attack Roxy.

At that point, there would be no turning back.

Myne added some more.

[One more thing, you should never think of defeating the Tenryu. Its the best for the kingdom. It has a role of thinning down the growth of monsters in Gallia. Without it, even more incredible monsters will start appearing and invade the kingdom. This is why, I never lay my hand on the Tenryu.]

[That..]

Once Im prepared to go to Area E, what will I do if I must not defeat the Tenryu? I tightened my grip on Greed unintentionally.

What are you worrying about now? There is only 1 thing to do since youve come this far. Cant be helped, this me will assist you somehow.

[..Greed.]

Lets deal with Mynes problem first thing first.

[Yeah, youre right.]

No matter how hard I thought about it, there would be no answer if I kept worrying. For now Ill just accompany Myne crossing through Gallia.

=====

I kept walking through the desolated land. The sky had been completely enveloped in darkness, with stars twinkling in between the clouds.

How much further do we have to go? Whilst taking out a dried meat from my bag, I glanced at Myne who walked at the front.

Shes moving lightly with the huge black axe on her waist. That form, judging from what I learned from Aaron, allowed her to move effectively while still being able to shift into battle stance at any given time. However, she did so very naturally. Truly an ideal form.

At that point, Myne suddenly stopped and readied her axe.

[Fate, its the enemy. A small scale stampede.]

[Eh, where?]

She actually perceived faraway enemy presence that could not be sensed by me who had Night Vision, and pointed northward. Nhn? I still couldnt see anything.did she sense wrong?

After a while, whilst raising a huge dust cloud behind their path, green skinned pig-faced creature finally made its appearance. There were about 200 of them. Unlike goblins, their body was solidly muscled. They were also fairly tall, about 1.5 times taller than me. They hadnt entered the effective range for appraisal just yet.

[Myne, can we avoid them?]

[We cant, since our destination is just beyond there. They are in the way, so lets just kill them all and proceed.]

[Alright. Its almost time for me to feel hungry too.]

While I drew Greed out, Myne told me.

[Those pig faces, orcs, are the monster with the biggest population in Gallia. They attack with primitive weapons like carved stone axe or bare handedly. Use your head, fight them as if youre fighting against humans.]

[Does that mean they may also cooperate with each other?]

[Yes, so unless you forgot everything youve learned from Aaron, Fate wont have any trouble fighting them.]

Their number amounted to 200, isnt that the same as a single company in the military? The orcs approached with primitive weapons in their hands. Their weapons consisted of shields, bows, swords, and spears of various shapes.

It seemed that each of them was responsible for a specific role. As Myne said, itll be best to fight them as if Im fighting a human. Even though I had much higher stats, their collective attacks were nothing to be scoffed at.

The orcs company finally noticed our presence, and stopped some distance ahead of us. A blue skinned orc, one with different skin color to the others behind it, roared.

With that roar as a signal, they started to release arrows and magics at once.

[What!?]

I hurriedly switched the black sword into scythe form. Spinning my scythe, I cut through the rain of arrows and tore down the fireballs. It seemed that the magic the orcs released was fire magic. But I dont want to get hit by it regardless of my fire resistance.

They kept releasing arrows and magic without stop. Making me unable to close in.

No way, could it be that they are waiting for my stamina to bottom up? In any case, itll be bad for us if this turned into a battle of attrition.

Glancing at the orcs at the distance, I suddenly heard a sigh.

[Good grief to be unable to move to this degree. Such a sorry state.]

[If you have time to say that, then tell me what should we do]

Even Myne was suppressed by the barrage of arrows and magic. But just when I thought about that,

[Eeeh, uaaaaaa]

Suddenly Myne scrapped the ground with her black axe. A large chunk of earth was scooped up into the sky. Completely blocking our line of sight. This is bad! Why did she do that!?

The stream of arrows and magic stopped, seemingly unable to pierce through the chunk of earth.

So its to give us some room to breath. Myne then pulled my hand, and dragged me to move sideways.

[If you only stand there, there is no point in blocking their line of sight. Run around and poke them in their flank. Come, help me out.]

[Of course, if there is no place to hide, you simply have to create one! As expected of Myne!]

[That much is nothing.nothing.]

With a little blush on her face, Myne let go of my hand.

Then Ill just do it. I reverted Greed back into black sword form, and start running. Myne lifted another chunk next to the previous one when we are about to pass it.

I could almost hear the noise of the upset orc who lost their sight on us. Now then, lets begin our counterattack.

=====