Even without Solaris, or the ability to use mana, Jason was still not powerless.

He had terrifically high physical strength!

Jason had no mana left which he could only circulate through his body once replenished.

Because of that, he switched Solaris with Artemis, allowing her to occupy his mana core, further enhancing his strength, while being able to manifest her wings.

Jason's veins bulged as he cleaved at the chimera in front of him.

Owing to the high speed at which Byakur was swung, faint gusts of winds swept against the chimera that was in front of him.

Suddenly, blood spurted out of its body as it was sliced into two parts.

Flapping Artemis' wings that were fully merged with Jason's body, he enhanced his speed tremendously and appeared in front of the next chimera.

He didn't even bother to look at the beast as he thrust Byakur with one hand, aiming for its heart.

Jason flew away from the chimera after pulling Byakur out of its body that came out slick with blood and passed the dying chimera without another glance.

A moment later, he emerged next to the group of chimera that had attacked the three protectors of the city that was below them.

By subtly controlling his wings, Jason was able to move around with the most difficult movements, evading several flames that had been spit out by the chimeras.

They were trying to avoid him by all means, but Jason's predictions of where the chimeras would spit fire were too precise to distract and flee from his sight.

His cold eyes were trained on them, not missing even a single opportunity to inflict deep cuts every single time he came closer to the chimeras.

Despite their numerical advantage, they were finding it extremely tough to outmaneuver him, let alone launch a counterattack.

The kill count continued to increase as one dead corpse after another crashed to the ground, with a sickening crunch, the sound of breaking bones intermingling with their last cries.

Every single citizen inside the city had noticed that something was going on above them. First, only a few were worried about their well-being, while the majority believed that the three protectors were strong enough to take care of the dangers.

Yet, the more chimeras emerged from the red world bridge, the more frightening the situation became.

At the same time, everyone could see that the protectors they had relied on were frozen in fear, clearly showing that their strength was not at par with the chimeras!

Only a young human, the citizens were unable to decipher the identity of, was able to fight against the chimeras that tried to avoid him by all means.

In the beginning, most citizens were oblivious to the young man's identity, and they only knew that he was fighting with his life on the line.

It was only when a group of young men and women exclaimed in the excitement that they realised who was giving his utmost efforts to keep them alive.

"Isn't that Jason Stella, the presumed halfling? I think he had mentioned that he had a unique black flame. At least, if the text written in his book is correct."

"His aura is truly something special...did he write the truth about him being a halfling from another race??"

Suddenly another young man shouted

"This Jason Stella is not even 18 years old yet!! His pure physical strength can't be superior to the chimeras! They're at the Lord stage after all!!"

Only a moment later, the young man was pushed away by a young woman whose sight was obstructed by the young man as she reprimanded him,

"Are you an idiot? Haven't you read the book he had published? It states something about other cultivation paths! One of them was the path of strength whose sole purpose is to increase one's life force and to strengthen every cell in the body.

I don't know if he is cultivating in that path, but it might as well be something else that increases his physical strength so much!

His aura, the golden-silverish light enveloping the young man in the air, and the black flame we had seen earlier are more than enough evidence to conclude that this young man can be no one else but Jason Stella!!"

The young woman was one of the minorities, who believed the words Jason had written were true.

To her, Argos' situation had always been weird, and the same applied to the behavior of the foreign races.

It hadn't made sense for one particular race to force their way to Argos to conquer and enslave them, because there were too many races that preyed on mankind.

Other than that, neutral, physically attributed beasts required a different soul world than beasts with elements which was also something mankind had never understood.

Furthermore, if she were to start thinking about the renewed cultivation system and the logical statements about the foreign races' strength, which was said to be much higher than everyone had known before, everything was starting to make more sense.

She could go on for hours, and her final conclusion was that Jason Stella's book was representing nothing but the devastating truth.

It had been hard to digest and accept the truth, but this was a necessary means to advance further ahead.

In the end, this was not only how she thought, but many other people too!

There was no need to deny the truth and regress. Instead, advancing ahead and becoming more knowledgeable was the most efficient way in order to become stronger.

"He is clearly protecting us and the city's protectors...why is everyone labeling him as a monster. I don't think he had any choice in deciding who his parents could be, or what kind of being he was born as

Isn't it more important that he is trying his best to support us?"

Initially, the young woman had only mumbled those words to herself, but unbeknownst to her, she had raised her voice as she spoke about him fervently.

They could be heard throughout the entire street that was eerily silent, with the only noises coming from above.

Roars resounded through the entire surroundings, but Jason couldn't care less about them.

While every single citizen on the ground was starting to doubt what was going on above them, and if the forum threads on Skynet were telling anything but the truth, Jason was fighting for his and every single citizen's survival.

He had been interested in the temporary rift, but right now, he couldn't divert his focus to anything but the chimeras that he continued to stab, butcher, and kill.

Due to this, Jason didn't even realize how Solaris had split itself into several hundred smaller flames before leaving the soul world and emerging next to him.

Only a moment later, the split origin flames slowly descended on the chimeras corpses which they infiltrated and feasted on.

At the same time, a faint layer of black flames enveloped Jason's upper body.

It was solely conjured by Solaris, who was slowly absorbing mana that was being expelled by the smaller flames as they devoured the chimeras along with the dead bodies that lay scattered all around the city.

Owing to the faint protections layer the flame armor gave him, Jason could move around a little bit more recklessly.

However, instead of acting too rash, he decided to pay attention to the chimeras that were slowly approaching the city.

He was pushed back by the sheer number of chimeras flowing in and couldn't control everything at once because it was simply impossible under his current circumstances.

This would only be possible if he were to actively use Solaris' fire affinity right now, after all!

Unfortunately, this was not possible, as it would lead to him being gravely injured and likely ending up as a cripple. As such, Jason had to forcefully accelerate his speed by another notch.

However, just as he was about to initiate his next attack, Jason sensed death approaching him at a rapid pace.

Goosebumps covered his body, and time seemed to slow down as his eyes widened.

Turning around, Jason could barely see a glaive, enveloped in a compressed current of electricity shooting towards him at a terrific velocity.

__________________