With a smile on his face, he waved his hand and immediately after,
Swoosh!
A giant, silver-winged eagle appeared in front of them.
Scree~!
It let out a shrill cry, flapped its wings, and flew straight to the sky.
Whoosh!
The wind generated from its wings pushed Max back. He looked at the majestic eagle in the sky in awe.
The Elves were shocked when they saw it and one of the three four-star mages exclaimed, “Isn’t that lord commander’s steed?!”
They exchanged glances and could see shock and a look of understanding in each other’s eyes. By giving his mount to him, Ryan was telling them to take Max seriously.
“It seems we don’t have any choice.” One of the three said, and the other two nodded.
After flying a few circles above their heads, the silver-eagle landed in front of Max, its large reddish black eyes staring down at him. And Max could see the disdain in them, which made him smile stiffly.
“What are you looking at? Didn’t uncle Ryan tell you to obey me?” He glared back.
Scree~!
Whoosh!
The eagle screeched and flapped its wings, sending a gust of wind in his direction.
Max hurriedly circulated his mana to defend, but was still pushed a few steps back.
‘Well, that’s a four-star beast for you.’ He thought, a serious expression on his face. Just from this, he knew he wasn’t a match for this beast.
One of the three four-star mages spoke up at this moment, “Team leader, besides lord commander, this eagle doesn’t listen to anyone. So, it isn’t advisable to challenge it.”
Max nodded. He could see the eagle was very prideful. So challenging it wouldn’t get him anywhere. However, he wasn’t going to grovel in front of it.
So, without saying anything, he jumped up, intending to land on it. However, the eagle swatted him away with its wing.
After landing back to the ground, he put on an indifferent face and asked, “Are you going to disobey uncle Ryan by not allowing me to mount you?”
The eagle squinted its eyes. It then lowered its body.
Seeing this, Max nodded in satisfaction. He then jumped and landed on its back without any problem.
“Let’s go, guys. We have quite a long journey ahead of us.” He smiled at Emily and the Elves.
Whoosh!
Emily tapped her feet on the ground and floated up before landing beside him. The Elves exchanged glances, smiled wryly, and also mounted the eagle.
“Let’s go. Show me how fast you are.” Max sat down and patted its back.
Scree~!
The eagle screeched as though provoked by his words and flapped its wings.
Whoosh!
In just one flap, it shot up over 100 meters.
“Woah! You are quite fast, huh?” Max exclaimed. Apart from Garima, this eagle was the fastest.
The eagle raised its head proudly when it heard him. To this, Max smiled, ‘Everyone likes praise.’
He then pointed in the north direction where one of the battlefields was supposed to be, and ordered. “Head north.”
Scree~!
Whoosh!
The eagle screeched once again and flapped its wings, shooting in the north direction.
…
Three hours later, they had flown for thousands of miles. On the way, they had spotted a few groups of demons and killed them.
Because everyone was almost as strong or stronger than Max, he could only kill 5 three-star demons which netted him 15,000 Kill Points. After selling the demon cores he and Emily got, he gained another 100 SPs. Unfortunately, none of the demon bodies were qualified to be sold in the system shop or he would have earned some SPs, too.
On the way when they didn’t encounter any demon, he had consumed [Ryser’s tear]. Immediately, he had felt his mind become clearer and all of his senses were enhanced tens of times.
Although this lasted for just over ten minutes, he had managed to comprehend the first part of the [Pheonix Wings] and now only needed to practice it to be able to use in the battle.
Also, while comprehending, he could feel a violent and destructive power within him and he knew it wasn’t his fire element but… his bloodline, and not the one system was integrating him with, but another, which he inherited from his mother.
He had asked old granny if he could awaken his thunder bloodline and after checking him; she had told him it was dormant and needed intense stimulation for it to awaken. Unfortunately, despite being an emperor mage, she couldn’t help him with.
…
Right now, they were flying above a mountainous, rocky terrain when suddenly, they noticed a small town up ahead. Smoke was rising in the air, indicating that there was a fire.
As they came closer, they could hear terrified shrieks, crying sounds and demons’ signature unbridled laughter.
Emily frowned and said, “The demons have attacked this town. Why haven’t they evacuated like other towns?”
Max glanced around and sighed, “Perhaps because this town is cut off by the rest of the world by these hills and rocky terrain, they didn’t get the news.”
As they came closer, they could see many hideous looking demons running rampant in the town, decimating the wooden houses, killing and eating the people. Some were even raping the town’s women and young girls.
“These bastards…” One of the three-star elves gritted his teeth in anger.
“Let’s go down.” Max said, patting the eagle.
“Wait!” One of the four-star elves suddenly called out, stopping him.
“Hm? What is it?” Max asked, frowning.
“Team leader, there are at least 50 demons down there and some of them might be four-star demons too. Going down there will be very dangerous.” The elf said.
“Where are we going?” Max asked, not commenting on what he said.
The elf raised an eyebrow and replied, “To the battlefield.”
Max nodded and asked, “Won’t the battlefield be more dangerous? Are we supposed to cower and not go because it’ll be dangerous?”
He then glanced at others. “Of course, if any of you don’t want to join the fight, I won’t force you.”
The elf team leader who had fought Max with the serpent demons was first to speak up, “You are right, team leader. If we cower from facing just over 50 demons, how will be face hundreds or even thousands on the battlefield? So I’ll go down and fight with you.”
Max looked at him and nodded. This guy was very good.
“What’s your name?” He asked,
The elf smiled wryly. They had fought together but still didn’t know each-others’ names.
“I’m Rey.” He said.
“Rey, I’m Max. You can address me by my name. No need to call me team leader.” Max said and after he nodded, he glanced at others.
“I’ll fight.” Another elf said and then one by one, all three-star and the two four-star elves expressed their willingness to fight and looked at the last four-star elf.
He glanced at his companions and then looked at Max. Smiling bitterly, he said, “Team leader, you misunderstood me. I never said I wasn’t willing to fight. I was just worried about them, but since everyone is willing, let’s go.”
“Good.” Max nodded and patted the eagle, pointing some distance away from the town. He ordered, “Land there.”
They landed quietly without alerting anyone. After he stored the eagle in the beast ring, they rushed toward the town while making sure they didn’t make any noise.
“Ahhhhhh! Noooo! Don’t kill me!”
“Nooo! My son. I’ll kill you demon… arghh!”
…
As they entered the town, many cries entered their ears.
“Form four three-men team and spread out, but stay in contact with each other. And remember not to engage if there are more than two demons or you are unsure of your victory without causing much commotion. Last thing we want is to be surrounded by every demon here.” Max ordered in a hushed voice.
Everyone nodded in acknowledgement and then formed four teams of three. In Max’s team were Emily and Rey. He took Rey instead of one of the three four-star mages because he wanted others to be safe.
Besides, Emily and Rey were fast enough to survive even against a four-star demon and he, with his new skill, should be able to, too. Moreover, it wasn’t like they couldn’t call them for help if they encountered some tough opponents.
“Alright. Go and be alert. Good luck.” Max said and then rushed into the town with Emily and Rey.
The four-star elves exchanged glances before one of them said, “This human isn’t bad.”
“Yeah. No wonder lord Ryan thinks highly of him. Now, I just hope he is strong enough.” Another nodded.
“From what Rey told us, he is even stronger than him. Now let’s go. We have demons to hunt.” The third one said.
Everyone nodded and rushed away.
The 10 Bonus Chapter Mass release between 10-15 November!
