asking for the 231th time Kim made Mars give yet another sigh and as always the captain answered

"we're there when we're there Kim"

it was snowing lightly as the group made their way through the northern wilderness, well there was a dirt road so it wasn't completely wilderness, the group had been walking for a few days they were still heading north towards Bellmoral and so far it had been smooth sailing, or rather walking so far

"wait, what's that?"

Kim pointed up in the sky, Mars looked up and gave a smile before he launched a fire spear into the air which hit the thing Kim was pointing at

"ah! why did you kill it?"

"because it was another surveillance golem"

"I see, well then it's okay...."

Kim walked over to Mars and reached up and began patting him on the head

"...what are you doing Kim?"

"rewarding you for good job?"

Mars gave a smile and kneeled down a little so it was easier for Kim to pat him on the head

"I see, well in that case I'll gladly accept it"

"ehehehe..."

Kim laughed happily as her child like smile shone even more but both of them were interrupted by the captain that gave a fake cough

"Mars I don't think we have time for that right now..."

the captain pointed and Mars followed his point with his eyes and spotted a group of soldiers that was heading towards them

"right... here comes the army of Bellmoral, what do you think the odds are they are after us?"

"high... they don't look friendly"

"yup, you guys better quickly wear your armor"

"right..."

the dark knights quickly suited up as the soldiers approached, when the soldiers saw the dark armor the dark knight were wearing they raised their spears, the group of soldiers Mars' group had run into was about 20 men strong, a commander like soldier raised his spear as a cold light flashed in his eyes before he commanded

"kill them!"

Mars gave a sigh and put a hand on the hilt of his sword as a wide smile formed on his face

"be right back"

Mars disappeared from view and reappeared again a few seconds later along with a gust of wind that blew his hair around as he sheathed his sword, meanwhile the group of soldiers fell over, there was a thin cut on each of their necks, they were all dead

"you really are fast..."

"amazing!"

the captain and Kim was both amazed by Mars' speed, Mars gave a smug smile and explained

"it's all in the fine control of the muscles when you move at those kinds of speed"

"...I believe you, let's move on"

over the next few days Mars single handedly killed more than 80 soldiers in total, as for the rest he let them flee as for the reason why he let them go it was simple, to spread fear as he explained to Kim

"you see an unknown enemy can be scary but an enemy that can kill you in an instant is even more scary"

"I see! you're so smart Mars!"

the group had entered the mountains range a few days ago and was nearing Bellmoral by following a narrow mountain road with a steep cliff on one side and a mountain wall on the other

"hey are we there yet?"

Kim once again asked, this time it was the 314th time she had asked the exactly same question and as always the captain answered

"we're there when we're there Kim"

"got it captain!"

Mars gave a sigh as the rest of the day pa.s.sed uneventfully and the group set up camp in a small cave that s.h.i.+elded them for the wind, Mars sat in front of the campfire with Victoria on his lap when the captain walked over and sat down a little away from Mars

"....what's up captain?"

the captain gave a sigh and spoke

"what do you think the odds are that all of us survive this mission?"

"hmm... 100%?"

"you really are confident... remember we are 4 people storming a fortress with hundreds of soldiers, surely the odds aren't that good?"

Mars gave a sigh and patted Victoria on the head as he spoke

"I can do it alone if you guys aren't up for the challenge"

"you..."

the captain was about to say something but stopped then he shook his head and rose to his feet and walked further into the cave to sleep

"well then.... let's get some sleep Victoria"

"okay... I want to... sleep together"

"sure thing"

The next morning the group left the cave and headed towards Bellmoral which they reached in a few hours of walking, looking at the tall walls of Bellmoral Mars felt a sense of dread

"....nope can't jump those walls.... the gate it is then"

the gate was closed and under guard of some heavily armored soldiers and on top of the walls stood archers ready with their bows and arrows

"Mars are you really going?"

"yeah it'll be easy, just like a walk in the park"

Mars unsheathed his sword and began walking leisurely towards the gate with a calm smile on his face, Victoria followed after him with her tail slightly swaying from side to side

"it's him!"

"avenge our comrades!"

"kill the speed demon!"

the soldiers recognized Mars in an instant and the archers on top of the walls took aim

"Victoria hide"

"okay..."

Victoria jumped into Mars' shadow before he himself activated [Energy: absorb s.h.i.+eld] on himself and continued his light stroll as arrows rained down on him from above, some of them missed while the rest was harmlessly defected by his s.h.i.+eld, then he kicked off the ground and ran at the heavily armored soldiers and engaged them in close combat

"HA!!!"

with a loud shout Mars slashed down at the first soldier in heavy armor

"fool! my armor is made of---"

*SLASH*

like a hot knife through b.u.t.ter Mars cut the soldier in half the other soldier hurriedly took some distance

"you monster!"

"...why thank you"

Mars activated [instant movement and ended the life of the second heavily armored soldier before he put a hand on the gate

"and... here... we... go"

*BOOM*

with a loud boom the gate flew off its hinges as it warped inwards and floated in the air for a few sounds before it hit the ground

"Victoria do you mind taking care of the archers?"

"okay... be right... back"

Victoria jumped out of Mars' shadow and jumped up the wall, then miserable screams sounded out from the archers that was quickly ma.s.sacred by Victoria's shadow magic spells meanwhile Mars looked around just inside the gate, the town inside the gate was quiet, there was no one on the streets Victoria jumped down from the wall and joined Mars meanwhile the 3 dark knights walked in the busted gate and looked around, suddenly there was a low rumble which caused Mars to give a sigh before he spoke

"that's the sound of active mana armor starting up, if i were you guys I would back up"

"active mana armor? can you handle that Mars?"

"sure thing, just don't get in my way"

"okay... Kim let's go we're heading back out the gate"

"oh but i wanted to see the big armor..."

the captain half dragged Kim back out the gate, at the same time 2 sets of active mana armor showed themselves down the street, Mars cracked his knuckles and stabbed his sword into the ground as the active mana armors moved closer, as soon as they cleared the last building and stepped out into the open s.p.a.ce near the gate Mars sprung into action and activated [Instant movement] and appeared on top of the fist active mana armor and quickly put his hand down on the hull of the armor

*BANG*

with a loud bang Mars discharged his stored energy into the active mana armor making the frame warp instantly killing the pilot of the armor then he jumped off and ducked under the giant 2 handed sword of the second active mana armor before he approached it like a ghost and put his hand on the hull

*BANG*

Mars felt quite some pain from the rebound of his skill but quickly healed himself before he called the dark knights and then the group approached the castle in the middle of town together when suddenly a frail looking man blocked their way, he was wearing a mage's robe and the odd around him exposed he was a high ranking mage

"none of you can pa.s.s"

"we'll see about that!"

Mars kicked off the ground and quickly approached the frail mage that quickly activated a spell, suddenly the ground Mars was running on shot up Mars twisted his body and narrowly avoided an earth spike that nearly impaled him, still in the air Mars kicked of the spike and retreated as numerous more spikes shot up from the ground where he just were, back at his starting point Mars glared at the mage that wore a smug smile on his face

"as I said, none of you will pa.s.s!"